Ken Cooper

Ken Cooper grew up in Ohio and was never a church-goer. His first experience with God was during the Iranian hostage crisis. At that time, he heard one of the hostages on television praise God for putting him in the situation he was in. That moment opened his eyes to see that the man on the television was different and God was the reason why.

One night, Ken was following his friend home on his motorcycle when he watched his friend get hit by a truck and die. He heard God speak to him then about how salvation doesn’t always come at the last minute. Even after this, he continued to do drugs and live a Godless lifestyle. It wasn’t until after his drug problem finally came to light and he was at rock bottom that he accepted Christ.

Shortly after that, and after rehab, Ken moved to Reading, PA to pursue a job opportunity. He was then led to Glad Tidings where his love for ministry was first sparked. His mission statement for ministry is “from entertainment to ordainment”– getting people from just being entertained in church, to getting involved in ministry.

Today, Ken’s job is getting in contact with people who attend Glad Tidings for the first time. His career was centered on cold calling people and making sales calls. This expertise certainly comes in handy as he “cold calls” people in the community who have attended GT and may need help and prayer.

I’ve heard Ken’s story before at GT but I was struck again by the amount of generosity, faith and humility displayed in his story. About a year ago, Ken donated his kidney to a total stranger. This donation started a chain reaction where other people donated a kidney to others who were matches. After watching a clip of news coverage about his story, Ken began to cry because the coverage didn’t tell “God’s story”. What an amazing example of Christ-like love and compassion!