This week, Cory wraps up a two-part interview with Michael Rojas. This week, Cory and Michael dive deeper into his miraculous story and further discuss how God is using him to reach others like himself. This on-the-ground testimony highlights the 2nd observation of urban movements: emphasize affinity group engagement in cities.
This week, Cory begins a two-part interview with Michael Rojas, a local leader in Kansas City. Michael spends his time ministering to those with similar backgrounds and experiences as himself. Check out Michael's incredible journey from gang life and incarceration to disciple-making and ministry among people in those same communities.
Cory and Brian interview Stacy Gaskins of the Tampa Underground. Stacy is the Director of Translocal Movements for Tampa Underground. She has been a part of that network of missionaries and microchurches from the early days and regularly coaches missionaries who are engaged in unique contexts across her city. Stacy will share how Tampa supports helping leaders discover their own calling and begin to engage their own context.
Cory and Brian set up the second observation from the Two Four Eight research on disciple-making movements in urban contexts: Emphasize Affinity Group Engagement in Cities. This is a topic we are passionate about in the Kansas City Underground. Our focus comes primarily through an emphasis on discovering your masterpiece mission. We always ask, "To whom have you already been sent?" and "Where do you have a reason to exist?"
Cory and Brian interview Zephan Allenbrand, a Hub Leader resident with the Serve Hub of the KC Underground. Zephan is also a committed missionary leader in Gardiner, along with his wife Taylar. Together, they seek to make disciples and see a microchurch emerge and, by God's grace, a Hub for that part of the city as well. Zephan shares how he made the paradigm shift to a discovery and obedience-based approach, how that has affected the way he points people's hearts toward Jesus, and the freedom h...
Cory and Brian interview Breanna Wiebe, the ongoing coaching director of the KC Underground, about obedience and discovery-based disciple-making. This interview will explore Breanna's experience in her network of relationships and her experience developing coaching teams. The principles of discovery and obedience are important at the micro and macro levels. "Complacency is not our friend." - Bre
For the next few weeks, we interview different leaders, both locally and globally, on how they've leaned into discovery-based learning and obedience-based disciple-making in their context. This week we get some time with a global leader, Steven Steinhaus (name changed for protection). Steven and his family have been planting the gospel with unreached people groups for decades. "It feels forced when you tell people what to do and what to believe."
We're back to our series on exploring the 15 common insights among urban disciple-making movements. These insights were discovered through a series of interviews by a global organization called Two Four Eight. This week, Cory and Brian introduce the first insight, "Foster Obedient Lifestyles through Discovery Learning." This won't be something brand new for listeners of the podcast. However, we try to highlight some important points that were discovered by the Two Four Eight team as a reminder o...
Cory and Brian interview Frank Viola on his book Insurgence . This book is a robust exploration of the gospel of the Kingdom of God. The Gospel message communicated within this work is one that works against a cultural understanding that is primarily legalistic or libertine. Frank Viola is a conference speaker, blogger, and bestselling author. He helps serious followers of Jesus know their Lord more deeply so they can experience real transformation and make a lasting impact.
Cory and Brian interview Michael Sherwin of Two Four Eight. Michael was a primary driver behind the study of global movements and the process to discern the common insights among these disciple-making networks. Michael shares his own story of discovering the disciple-making movement world and the why this study felt so important. "We never graduate, as leaders, from being carriers of the gospel." Here's the link to the Two Four Eight research: https://twofoureight.org/resources/...
Cory and Brian unofficially officially introduce a brand new series exploring Movement Insights within an urban context. Two Four Eight, a mission organization, released their findings around a study on mission strategies for cities. By 2050, 70% of the world's population will live in an urban context. We have to begin thinking about how our strategies must shift in light of this reality. Over the coming months, we will explore the fifteen key observations from Two Four Eight. Here's the link to...
Cory and Brian get one more angle on the beginning of the KC Underground with Breanna and Ryan Wiebe. As with the previous stories, they have their own unique part in the birth of this network and discuss what was important for their family. We also try to pull out some of the pillar DNA components that have shaped us like our commitment to disciple-making tools, constant equipping, and relationships first. "The seeds of movement were planted years before. It just took a few years for them to em...
In this episode exploring the beginnings of the KC Underground with Michelle and Rob Wegner, we get more focused on the details of what happened between 2019 - 2020. We focus more on the practical insights we gained as this microchurch network formalized.
In this episode of the Origin Story of the KC Underground, we get to hear from Michelle and Rob Wegner. This turned into two episodes, actually. As with Cory and Brian, there's a story behind the story. In this first episode with the Wegners, we hear more about what formed them as people and as a family, which in turn shaped the KCU. We try to identify a few important parts of their ministry that have been a part of our founding DNA.
Most of the episodes this year have aimed at being very practical for the everyday leader. We will continue to do that with this podcast. We also have realized we haven't told the story of the Underground much or very directly on our podcast. We share bits and pieces through the last three years, but not one focused telling. We felt like it was time to do that. However, there are multiple versions of this story. Everyone has an angle to it. In the coming months, we'll interview several of the ea...
This week, Cory and Brian interview Joshua Brown, a.k.a. The Pressure Washing Pastor. Joshua was a vocational pastor for over 20 years before transitioning completely to the marketplace. He now uses his business to create kingdom economics and foster disciple-making in the everyday stuff of life. His hope is to see a multiplication of kingdom-minded businesses that think about how to bring the beauty of the Kingdom to every city. "The Church should be a sending organization for disciple-making f...
This is the final week of our miniseries with Darryl Answer, one of the directors of New Community, a Hub of the Kansas City Underground. This miniseries focuses on the 4Ps of spiritual family. These practices help us live with greater incarnational intentionality. In this final episode, we'll focus on People. The question we ask with People is, "Who will go with you?" This episode not only explores how we build teams, but we'll also look at how all of these Ps can inform the way we live at a mi...
We are in week three of a miniseries with Darryl Answer, one of the directors of New Community, a Hub of the Kansas City Underground. This miniseries focuses on the 4Ps of spiritual family. These practices help us live with greater incarnational intentionality. In this third episode, we'll focus on Place. The question we ask with Place is, "Where has God placed you?"
We are in week two of a miniseries with Darryl Answer, one of the directors of New Community, a Hub of the Kansas City Underground. This miniseries focuses on the 4Ps of spiritual family. These practices help us live with greater incarnational intentionality. In this second episode, we'll focus on Purpose. The question we ask with Purpose is, "What has God given you?" "Every person has been created in the image of God, so every person has a purpose."
This week begins a four-part interview with Darryl Answer, one of the directors of New Community, a Hub of the Kansas City Underground. The 4Ps are practices that help us live with greater incarnational intentionality. In this first episode, we'll do a high-level overview of the 4Ps and get into Prayer. The question we ask with Prayer is, "What is God saying to you?" Darryl will share how this framework has influenced their larger spiritual family and guides the way they live in and love well th...
In this week's episode we will follow up to other topics on timing in disciple-making. While knowing when to invite people into a DBS or when to introduce prayer is important, there are a host of other topics that we're probably always asking ourselves about. When do we baptize? When do we reproduce leaders? And, so many more. While we can't answer all the questions, we'll begin to explore a few of those questions.
We've got a new nugget in disciple-making this week. This week, we address the topic of timing. How do you know when to introduce prayer? How do you know when to invite people into a discovery Bible Study? We've all got questions on timing because we all have expectations about how fast or slow a group should go. That's what we begin to address with this disciple-making nugget.
Cory and Brian take some time this week to respond to the last two weeks of interviews with Alan Hirsch. While Alan's words have deeply shaped our movement, we recognize that sometimes interviews like the last two weeks might feel more theoretical than practical for the everyday leader. This is what we want to address this week. How do the seven marks of movement impact the ordinary disciple-maker?
Cory interviews Alan Hirsch, one of our heroes in the missional movement. Alan Hirsch is one of the founders of Movement Leaders Collective, as well as founding the Forge Mission Training Network and 5QCollective. Known for his innovative approach to mission and thought-leadership, Alan is highly sought after movement strategist for leaders, churches and denominations across the Western world. He is the author of numerous award winning books including The Forgotten Ways, 5Q, ReJesus, The Shaping...
Cory interviews Alan Hirsch, one of our heroes in the missional movement. Alan Hirsch is one of the founders of Movement Leaders Collective, as well as founding the Forge Mission Training Network and 5QCollective. Known for his innovative approach to mission and thought-leadership, Alan is highly sought after movement strategist for leaders, churches and denominations across the Western world. He is the author of numerous award winning books including The Forgotten Ways, 5Q, ReJesus, The Shaping...
In this episode, we get to hang out again with James Mays, one of the key leaders of Share the Hope, a network committed to disciple-making within the formerly incarcerated community. This episode is all about the next nugget in disciple-making: We need to keep it simple. Complex things don't reproduce fast or well. We'll come at this topic from a couple of angles and explore how James contextualizes keeping it simple within the Share the Hope network. "Grow like a see at God's speed." - James M...
In this episode, Brian interviews Michelle Wegner on the topic of Soul Care in response to the idea that Disciple-making is messy. In the previous episode we highlighted four areas where disciple-making gets tough and four areas where we have made significant mistakes. We were in part saying, "What do we do when it gets hard, or when we make a mistake?" The answer is simple, but not easy. The answer is Soul Care. Michelle unpacks some of her journey and passion around helping others care for the...
In this episode, Cory and Brian walk through the next disciple-making nugget: Disciple-making is messy. We highlight four points about the “harder” parts and four “mistakes” we’ve made as we have attempted to follow Jesus’s commission to “go make disciples.” We usually talk about effective strategies and tools that help us as we make disciples in the everyday stuff of life. The truth is, it’s never easy, and we’re not Jesus, so we’re going to make mistakes along the way. We’ll dive deeper in fut...
Cory and Brian offer a new nugget in disciple-making: To be effective, we must discern our context. The question here is, "To whom have you been sent." In this episode we'll talk about a few different ways that you can begin thinking about your missional context.
Throughout 2023, the first prayer guide of each month is being written by Michael "Sully" Sullivan. Periodically, we'll pull Sully in for a podcast to set up that prayer guide. This week, Brian and Sully will talk through Psalm 71 and the importance of Holy Week in the rhythm of the church, how the Psalms can frame up Holy Week, and then how we can enter into the prayer guide together this week. In the West, we've often been so wrapped up in Palm Sunday, maybe Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, tha...
