Our Christmas Pics

Our Christmas Update

When the calendar flips to November 1st the celebration of Jesus’ birth begins! Town is covered with lights, trees, décor & more from the streetlights to the treetops. It’s been a festive place for our growing family to celebrate our Savior’s arrival. We hope the last few months have been as full of blessings and excitement for you as it has for us! On the home front we found out baby #2 due April 10th, whom we affectionately call “babybaby,” is a precious little girl! Evie is now a true toddler walking, babbling, taking care of her baby dolls, and going, going, going. She loves getting lovin’ from all the students and is coined the “mascot” of the Institute (being the only baby around the Institute gets you a whole lot of sweet treats & affection!). This time away has been an experience to remember and a unique benefit as we’ve grown closer as a couple and family. It’s been a humbling experience continually learning and growing to rely fully on Him for ALL and through ALL as He directs us through His will for us. We’ve been stretched and grown in ways we expected, and definitely in ways we did not, but see God’s grace and love in our lives.

A little update on our time out here so far…
The past 3 months have been full force and packed out at the Kanakuk Institute. Not only have we met some amazing people and made lifetime friends, had the fellowship and accountability that comes in an intensive residential community, but we have learned so many Truths from our Lord and His Word, and have had opportunity after opportunity to serve the community around us. A typical week for KC and the Cook family includes classroom from 8am-noon with presentations, student talks, worship & chapel, and the afternoons and evenings laced with internships, KI campus job responsibilities, studying, inductive Bible Study, small groups, accountability time, and more. KC also has his John Brown University classes and schoolwork to tend to from electing the dual enrollment with JBU & KI to pursue his Masters. In the classroom KC has done a complete overview of the Bible including a paper & presentation to a panel (check out his project on our blog!) as well as studied under seminary professors, preachers, authors, and experts from all over the US in the fields of marriage & relationships, parenting, biblical archeology, church history, communication, leadership, apologetics, eschatology, intelligent design, and evangelism. Through KC’s internship we are plugged into the youth ministry First Baptist of Branson pouring into middle and high school students on a weekly basis through Sunday School, youth group, small group, youth retreats, and going out to Branson High (Go Pirates!) to support the student base.

Upon graduating from the Institute in April, we currently plan for KC to finish up a graduate degree from JBU via a couple of remaining Internet classes (Masters of Ministry or MBA) or transfer to another graduate program. While we are still praying over what we will do after the Institute, we are confident we will be equipped and ready to disciple others, as we have been discipled these last few months (“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations…in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:19). This program is truly unique in the sense that each and every nugget of Truth we learn is immediately applicable to daily life and is equipping us for a lifetime of ministry.

We want to thank you once again for ALL your prayers and support. Without, these experiences would not be possible and it’s because of folks like you that we get to have our lives changed forever! We are truly humbled by your generosity and pray “the Lord repays you for what you have done” Ruth 2:12. Please continue to pray for our time here, personal growth & discipline, growth as a couple, financial provision, our hearts to be moldable, the health of our growing family, direction for KC’s career post Institute, and His peace. We will keep y’all updated on our Spring Semester and pray you experience the goodness of all God’s gifts this Christmas Season and in the New Year!

“Therefore God has exalted Him & bestowed on Him the Name that is above every other name.” Philippians 2:9

MERRY CHRISTMAS!


Lots of Love from The Cook Family!

Evie Being a Cowgirl

Student Speaking

Each Semester we get the opportunity to share with the class.  Below is my talk on the book of Galatians.

Let me know what you think!


Student Speaking from KC Cook on Vimeo.

Kanakuk Institute Class of '11!

(Pictures taken by Mallory Allen)

We're Here!

So...We've been in Branson about 3 weeks now and the time is flying by!  I wish I had time to say more, but until I'm able to give a full update I thought I'd share a few insights to our life:

1.) Evangeline started walking!
Video of her first few steps:



2.)  One of our Kanakuk Institute requirements is to have an internship at a local ministry.  Myself and five other students are interns at FBC Branson.  To welcome us to the team, the youth ministry had us put on a Talent Show (Really nice of them, right?).  Below is my routine!
WARNING: These illusions are dangerous. Do not try at home!



More to come!
-kc

and so it begins...

Here we are; The Cook Family of 3!  Thanks for finding us & hopefully you will continue to follow along as we follow where God’s leading us!

Some of you have heard our big news: Bissy and I are headed out to the Kanakuk Institute (KI) in Branson, MO with our baby girl, Evangeline.  You may not exactly know what KI is, or why we choose this krazy place over all other ministry avenues.  We want to let you know what Kanakuk & KI are, how we know about Kamp & the Institute, why we chose KI, and everything we will be participating in during this upcoming year. 

A little bit of background about the Kanakuk Institute…

The Kanakuk Institute is a branch of Kanakuk Ministries.  It’s dedicated to training and developing future leaders the biblical way, or more specifically, KI’s mission is to “equip young men and women with biblical skills for a lifetime of ministry.”  If you have heard of Kanakuk (http://www.kanakuk.com), most likely its because of their summer Kamps.  I could write 10 pages about how amazing Kamp itself is, but you need to just check it out yourself!  Its one of the most positive places on earth for both kampers & kounselors, it spells every konceivable “K” sounding word with a “K,” and God has used it to shape our (my wife & I) lives tremendously not to mention its allowed us to meet some of our best friends & mentors (there’s our shout out to kamp buds- you know who you are!).  The Kanakuk Institute provides an experience like no other for growth outside of Kamp.  KI gives the opportunity to learn from some of the most influential Christian teachers and professors across the U.S., to serve the Branson and Kanakuk (K-life) community, to live in an uplifting & Christ-centered atmosphere, and to equip our family for a lifetime of ministry.  While many Institutions and Universities offer programs and degrees similar to KI, we decided on KI because of its unique environment and the deep relationships we have built over the years with Kanakuk & staff.  KI’s program includes service through a youth ministry internship where we get to love on kids, and have the option for classroom credit.  It’s not a commitment to a full on graduate degree, but it provides a path to begin the process.  We also believe and are committed to Kanakuk’s mission, their beliefs of the Bible, as well as their core values regarding family and youth.  Overall, we feel Kanakuk and the Institute opens the most doors for life afterwards while providing us a desirable family environment as we take this year to serve and grow. 

A little bit of background on Us & Kanakuk…

Bissy and I both worked some of our college summers at Kanakuk Kamps (Bissy @ K-Klassic, Casey @ K-West), and Bissy also attended K-2 as a kamper.  We met indirectly because of kamp, then became friends, then became better friends, then started dating, then got engaged, then got married, and then had a baby – if you really want the details just call Bissy, she loves talking about it!  

Two of the things that drew us together were our love for God and our love for family.  We wanted to make sure that wherever God takes us in life, these two things remained constant.  Growing together over the last two years, we have struggled with how we want both our family and our ministry to be effective and thriving. We had individually considered going to KI before we got hitched, but oddly enough never discussed going as a couple.  Needless to say, our lives went from fast to fast-forward when September 2009 rolled around.  Once we had Evangeline, I (Casey) began to rethink the direction we were headed now that we were a family of 3.  Some serious praying began about which direction God wanted us to go.  Call it both an answered prayer & a planted seed… one evening at dinner my brother-in-law, Joel, asked if I had considered attending KI anymore.  I answered him not really thinking anything of it, “I’ve always considered it, but now that we have Evie, it doesn’t seem possible.”  Joel answered back, “Why not?”  Not having a real reason for a firm “no” I left the conversation burdened thinking about all of the what if’s.  After a few weeks of praying, I sat down with Bissy and asked her the same question expecting her to easily dismiss the idea.  Amazingly and to my shock she had been thinking the same thing!  While we were both excited about the idea of KI, we couldn’t figure out how it would happen & why it would make sense. After all, it did seem irresponsible to quit my job, and pursue a year of no steady income that might neglect our family’s financial security.  So we prayed some more.  Through a course of “random” events we see now how God orchestrated everything for us to set out on this adventure!  The only thing necessary to allows this krazy idea to happen was exercising a little faith- so here we are saying “YES” to God, trusting He’s got it all figured out, and doing our part in the mean time to be good stewards of all He’s given us. 

Q&A

Question: What would you LIKE to do when you’re done with KI?

Answer:  Still don’t know.  What we do know is that we want the next year to be about seeking God through studying the Bible, investing in others’ lives, serving our community, and growing together as a family.  We also know that wherever we  do end up after KI, we want to be effective and life-changing members of our community.

Question: Are you both going to be enrolled in KI’s program
Answer: Again, another reason why we’re going to KI is because of the unique family environment they provide.  Casey will be enrolled and taking the actual classes.   everything else from the internship, extra programs, adventures, mentors, and discipleship; Bissy and baby will be able to fully participate in! 

Question: Does KI offer any school credits?

Answer: Yes. Through both John Brown University in Arkansas & Dallas Theological Seminary in Texas.  (more info about KI, their program, and credits at  http://www.kanakukinstitute.com)

Question: Do they have sweet tea?

Answer: Unfortunately it's dependent on the restaurant... We're hoping to fix this once we're out there.

Question: Can you get us a discount on all the shows?  Are you going to frequent them often?

Answer: We'll see!  Yes- we're planning on all the chinese acrobats knowing our names by the end of it all.  

Summing it all up…

Basically we’ve decided to take this next year of life and focus on the Lord, serving Him, loving on some kids, and sharing Jesus & the Gospel.  It’s going to be an experience like no other and we couldn’t be more excited about it!