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!
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)
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!
