The online home for the writings of Keelan Cook. A website for those who love the church and its mission.
“I have no idea how to explain this!” I hear those words frequently from our students. At Southeastern, we take over a dozen short-term mission trips a year all over the world. This results in over a hundred of our students every year traveling t...
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...
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 ...
I have a confession. Pulling water is not one of my spiritual gifts. For those of you too pampered to have ever experienced this, “pulling water” is the euphemism applied to dragging buckets of water up a rope and out of a 50ft-deep well. Pulling...
Why do we overcomplicate things? Is it part of human nature, possibly a result of the fall? Take for instance that master of ingenuity, Wile E. Coyote. There are few things in life that bring me as much happiness as laughing at his misery. In his ...
There are a lot of things in life that we want to make sure we do not misuse. For instance, those little signs that have replaced the words “Men” and “Women” on most public bathrooms are important. Another example is the inappropriate way the refe...
Communication is an interesting process. The transmission of information is a goal that is seldom achieved with the precision that was initially intended. For instance, I imagine most of you have participated in a “chain story” at some point. Bein...
How do you know God? For that matter, how do you know anything about God? Maybe it was your parents that first introduced you to this idea that there was some big something out there in charge of everything. Maybe it was a Sunday School teacher or...
My last day out in the village for a while. Sun is setting behind the mango tree, and the breeze is unbelievable. It has been that way most evenings as of late. I have been here for a long time now, actually, the longest I have stayed here without...
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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