Dr. Ed Cook is in his "third career."  He was in the business world with IBM for 14 years in marketing and application systems design and development.  After leaving IBM he worked for 5 years as the Director of Information Systems for a $100+ million entertainment company.  Ed understands business and how to interface with the world of business. 

After conversion in his 30s, he began attending the Vineyard Christian Fellowhship in Anaheim California pastored by John Wimber.  There he realized that Christians have been empowered to "do the stuff" and not just fill the chairs and try to live pious lives while they are waiting for heaven.  At the Anaheim Vineyard he and his wife, Carolyn, were trained as church planters and subsequently participated in planting 8 congregations.  In 1987 he planted the Vineyard Christian Fellowhsip of Seattle Washington .  The Seattle Vineyard is a church that God has called to live an invitational, incarnational, missional lifestyle where they model acceptance before correction through what they refer to as "low threashold evangelism."  They consider themselves "The Church of the Least, the Last, and the Lost."  He is now writing, teaching, coaching, and consulting as the principal of Care-Full Coaching.

Dr. Cook is a member of CoachNet  www.coachnet.org and the International Coach Federation (ICF) www.coachfederation.org. 

• Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) - Carey Theological College, - Vancouver, BC, Canada
• Dissertation project researched the need for coaches to address the holistic development (personal, pastoral, and planting development) of church planters, particularly those of the emerging generation(s)
• Master of Arts in Biblical Studies and Theology (M.A./B.S.T.) - Fuller Theological Seminary - Northwest Campus in Seattle, Washington
• Bachelor of Arts, English - California State University - Long Beach, California

Ed and Carolyn have been married for 44 years.  They have two adult children and four grandchildren.  Ed loves to play music, travel, read, write, and "build stuff."  Carolyn's joys are her children, grandchildren, photography, and making a house a home.

Ed was raised in the faith in the Evangelical Lutheran church, but walked away from God in adolescence.  Fortunately, God didn't walk away from him.  In his early 30s, entering recovery for chemical dependency sent him back on a God-search in the Presbyterian Church to give a name to his "Higher Power."  In 1977 Ed came to faith and has been walking with God on his faith journey ever since.  He believes that experiencing what God has brought him through enables him to never give up hope for anyone.  Ed entered the Vineyard Movement in 1980.