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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Make it Easy for Your Members to Tell Their Mission Trip Story

“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...

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 Art of the Personal Testimony

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...

Five Local Church Benefits from Creating a Global Missions Partnership

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...

Seven Missionary Biographies and Why You Should Read One Now

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 ...

One Overlooked Role of Pastoral Ministry

You know the old adage, 80 percent of the work is done by 20 percent of the people. Honestly, sometimes that even feels generous. Those of us who have pastored churches know the feeling. There always seems to be more to get done than people willin...

In the midst of Hurricane Harvey

9,000,000,000,000 gallons. That’s how much water dumped onto Houston two nights ago. The number is even higher now, as the rains have not ceased. For an idea of just how much water that is, check out the Washington Post article. It gives an illus...

Here's a Big List of Refugee Processing Centers Across the US

I am thankful to see the swelling interest by local churches in caring for refugees. Nowadays, I regularly get asked questions about how to begin this vital ministry at your church. Today, I simply wanted to share a resource with you that may help...

Condescension Poisons the Mission

In the last week, a flurry of articles have chimed in on the situation in Charlottesville or on the current cultural temperature that it lays bare. I wrote on Monday of how this attitude affected our local missions over 100 years ago. Today, thou...

Does our attitude need to be changed? Thoughts after Charlottesville.

I have a lot swirling around in my head this morning. I spent this past week compiling a research project and writing an academic article on missionary methods to immigrants around the turn of the nineteenth century. Sounds boring, I know. But if...

American churches, we have been here before with immigration.

For a number of years now the representatives of our foreign missionary societies have been crying with a loud voice for the best talent of America to go into foreign lands. Their cry has been heard, and each year the choicest best-trained youn...

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