Him We Proclaim

The online home for the writings of Keelan Cook. A website for those who love the church and its mission.

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Spiritual Readiness in Wartime

Paul was clearly very familiar with armor. Even a quick read of his letters reveals a familiarity with warfare, based on his use of imagery to explain aspects of the Christian life. But his understanding of the military is perhaps most clear in hi...

Go Deep: Moving Beyond the Surface in Evangelism

I recently spoke to several hundred students at a conference on the importance of evangelism. During my time with those students, I asked them all a simple question: Has there ever been a time when you felt like you should tell someone about Jesus...

The Invisible Battle: Living as Citizens in a Kingdom at War

Our world is not as it seems. We go through our days, worrying about the present circumstances, one eye on our social feed and the day’s news cycle. Inevitably, there is another political controversy. Someone of notoriety that you’ve vaguely heard...

The End of Church in America?

“Is this the end of the church in America?” You have heard the question. Perhaps you have wondered yourself. I am sure you have read the articles like I have. It seems every few months something in the news cycle (or on the news cycle’s demented ...

Next Gen Goes to Church

It’s been called a “quiet revival,” or the “revival generation.”1 Perhaps we now have numerical evidence to back up that experience. It appears Next Gen is showing up for church. More than that, they’re now showing up more than their older counte...

Is God a monster?

Has someone ever asked you the question above, or perhaps you asked it yourself? Fifty years ago, this question was practically taboo in America. However, a lot has changed culturally in that time. Secularism is the new religion, even when people...

Did Paul Want to be a Missionary?

Have you ever wondered if Paul wanted to be a missionary? Perhaps he came to the conclusion that it would be a fun thing to do, an exciting life to live. If that is the case, the story soon tells us it was not much fun. Paul was jailed and regular...

Is it blood or Kool-Aid?

“It’s damning to drain the lifeblood of Christianity and replace it with Kool-Aid.” That is a line from a recent post by Justin Taylor on his blog, Between Two Worlds. This post, called 8 Non-Negotiables for Mobilizing the Local Church for Accomp...

Creatures of Habit

We are creatures of habit. How do I know?  Because I am currently sitting in Starbucks typing a blog post on my iPad. The exact same thing I was doing last Sunday, and the Sunday before that, and the Sunday before that. It appears, this is my rou...

One big story

The Bible is not a book of rules, although many treat it as such. It is also not a book of heroes recounting the dashing deeds and heroic adventures of great men. No, truth be told, the prominent figures usually fail. Certainly, the Bible contain...

Guilty until Proven Innocent, but That is Not a Bad Thing

Today I’m posting another one from the archives. I wrote this one back in 2012. I find it ironically fitting, considering the current state of the presidential race and a lot of the rhetoric floating around in the political arena right now. I hope...

Hello, I’m Keelan.

I serve as the George Liele Director of the Center for Great Commission Studies and as a professor of Christian Missions at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

I also serve as Assistant Professor of Christian Missions at the seminary. Previously, I served as the Associate Director for the Union Baptist Association in Houston, TX.

My areas of focus cover both North American and International missions. I teach and write on church renewal and replanting as well as developing healthy sending culture in churches. I have a passion for mobilizing the church to the nations, and a love for missions history.

I lead the Peoples Next Door project, which is an initiative to equip local churches in North America to engage in cross-cultural missions among the least-reached peoples that now live in our communities. I’ve been a church planter in West Africa with the IMB and facilitated ethnographic research in Washington, DC with NAMB.

More about me