KCU Podcast

Discover how to live as everyday disciple-makers in Kansas City and beyond. Through real stories, practical tools, and inspiring conversations, we equip you to Get to Know KCU, Train as Missionaries, and Multiply Disciple-Makers. Join us as we explore what it means to bring the beauty, justice, and Good News of Jesus to where you live, work, learn, and play.

Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson

Teach Us to Pray with Lori Roy

In this episode of Teach Us to Pray, Brian and Cory sit down with Kansas City Underground Hub Leader Lori Roy to talk about her journey of learning to pray, and what she’s seen God do through years of persistent prayer. Lori shares how she came to faith after moving to Kansas City, how praying Scripture became a lifeline as she prayed for her husband and family, and how her understanding of prayer grew into listening to and responding to the Holy Spirit. We explore the importance of giving people permission to be clumsy in prayer, modeling simple prayer for new disciples, and creating spaces where everyday people can learn to hear from God.

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Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson

Teach Us to Pray with Olivia Williamson

In this episode of the KC Underground podcast, Brian interviews Olivia Williamson, director of Claim Your Campus, about what it looks like when young people learn to pray for the places where God has already planted them. Olivia shares how prayer became part of the fabric of her own life, the story of students gathering to pray for change in their schools, and the vision of seeing student-led prayer in every middle and high school across the country. From simple prayer gatherings to students praying by name for friends who do not know Jesus, Olivia reflects on how prayer shapes young people to become more attentive to God and the people around them.

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Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson

Teach Us to Pray with Jon Shirley

In this episode of Teach Us to Pray, Brian sits down with Jon Shirley to explore a life shaped by prayer from early encounters that awakened a hunger for God to learning how to build communities that begin with waiting on him. Together, they talk about the challenge of prayer in a culture of constant noise and distraction, the need to recover our capacity to sit in silence, and what it means to find refuge in God when our souls feel overwhelmed. Jon also shares why prayer is something we often begin with and then unintentionally replace with activity and why the invitation is always to return.

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Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson

Teach Us to Pray with Rob Wegner

In this episode of the KC Underground podcast, Brian and Cory interview Rob Wegner with a conversation about what it looks like to enter a new neighborhood with open eyes, open hands, and a prayerful imagination. Rob shares the story of moving across Kansas City with Michelle, learning the rhythms of a new place, and resisting the pressure to make something happen too quickly. From daily walks with their dog to neighborhood cleanups, front-yard conversations, parties, and unexpected friendships, Rob reflects on how prayer has helped them notice where Jesus is already at work. We explore prayer as a way of becoming present: awake to beauty and brokenness, attentive to people, and available to the invitations God places in front of us. Rob talks about people of peace, the difference between intentionality and agenda, the importance of solitude and silence, and the simple practices that help ordinary disciples see their own neighborhoods with fresh eyes. It is an encouraging reminder that mission does not begin with a strategy or a checklist, but with learning to be with Jesus and joining him in the places where he has already gone ahead of us.

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Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson

Teach Us to Pray with Jack Price

In this episode of the KC Underground podcast, Brian and Cory are joined by Jack Price, disciple-maker and global coach with Novo, for a conversation about cultivating a life of prayer that naturally overflows into disciple-making. As part of the Teach Us to Pray series, Jack reflects on growing up in a family where prayer, listening to God, and making disciples were woven into everyday life. From prayer walking school hallways and leading Discovery Bible Studies as a teenager to seeing God move across college campuses and among unreached communities around the world, Jack shares how learning to hear God's voice has shaped every season of his journey. This episode explores what it means to become the kind of person who expects God to speak and is willing to respond with simple obedience. Jack, Brian, and Cory discuss listening prayer, prayer walking, spiritual discernment, and the patient work of partnering with the Holy Spirit over months and even years. Through stories of transformation, healing, and disciple-making, this episode offers a vision of prayer not as preparation for mission, but as the very way we discover where Jesus is already at work and faithfully join Him in the harvest.

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Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson

Teach Us to Pray with Todd Kangas

In this episode of the KC Underground podcast, Brian and Cory are joined by Todd Kangas, disciple-maker and prayer practitioner, for a conversation about healing prayer, hearing God's voice, and the courage to step into the mission of Jesus. As part of the Teach Us to Pray series, Todd reflects on a lifetime of learning to pray with expectancy, from his own conversion during the Jesus Movement to decades of praying for healing in workplaces, gyms, neighborhoods, and everyday conversations. Along the way, he shares stories of God's faithfulness while honestly wrestling with the mystery of unanswered prayers and the reality of suffering. This episode explores how prayer flows from a deep confidence in God's love and an identity rooted in Christ. Todd, Brian, and Cory discuss listening prayer, overcoming the fear of man, and the simple obedience of joining the Holy Spirit wherever He is already at work.

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Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson

Teach Us to Pray with Tim Schuck

In this episode of the KC Underground podcast, Brian and Cory are joined by Tim Schuck, director of Novo’s Activating Prayer Cohort and host of the Called Beyond podcast, for a conversation about prayer as a lived relationship with God. As part of the Teach Us to Pray series, Tim shares his own unexpected story of how a skeptical homebuilder encountered Jesus through a simple listening prayer exercise,an experience that reshaped his understanding of God's voice and ultimately redirected the course of his life and ministry. More than a conversation about prayer techniques, this episode explores what happens when ordinary followers of Jesus begin to embrace their identity as sons and daughters of God who are invited to hear His voice and join His mission. Tim, Brian, and Cory reflect on listening prayer, spiritual authority, identity, and the everyday practice of partnering with the Holy Spirit beyond the walls of the church. Through stories of awakening, disciple-making, and faithful obedience, this episode offers an invitation to move beyond simply believing that God speaks and into the adventure of listening, responding, and discovering the unique calling He has placed on every life.

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Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson

Teach Us to Pray with Zach Duke

In this episode of the KC Underground podcast, Brian and Cory are joined by Zach Duke, disciple-maker and movement leader, for a conversation that weaves together prayer, obedience, and an unexpected journey onto the soccer field. As part of the Teach Us to Pray series, Zach shares the remarkable story of how a simple prompting from Jesus led him from years of illness and discouragement into a season of radical obedience, one that eventually opened doors to professional soccer, international competition, and disciple-making opportunities around the world. More than a story about sports, this conversation explores what happens when ordinary people learn to listen for the voice of God and respond with simple faithfulness. Zach reflects on lessons learned through prayer, the practice of hearing God's voice, and the power of priestly prayer to bless, protect, and intercede for others. Through stories of transformation, disciple-making, and unexpected encounters with God, this episode offers a vision of a life shaped by prayerful dependence and courageous obedience.

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Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson

Teach Us to Pray with Lissa Hinman

In this episode of the KC Underground podcast, Brian and Cory are joined by Lissa Hinman, a disciple-making leader with Phoenix Underground and New Generations, whose life and ministry have been shaped by a growing passion for movement prayer. Together, they continue the Teach Us to Pray series by exploring the connection between prayer, spiritual formation, and the advancement of God’s kingdom. Lissa shares from her own journey of helping catalyze prayer across North America, offering insight into what it means to move beyond viewing prayer as a secondary practice and instead see it as the starting point, the spearhead of everything God is doing. This conversation invites us to consider prayer not only as a personal discipline, but as participation in a spiritual battle where disciples are formed and movements begin. Lissa emphasizes the importance of starting with our own lives, learning to discern distractions, walk in obedience, and engage God with simple, faithful steps. As the conversation unfolds, the invitation becomes clear: prayer is not reserved for the experienced or the equipped, but for anyone willing to step into relationship with Jesus and join Him in what He is already doing.

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Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson

Teach Us to Pray with David Hinman

In this episode of the KC Underground podcast, Brian and Cory are joined by David Hinman, a disciple-making leader with New Generations and Phoenix Underground, whose journey has been shaped by both movement strategy and a deepening hunger for the presence of God. Together, they continue the conversation on extraordinary prayer by exploring what distinguishes prayer that fuels movements from what many of us have experienced in the West. David shares from his own story of hitting a wall, moving from activity and ambition into a growing awareness that fruitfulness flows from abiding union with Jesus. This conversation invites us to examine the gap between talking about prayer and becoming people of prayer. Drawing on global movement contexts, David helps reframe prayer not as a supporting practice, but as the environment where disciple-making is born, sustained, and multiplied. What if the invitation is not simply to pray more, but to be formed differently, to live from intimacy, dependence, and a shared longing for God’s kingdom to take root in real people and places?

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Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson

Teach Us to Pray with Stephen Castellow

In this episode of the KC Underground podcast, Brian and Cory are joined by Stephen Castellow, a disciple-making practitioner who lives at the intersection of movement and prayer. Together, they continue the conversation on extraordinary prayer. We feel the tension that we talk about prayer, we teach it, we even build structures around it, but still wonder if we’re actually becoming people of prayer. Stephen invites us to consider moving beyond tools and strategies into a life of abiding, where prayer is not something we perform, but the place we are formed.

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Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson

Teach Us to Pray

In this episode of the KC Underground podcast, Brian and Cory begin a new season focused on extraordinary prayer, returning to the first phase of the Disciple-Maker Pathway with fresh urgency and a deeply personal invitation. Rather than offering quick answers, they open up their own journeys of conviction, hunger, and surrender, asking what it really means to become people of prayer. This conversation sets the tone for a broader learning journey, inviting listeners to rediscover prayer not as a practice to master, but as a life to enter. As we look ahead to a national prayer summit in Kansas City, September 18th - 19th, and a season of learning from others, the invitation is this: come with curiosity, humility, and a desire to be formed, “Lord, teach us to pray.”

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Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson

Formed in Mission with Casey Olinger

In this episode of the Kansas City Underground podcast, Brian, Cory, and Casey Olinger discuss Casey's journey of faith, his involvement in special needs ministry at Life Centers, and his transition to a house church community. Casey shares how God has been working in his life, shaping his identity and confidence as he serves others. The conversation highlights the importance of community, discipleship, and the unique experiences of those in the special needs community.

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Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson

Formed in Mission with Riley Griggs

In this episode of the Kansas City Underground podcast, Brian and Cory welcome Riley Griggs, who shares his journey from a small town in Kansas to living on mission in North Africa and back to Manhattan, Kansas. Riley discusses his experiences with the Ichthus campus ministry and how it shaped his understanding of disciple-making and community. He reflects on the importance of identity in Christ and how it influences his approach to evangelism and mission work, emphasizing the need for patience and discernment in sharing the gospel.

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Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson

Formed by the Gospel

In this episode, Cory and Brian move into the next phase of the disciple-maker pathway and explore Planting the Gospel. Again, in this series, we looking at how we’re formed in each phase of the disciple-maker pathway, rather than tools we use on mission. We highlight the challenges of communicating the Gospel and making disciples, emphasizing the need for humility, patience, and a deep-rooted identity in Jesus.

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Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson

Formed in Mission with Sam Leichty

In this episode of the KC Underground podcast, we interview Sam Leichty about how she has been formed in the ways of Jesus as she has joined Him on mission. Sam shares her story of moving from a life of uncertainty to one filled with purpose and connection, as she embraces her mission to see her family redeemed, restored and reconciled. Along the way, the Spirit has formed her character in greater surrender and faithfulness and brought healing in her identity.

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Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson

Formed in Living Missionally

In this episode of the Kansas City Underground podcast, we dive into the second phase of the Disciple Maker Pathway, focusing on living on mission. Join us as we explore the importance of identity formation, the role of 'Bless Rhythms,' and how embracing our identity as God's people transforms our mission. We talk about how these rhythms shape us to become interruptible, generous, curious, and patient like Jesus, and how that propels us to live on our mission.

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Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson Prayer & Spiritual Formation Brian Johnson

Formed in Extraordinary Prayer and Fasting

Join us as we dive into the transformative power of extraordinary prayer and fasting. In this episode, we discuss how these spiritual disciplines shape our identity and align our hearts with God's will. We talk about how solitude and fasting form us to be people that long to abide in Christ which then empowers us to live missionally. These rhythms are what shape us to sustain on mission throughout the rest of the journey.

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