FOUNDER • PUBLISHER • CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Craig Cooper
The Shepherd Network™ LLC
An online Christian community dedicated to reaching people with the hope and truth of Jesus Christ. Serving people. Sharing truth. Building community. Pointing hearts toward Christ.
MEET CRAIG COOPER
Founder, Publisher and Chief Executive of The Shepherd Network™ LLC
For Craig Cooper, The Shepherd Network™ is more than a website, a publishing platform, or an online ministry. It is the result of decades spent serving people, serving the local church, studying Scripture, writing, and gradually recognizing a calling to create an online Christian community capable of reaching people beyond the walls of a traditional church building.
Craig's life and professional experience have consistently centered around people.
He earned his Bachelor's degree in Sociology in 1995 and went on to spend 25 years working professionally in the social services and public health fields. That career gave him opportunities to work with individuals and families from many different backgrounds and life circumstances.
Over those years, Craig came to understand something that would later influence the development of The Shepherd Network™: people are often carrying far more than anyone else can see.
A person may appear to be doing well while privately struggling with loneliness, uncertainty, grief, discouragement, family difficulties, financial pressures, questions about faith, or simply the feeling that no one truly understands what they are facing.
Working in the social services and public health fields reinforced for Craig the importance of listening, compassion, dignity, patience, and meeting people where they are.
Those lessons did not disappear when his professional career ended.
They became part of what came next.
A Lifetime of Serving the Local Church
Craig's commitment to Christian service began many years before his professional career.
He began serving in his local church at approximately 16 years old and has now spent more than 38 years serving within the local church.
Only two years after beginning that journey, Craig received an extraordinary recognition of his early commitment to service. At 18 years old, he was commissioned a Kentucky Colonel in recognition of his outstanding and uncompromised work within his local church and across his community.
The significance of that honor has remained meaningful to Craig throughout his life. The Commonwealth of Kentucky describes the Kentucky Colonel commission as its highest honor, bestowed in recognition of contributions to the community, state, or nation and for special achievements.
Craig does not view the commission simply as an honorary title to place after his name. For him, receiving such recognition at 18 represented something that would continue throughout much of his adult life—a belief that serving others matters.
Church service eventually accompanied a 25-year professional career in the social services and public health fields. Decades later, that same desire to serve would help shape the vision for The Shepherd Network™.
Throughout his years of service in the local church, Craig has witnessed the importance of Christian fellowship, worship, biblical teaching, volunteer service, encouragement, and community.
He believes strongly in the ministry and mission of the local church.
The Shepherd Network™ was never created to compete with the local church or attempt to replace it.
Instead, Craig became increasingly concerned about people who were not connected to a church congregation.
- •Some have never had a church home.
- •Others once attended church but, for one reason or another, have become disconnected.
- •Some may be searching for a church but have not yet found one.
- •Others may be unable to attend regularly because of health, caregiving responsibilities, distance, work schedules, transportation, or other circumstances.
- •And there are people who simply find themselves searching online for encouragement, answers, biblical truth, or reassurance that God has not forgotten them.
Craig felt led to help create a place for those people.
That calling eventually became The Shepherd Network™.
Why The Shepherd Network™ Exists
An Online Christian Community
The Shepherd Network™ is an online Christian community dedicated to reaching people with the hope and truth of Jesus Christ.
It is especially intended to reach people who do not currently have a home church, people who need Christian encouragement, and those searching for biblical truth.
At the same time, The Shepherd Network™ welcomes Christians who are already active in their local churches and want additional opportunities to learn, grow, serve, encourage others, and make a difference within their churches and communities.
Craig's vision has never been simply to build another Christian website.
The goal is to build community.
- •A place where someone searching for answers can begin.
- •A place where someone discouraged can find encouragement.
- •A place where someone studying Scripture can find resources that encourage deeper study.
- •A place where someone needing prayer can know that others are praying.
- •A place where people can discover ways to use their gifts and abilities in service to others.
- •A place where Christian writing, biblical teaching, ministry resources, digital tools, publications, prayer, and community opportunities can work together toward a common purpose.
- •And ultimately, a place that continually points beyond itself toward Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ Is the Shepherd
The name The Shepherd Network™ carries an important meaning.
Craig does not view himself as the Shepherd.
Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd.
As Jesus said:
"I am the good shepherd, and I know My own, and My own know Me."
— John 10:14 (NASB)
The mission of The Shepherd Network™ is therefore not to elevate an individual personality. It is to serve Christ by helping point people toward Him.
As Founder, Publisher and Chief Executive of The Shepherd Network™ LLC, Craig is responsible for helping establish its vision and direction while remaining mindful that leadership within a Christian organization should ultimately be exercised in service to God and others.
For Craig, leadership is not merely about authority.
Leadership is an opportunity to serve.
Faith • Truth • Legacy
Three words that summarize the identity and philosophy of The Shepherd Network™
Faith
Faith is the foundation.
The Shepherd Network™ seeks to help people understand not merely Christianity as a religion, but the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Craig wants people to know about the salvation Christ offers, the grace He gives, the mercy He extends, the peace He provides, the joy found in Him, and the comfort and hope available through faith.
Christian faith does not mean every hardship disappears. It means hardship does not have to be faced without hope.
Truth
Truth matters.
Craig believes Christian teaching must remain grounded in Scripture.
In a world filled with opinions, competing messages, cultural pressures, social-media voices, and seemingly endless sources of information, The Shepherd Network™ seeks to continually return people to the Word of God.
The goal is not to manufacture sensationalism. It is not to manipulate Scripture to fit a story. And it is not simply to tell people what they want to hear.
The goal is to communicate biblical truth faithfully, understandably, and compassionately.
Legacy
Legacy asks what we leave behind.
Craig does not define Christian legacy primarily by accomplishments, recognition, money, titles, or possessions.
He thinks of legacy in terms of lives touched.
- A word of encouragement can become part of a legacy.
- A prayer can.
- A book can.
- A lesson taught to someone decades earlier can.
- An act of service performed quietly and without recognition can.
If something we say, write, create, or do helps another person move closer to Christ, that has lasting value.
That is the kind of legacy The Shepherd Network™ seeks to build.
From Social Services to a New Season of Service
Retirement and a New Calling
Craig retired from his professional career in 2020, after 25 years of work in the social services and public health fields.
Retirement closed one chapter of his life, but it opened another. It provided an opportunity to devote greater time and attention to interests that had been developing for decades.
One of those interests began when Craig was still in his late teenage years.
Craig is a student of End Time prophecy Scripture. This area of biblical study has held his interest since his late teens and has become the primary focus of his personal study of God's Word.
His particular interests include biblical prophecy concerning the End Times, the Book of Revelation, the Rapture, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and related prophetic passages throughout Scripture.
Craig approaches these subjects as a continuing student of God's Word—not as someone claiming to possess every answer to questions Christians have studied and discussed for generations.
His desire is to study prophetic Scripture carefully, distinguish biblical teaching from speculation, continue learning, and encourage others to open the Bible and examine God's Word for themselves.
After retirement, Craig was able to devote considerably more time to that study. Eventually, two longstanding interests began to come together:
Scripture and storytelling.
The Publishing Side of The Shepherd Network™
Fiction With a Purpose
Publishing has become an important part of the larger mission of The Shepherd Network™.
As its Publisher, Craig sees books and written resources as another means of reaching people with Christian truth, encouragement, and thought-provoking stories.
Craig writes Christian and faith-based fiction designed to combine compelling storytelling with biblical themes and eternal questions.
His longstanding study of End Time prophecy Scripture naturally influences much of his writing. Stories involving biblical prophecy, Revelation, the End Times, the Rapture, the Second Coming, spiritual conflict, faith, and humanity's relationship with God provide settings in which readers can explore serious spiritual questions while becoming invested in characters, mysteries, relationships, and storylines.
The fictional elements are intended to capture attention and keep readers engaged. But entertainment is not the final objective.
Craig hopes his stories encourage readers to think about Christ.
To encounter Scripture.
To consider salvation.
Grace. Mercy. Peace. Joy. Comfort. Forgiveness. Hope.
And ultimately, to consider a question far more important than anything contained within a fictional storyline:
What will I do with Jesus Christ?
Fiction With a Purpose
Craig believes stories can sometimes reach people differently than traditional teaching.
Someone who may never begin by reading a theological book may pick up a mystery.
Someone who would not initially choose a Bible study may become invested in a character wrestling with questions of faith.
A reader interested in prophecy may begin a novel because of an End Times storyline and later become curious about what Scripture actually teaches.
That is where fiction can become a doorway.
Craig's approach can be summarized simply:
The story draws the reader in.
Scripture provides the foundation.
Christ remains the purpose.
The fictional portions of Craig's books are never intended to be confused with biblical authority. Characters, situations, mysteries, organizations, conversations, and dramatic events may be fictional.
Scripture is not.
Craig hopes that somewhere within a story, a reader encounters something that causes them to think more deeply about Christ and perhaps open the Bible for themselves. If that happens, the story has accomplished something far greater than entertainment.
Craig and Tammy Cooper — unified executive leadership at The Shepherd Network™
Publishing With a Ministry Purpose
The publishing mission of The Shepherd Network™ extends beyond Christian fiction.
The broader vision includes Christian resources, biblical teaching, ministry materials, devotionals, books, articles, digital publications, and other faith-based content designed to encourage people, strengthen their understanding of Scripture, and help them grow in their relationship with Christ.
For Craig, publishing is not separate from ministry.
Publishing is another way to minister.
Words can travel into places their writer may never visit.
A book can remain on a shelf until the precise moment someone needs it.
A devotional can reach someone early in the morning.
An article can answer a question someone was afraid to ask.
A fictional story can introduce eternal questions to someone who might never have encountered them another way.
The publishing side of The Shepherd Network™ is also a place where the creativity, gifts, and ideas of others can grow.
One particularly meaningful example is The Shepherd's Bulletin.
But Craig is quick to make something clear:
The Shepherd's Bulletin was not his idea.
The vision belongs to his wife, Tammy J. Cooper.
Tammy conceived the idea of creating an online ministry bulletin that could capture the familiar usefulness and warmth of a traditional church bulletin while expanding it for an online Christian community. Her idea is developing into The Shepherd's Bulletin, a digital publication through which The Shepherd Network™ can provide Christian encouragement, Scripture, ministry information, recurring features, carefully selected hymns and sacred music, resources, and other content readers can explore throughout the week.
Craig is particularly proud to give Tammy the credit for its creation.
The Shepherd's Bulletin reflects her vision, creativity, and desire to serve others.
And it is only one part of Tammy's contribution to The Shepherd Network™. As Craig's wife and a senior executive leader within the organization, Tammy brings her own professional experience, compassion, ideas, leadership, and perspective to its mission.
There is much more to her story than can—or should—be told on Craig's page.
Meet Tammy J. CooperDiscover the woman whose ideas, leadership, and heart for people are helping shape the continuing story of The Shepherd Network™.
Ministry in a Digital World
Technology Is a Tool to Serve People
The ways people communicate, learn, read, listen, serve, and build relationships continue to change.
Craig recognizes that many people now begin their search for information—and sometimes their search for spiritual answers—online.
The Shepherd Network™ seeks to be present in that environment. But simply placing information on a website does not create community.
Craig's larger vision is to develop an online Christian community where people can discover biblical resources, receive encouragement, request prayer, learn more about Christ, explore opportunities for service, and feel welcomed rather than lost within a collection of webpages.
The tools used to accomplish that mission will continue to develop.
One part of that developing experience is Emma, The Shepherd Network™'s Community & Ministry Outreach Specialist, also known as the TSN Tour Guide.
Emma is being developed as a friendly digital guide who can help visitors understand The Shepherd Network™, discover resources and ministries that may interest them, and navigate the online community more easily.
Her purpose is not to replace human ministry, pastoral care, Christian fellowship, or the local church. She is a digital resource intended to make The Shepherd Network™ more approachable and help people discover what is available to them.
That reflects Craig's larger philosophy concerning technology.
Technology can help reach people.
Technology can organize ministry.
Technology can make Christian resources more accessible.
Technology can help people connect.
But technology itself is not the ministry.
People are the ministry.
Technology is simply one of the tools available to serve them.
You Are Not Alone
The Heart of The Shepherd Network™ Community
One of the convictions at the heart of The Shepherd Network™ can be expressed in four simple words:
You Are Not Alone.™
For Craig, those words carry both a spiritual and a practical meaning.
There are times when people need someone to pray for them.
There are moments when they want to share good news and praise God for what has happened.
There are seasons when people need encouragement from other Christians who may be walking through similar experiences.
And sometimes people simply need to be reminded that somebody cares.
The Shepherd Network™ seeks to provide places for those connections to happen.
But Craig believes the most important part of "You Are Not Alone™" goes beyond The Shepherd Network™ itself.
Other Christians can encourage us.
A community can stand beside us.
The staff of The Shepherd Network™ can pray for us.
But our ultimate hope is not found in an organization or another person.
Jesus Christ is our hope.
For those who belong to Christ, the Holy Spirit is present and at work—comforting, guiding, teaching, strengthening, and helping us in our walk with God.
The Shepherd Network™ cannot promise that another person will always be available at precisely the moment someone needs them. It can, however, continually point people toward the One who is.
You are not alone™.
That conviction helped shape the Community experience within The Shepherd Network™. Rather than assuming everyone wants or needs the same level of participation, the Community provides three different ways to begin and grow:
The Fold. The Well. The Upper Room.
The Fold — Let Us Pray With You
The Fold is the simplest way to become connected with the caring and prayer ministry of The Shepherd Network™.
The Fold is designed primarily for people who want to submit prayer requests, provide praise updates, and know that The Shepherd Network™ staff is praying for them and the needs they have shared.
Sometimes that is the community a person needs.
Someone may not be ready to participate in conversations with other members. They may not want another social network or online discussion group. They may simply be going through something and want to know that another Christian has received their request and is praying.
The Fold provides that place. It also gives individuals an opportunity to return with a praise update when prayers are answered, circumstances change, or they simply want to share something God has done in their lives.
There is no monthly membership fee. There is no requirement to move into a paid membership.
Come as you are. Tell us how we can pray. And when there is something to celebrate, come back and tell us about that, too.
The Well — Where Local Community Begins
For individuals who want to move from receiving prayer and encouragement into direct community involvement, Craig believes The Well is where that experience truly begins.
The Well is an affordable paid community level within The Shepherd Network™ and is intentionally centered around local connection.
Members have the opportunity to communicate through a community chat experience with other participating members located within their general ZIP-code area—approximately 25 miles.
That local emphasis is intentional.
The person you meet through The Well may not simply be another username somewhere across the country. They may live in your broader community. They may understand some of the same local challenges. They may know the churches, ministries, organizations, and opportunities available in your area. And they may be looking for Christian community just as you are.
Community also happens when people leave their screens. That is why The Well can help members discover faith-based events and opportunities within their local area, including Christian concerts, revivals, conferences, gatherings, and similar faith-centered events available through Eventbrite.
The Shepherd Network™ does not want online Christian community to discourage real-world Christian fellowship. Whenever possible, it should help lead people toward it.
The Well therefore represents an important transition:
The Fold says, "Let us pray with you."
The Well adds, "Let's begin connecting with one another."
The Upper Room — Go Deeper. Reach Farther.
For those who want the fullest Community experience offered by The Shepherd Network™, there is The Upper Room.
The Upper Room takes the foundation established through The Fold and The Well and expands it. The local boundaries begin to open. The resources become deeper. The opportunities for connection become broader. And members are invited to become part of a Christian community extending from their local area to participating members across the country.
A Coast-to-Coast Christian Community
While The Well emphasizes communication among members within approximately 25 miles of a member's ZIP code, The Upper Room expands that opportunity coast to coast.
Upper Room members have the opportunity to communicate with participating members across ZIP-code areas throughout the United States.
That creates possibilities a local-only community cannot.
A Christian in Kentucky may encounter someone in Texas.
Someone in Florida may encourage someone in Ohio.
A member on the East Coast may share an experience that speaks directly to someone on the West Coast.
Different communities. Different backgrounds. Different experiences. One faith in Jesus Christ.
The goal is not simply to create a larger chat room. It is to create opportunities for meaningful Christian connection beyond geographic boundaries.
Delve Deeper Into God's Word
The Upper Room is also intended for people who want to go deeper in their Christian growth.
Members have opportunities to explore deeper Bible-study topics, additional devotional content, and expanded Christian resources designed to encourage continued study, reflection, and spiritual growth.
For Craig, this part of The Upper Room is particularly meaningful. As a student of End Time prophecy Scripture, he understands what it means to become interested in a biblical subject and want to continue digging deeper—asking questions, comparing passages, studying context, and returning again and again to God's Word.
The Upper Room provides an environment where that desire for deeper study can be encouraged across a broader range of biblical subjects. The objective is not to tell members what to think about every biblical question. It is to encourage them to open Scripture, study carefully, grow in understanding, and keep Christ at the center.
More Encouragement Throughout the Week
Upper Room members also receive additional devotional opportunities and access to The Shepherd Network™ newsletter, providing another connection to the teaching, encouragement, resources, and continuing work of the Network.
Christian growth does not happen only on Sunday morning.
Sometimes what a person needs on Tuesday afternoon is a reminder of something they heard on Sunday.
Sometimes Wednesday is when discouragement arrives.
Sometimes Friday is when someone needs to stop, refocus, pray, and remember where their hope is found.
Additional devotional and Christian content gives The Shepherd Network™ more opportunities to be present during those moments.
Discover Faith-Based Events Across the Country
The Upper Room also expands the event-discovery concept found within The Well. Rather than focusing primarily on events within the immediate local community, Upper Room members can discover information about Christian concerts, revivals, conferences, and other faith-based events across broader geographic areas, including opportunities available through Eventbrite and organized around membership ZIP-code areas.
For someone traveling, visiting family, planning a trip, or simply willing to travel farther for a meaningful Christian event, this can open an entirely different range of possibilities.
The digital community can therefore help lead to something very real:
Christians gathering with Christians.
Three Experiences. One Purpose.
Membership Levels, Not Levels of Christianity
The Fold, The Well, and The Upper Room offer different levels of participation, but Craig believes an important distinction must always remain clear.
They are membership levels within The Shepherd Network™—not levels of Christianity.
A person in The Upper Room is not more important to God than someone in The Fold.
A paid membership does not purchase stronger prayers.
It does not purchase salvation.
It does not purchase God's grace.
It does not purchase the presence of the Holy Spirit.
And it certainly does not provide greater access to Jesus Christ.
Salvation is the gift of God through Jesus Christ.
The paid memberships simply help support the additional technology, content, resources, and community experiences The Shepherd Network™ makes available at those levels. The progression is therefore about community participation, not spiritual status:
The Fold
Let us pray with you.
The Well
Connect within your local Christian community.
The Upper Room
Go deeper in faith. Reach farther in community.
Growing While Serving
Craig Needs Community, Too
The Shepherd Network™ is not only about what Craig can offer someone else. It is also part of his own continuing journey of faith, learning, spiritual growth, understanding, fellowship, and service.
Craig recognizes that being the Founder, Publisher and Chief Executive of The Shepherd Network™ does not mean he has reached a point where he no longer needs encouragement. He does.
It does not mean he has learned everything Scripture has to teach.
He hasn't.
It does not mean he will always have the answer.
He won't.
As a student of End Time prophecy Scripture, Craig continues to study, ask questions, examine prophetic passages, and deepen his understanding of God's Word.
The Shepherd Network™ gives him an opportunity not only to share what he has learned, but also to continue learning from faithful biblical resources, other Christians, ministry experiences, and the community developing around him.
There may be areas where Craig can encourage someone else.
There may also be areas where someone else encourages Craig.
There may be something he can teach.
There will always be more for him to learn.
There may be moments when Craig helps strengthen another person's faith.
And there will be moments when someone else's faith, wisdom, testimony, or encouragement strengthens his.
That is community.
Craig may have founded The Shepherd Network™. But he is also part of it.
He needs Christian fellowship.
He needs encouragement.
He needs opportunities to learn and grow.
He needs prayer.
And like every other Christian, he remains dependent upon the grace, mercy, peace, wisdom, strength, forgiveness, and presence of God.
The community can stand beside us. The staff of The Shepherd Network™ can pray for us. Brothers and sisters in Christ can encourage one another.
But above all, Jesus Christ remains our hope, and the Holy Spirit remains present and at work in the lives of those who belong to Him.
That is why "You Are Not Alone™" is more than a phrase associated with The Shepherd Network™. It represents both Christian community and Christian hope.
For Craig, that makes The Shepherd Network™ more than something he founded.
It is a community he needs, too.
Craig and Tammy Cooper — The Shepherd Network™
Experience That Shaped the Mission
A Life Centered Around Service
Looking back across Craig's life, several experiences that once appeared separate now intersect through The Shepherd Network™.
- •His commitment to serving the church began at approximately 16 years old.
- •At 18, he was commissioned a Kentucky Colonel in recognition of his outstanding and uncompromised work within his local church and across his community.
- •His Bachelor's degree in Sociology, earned in 1995, provided an academic foundation for understanding people, communities, relationships, and social institutions.
- •His 25 years of professional experience in the social services and public health fields gave him firsthand experience working with people facing real needs and real-life circumstances.
- •His more than 38 years of service within the local church helped shape his understanding of Christian community, ministry, volunteer service, and faith.
- •His decades-long study of End Time prophecy Scripture deepened his desire to understand God's Word and communicate biblical truth.
- •Writing provided another way to reach people.
- •Technology opened possibilities for reaching people far beyond a single geographic community.
- •Retirement provided the opportunity to begin bringing those experiences together.
- •And other people—including Tammy—continue bringing their own gifts, ideas, experiences, and creativity into the developing mission.
The result is The Shepherd Network™.
Not a replacement for everything that came before it. Rather, a continuation of a life centered around service—and an invitation for others to become part of what comes next.
Who Is Craig Cooper?
Christian Servant-Leader, Author, Retired Social Services and Public Health Professional
Craig Cooper is the Founder, Publisher and Chief Executive of The Shepherd Network™ LLC.
He is a Christian servant-leader.
He is a sociology graduate.
He is a retired social services and public health professional with 25 years of experience in the field, including 10 years and 3 months in public health.
He is a Christian writer and publisher.
He is someone who has served within his local church for more than 38 years.
He is a student of End Time prophecy Scripture, with a particular interest in biblical teaching concerning the End Times, Revelation, the Rapture, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and related prophetic Scripture.
And he is someone who believes ministry begins with caring about people.
Craig does not claim to have every answer. Nor does The Shepherd Network™ exist because he believes he has reached some destination of spiritual perfection. The Christian life is a continuing journey of faith, learning, service, obedience, grace, and dependence upon God.
Craig's desire is to use the experiences, abilities, opportunities, and resources God has allowed him to have in ways that may help someone else—while remaining open to the ways God may use this community to continue helping, teaching, encouraging, and growing him as well.
Maybe someone is reached through a book.
Maybe through an article.
Maybe through a prayer request.
Maybe through a ministry resource.
Maybe through an opportunity to serve.
Maybe through a conversation with another member.
Maybe through a Scripture passage that reaches someone at exactly the right time.
Or maybe through a visitor who discovers The Shepherd Network™ while sitting alone one evening searching for hope, encouragement, truth, or answers.
However that connection happens, the purpose remains the same.
Pointing People Toward Christ
The Heart Behind Craig Cooper and The Shepherd Network™
At the center of Craig's vision for The Shepherd Network™ is a simple conviction:
The ministry should never ultimately point toward Craig Cooper.
It should point toward Jesus Christ.
The online Christian community may grow.
New ministries may develop.
Books may be published.
New technologies may be introduced.
New resources may be created.
Programs may change.
People will bring new ideas.
The community itself will continue to develop.
But the central mission must remain:
- •Serve people.
- •Share biblical truth.
- •Encourage faith.
- •Strengthen Christian service.
- •Build Christian community.
- •Remind people they are not alone.
- •Point people toward Christ.
That is the heart behind Craig Cooper.
And that is the heart behind The Shepherd Network™.
Craig and Tammy Cooper
Craig Cooper
Founder, Publisher and Chief Executive
The Shepherd Network™ LLC
Christian Servant-Leader • Author • Retired Social Services and Public Health Professional
Bachelor's Degree in Sociology — 1995
25 Years of Professional Social Services and Public Health Experience
38+ Years of Service in the Local Church
Commissioned a Kentucky Colonel at Age 18
Student of End Time Prophecy Scripture
Faith • Truth • Legacy
Serving people. Sharing truth. Building community. Pointing hearts toward Christ.