The online home for the writings of Keelan Cook. A website for those who love the church and its mission.
For the last several months, I have watched a new church building being built on the road to my house. Recently, the builders installed the church’s new sign, and I was a bit surprised. Perhaps the better word for my reaction was underwhelmed. In ...
In a job like mine, you hear stories about the church. A student serving in their first church explains to me the conflict threatening to split his church. Of course, none of this was disclosed during the search and candidate process. A consultant...
I recently stumbled across an article at The Gospel Coalition that caught my attention. The article, titled “The Increasing Value of Christian Testimonies”, resonated. In fact, I make similar claims in my Christian missions courses at the seminary...
Sending global missionaries is one of my favorite topics of conversation with pastors and church leaders. Having been an international missionary myself, it always does my heart good when a pastor or church leader starts asking questions about how...
I initially pulled this book list together during the pandemic a few years ago. Back then, all kinds of posts were appearing that recommended book lists for people to consider during our global shut-in. I even wrote one suggesting you use this ...
This post is more of a question than an answer. It is curiosity not advice, and I know that even bringing this issue up will bring scrutiny on me from others. My hope is that in raising my questions and my lack of understanding we can dialogue tow...
Last Thursday I saw mummies. Not the little plastic ones that are starting to show up in everyone’s yard because Halloween is around the corner, no, these were real, live mummies. They were life-size, danced around and played brass instruments. ...
An ellipsis, a literary term, is the notation of an omission of superfluous information. It is the set of three dots put between two pieces of significant information to show that the stuff in between was not worth writing. Life can feel like an ...
When you crack a new book for the first time, as you leaf through the first two or three pages, you will usually notice a page with just a sentence or two nestled right into the center of it. On it, you will find someone’s name. It will not be the...
Great adventures need great transportation, and you, 15-passenger church van, taught youth groups everywhere what it meant to ride in style. Jason and his team of heroes had the Argo, the X-Men had their Blackbird, the A-Team had Baracus and his ...
I was in high school when I saw my first robo-baby. This probably dates me, but at the time, it was some new attempt at teaching girls in home economics about caring for a baby. (If you are older than me, you probably remember girls carrying an e...
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.
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