The KC Underground Podcast

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The KC Underground Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by different leaders of the KC Underground. The primary focus is intended to offer greater language, tools and equipping around disciple-making principles for missionaries and microchurch leaders.

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22 episodes
weekly
Avg 34 min
English

Episodes 22

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August 25 · 33 min
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.
August 18 · 34 min
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.
August 11 · 39 min
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.
August 4 · 40 min
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.
July 28 · 42 min
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.
July 21 · 52 min
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.
July 14 · 47 min
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.
July 7 · 44 min
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.
June 30 · 33 min
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.
June 16 · 40 min
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?
June 16 · 43 min
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.
June 9 · 30 min
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.”
June 2 · 36 min
What's Formed in You: Multiplication
In this episode of the KC Underground podcast, Brian and Cory wrap up their series on the Disciple-Maker Pathway by exploring what is formed in us in the phase of multiplication. They reflect on the surprising mix of joy, loss, and resilience that comes with releasing others, and how multiplication forces a deeper surrender, letting go of control, pride, and the need to be “the one.” Drawing from personal stories, Scripture, and the lived reality of pursuing an audacious vision for citywide gospel flourishing, we highlight how this phase forms a deeper dependence on Jesus, a renewed imagination for what God is doing, and a commitment to keep pressing forward even when growth feels slow or unseen. This conversation invites you to embrace the tension and beauty of multiplication, trusting that as we release, God is forming something far greater than we could build on our own.
May 26 · 31 min
Believe the Promise - Obey the Command
In this episode of the KC Underground podcast, Brian and BrianJames explore a challenging idea: God gives promises, and God gives commands—and confusing the two can shape the entire direction of our lives. Reflecting on the story of Abraham and their own experiences in ministry and leadership, they wrestle with the tension between believing what God will do and trying to make it happen ourselves. They invite us back to a slower, more grounded posture of faithfulness: listening for what God is asking today, trusting Him with what only He can accomplish, and learning to abide rather than produce. The result is not passivity, but a deeper participation in the work God is already doing.
May 19 · 30 min
Cultivating Imagination with BrianJames McMahon
In this episode of the KC Underground podcast, Brian and BrianJames McMahon continue their conversation on experience, imagination, and hope, moving from framework into practice. Together, they explore why transformation so often stalls, namely, because people lack the experiences needed to imagine a different way of life. They unpack how real change happens when we go beyond just explanation, and into embodied moments that create new possibilities. This episode brings the conversation into the practical rhythms of life, like exploring the importance of slowing down, breaking leadership into micro-skills, building imagination at the right pace, and creating environments where people can actually experience the life we’re inviting them into. The question for this episode is: where are we cultivating the kinds of experiences that lead to real hope and lasting transformation?
May 12 · 28 min
Experience, Imagination, and Hope with BrianJames McMahon
In this episode of the KC Underground podcast, Brian is joined by BrianJames McMahon for a conversation that moves beneath strategy and into formation. Together, they explore the relationship between experience, imagination, and hope, and why so many efforts toward disciple-making and microchurch life stall when imagination has not first been cultivated. The conversation revolves around the idea that we cannot hope for what we cannot imagine, and we cannot imagine what we have not experienced. Drawing from lived moments, theological insight, and the everyday challenges of movemental leadership, this conversation invites us to reconsider how change actually happens. Rather than trying to convince or compel, they point toward the slow, intentional work of creating experiences and reflecting on them, allowing imagination to grow and hope to take root.
May 5 · 31 min
Microchurch Conference: Jerry from the E-2 Hub
In this episode of the KC Underground podcast, Brian sits down with Jerry from the E-2 Hub to continue reflecting on the recent Microchurch Conference and what God is doing through disciple-makers in diverse and often transient contexts. Jerry shares his story of encountering Jesus through the ordinary faithfulness of his uncle, and how that moment reshaped his understanding of calling and ministry. As a military chaplain, Jerry reflects on the shift from trying to force ministry into familiar forms to embracing a simpler, relational way of joining Jesus—leading to multiplying communities in unexpected places. He also shares how the KC Underground family has provided grounding across constant change, and encourages listeners to stay attentive to the Holy Spirit, trusting that simple obedience can have far-reaching impact.
April 28 · 14 min
Microchurch Conference: Morgan Greer
In this episode of the KC Underground podcast, Brian sits down with Morgan Greer during the recent Microchurch Conference to reflect on what stood out while gathering with microchurch leaders and networks from across the country and around the world. Morgan shares how hearing diverse stories of disciple-making, welcoming the stranger, and experimenting with new expressions of mission reminded him of the freedom and beauty of following Jesus in creative, contextual ways. He also reflects on moving through fear and hostility toward genuine hospitality, what it means to stay present to the work of the Holy Spirit, and how ordinary faithfulness in places like juvenile detention centers can become a meaningful witness to the kingdom. Morgan encourages listeners to keep listening to Jesus, keep experimenting, and keep taking simple steps of obedience toward the people and places God is putting on their hearts.
April 21 · 15 min
Microchurch Conference: Bre Wiebe
In this episode of the KC Underground podcast, Brian sits down with Bre Wiebe during the recent Microchurch Conference in Tampa, Florida to reflect on what she learned alongside hundreds of leaders exploring the theme of hospitality. Bre shared how the call to “call the party” and create space at the table is reshaping her vision for welcoming neighbors, loving the stranger, and practicing everyday hospitality in her own home and neighborhood. She also reflected on the courage required to step out in faith, whether inviting people to the table, welcoming the work of the Holy Spirit in gatherings, or moving past fear to engage the people God places around us. Bre encourages listeners to rediscover the power of simple hospitality and to take one step toward welcoming the stranger in their own everyday lives.
April 14 · 18 min
Microchurch Conference: Chris and Renee
In this episode of the KC Underground podcast, Brian sits down with Chris and Renee Renshaw during the recent Microchurch Conference in Tampa, Florida to reflect on what they’re hearing and experiencing alongside hundreds of leaders exploring the theme of hospitality. Chris and Renee share insights about welcoming God into everyday life, practicing hospitality within marriage and community, and discovering how simple acts of presence can create spaces of belonging in places like Raytown. They also reflect on what it means to stay faithful in the rhythms of disciple-making, learning to show grace to yourself in the process, and how creating “living room” spaces in a city can open new pathways for connection, community, and mission.

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