a blog by Keelan Cook
Recently, I wrote about why I think it's important to confess our sins to fellow believers. In that piece, I only considered one side of that paradigm: that of the confessor. But there is a second piece that is equally important: What is an appropriate response when someone confesses their sin to us? We have…
Continue reading ➞ How to react when someone confesses their sin to you
Growing up, I was at church almost every time the doors were open: Sunday morning, most Sunday evenings, Wednesday evenings, and special events. Unless I was sick, my parents rarely let me miss church. For the most part, I actually wanted to be at church every time I was there. But, there were some Sundays…
Continue reading ➞ Three Misunderstandings about the Church that Muddle the Mission
I try to keep my eyes on new research concerning the foreign born population in the United States, and Pew Research dropped a new report this week that deserves some attention. This report is not expressly about foreign-born populations. Instead it deals with U.S. adherents to Islam. In other words, this research is about all…
This post originally ran at IMB.org on January 10, 2018. You can find the original post here. The beginning of a new year is an important time on the church calendar. If your church is like mine, as the years pass, well-meaning initiatives turn into traditions. Before you know it, you’ve spread yourself too thin.…
Continue reading ➞ Pastor, Develop a Fresh Missions Vision for the Year
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 willing to do it. In the midst of juggling the…
It all started by Jesus calling a few men to follow him. This revealed immediately the direction his evangelist strategy would take. His concern was not with programs to reach the multitudes, but with men whom the multitudes would follow. Remarkable as it may seem, Jesus started to gather these men before he organized an…
Recently I wrote about spiritual gifts and using your gifts to serve the church. Today, I want to discuss a couple of issues with the whole spiritual gifts conversation. Obviously, I do not mean that spiritual gifts are a problem, but if we are not careful we abuse the idea. Let me give you an…
We have all been there. Someone in our small group asks to have coffee and we agree. Soon, we are sitting across a table before work one morning and see the expression on their face. We know the expression, we have had the expression. It is guilt and shame mixed with concern. As the conversation…
Today I wanted to chime in on another good post by Justin Long. As an aside, if you are interested in missions and church planting, you need to follow Justin. You can find his blog here, and his Twitter account here. Justin recently posted a short piece he called, "A church is not a random…
Continue reading ➞ Chiming in: “A church is not a random sampling of the place it is in”
