A Thousand People. One City. One Table.
OUR Reflections on the 2026 Wichita Prayer Breakfast
On May 7th, nearly 1,000 people gathered in one room.
Nine decades of Wichitans - from a baby in arms to brothers and sisters in their 70s and 80s. Different churches. Different industries. Different stories. Many sides of our city gathered together at one table.
And for a few hours, we remembered something important:
We belong to each other.
For more than 60 years, the Wichita Prayer Breakfast has held to one simple agreement: gather across our differences and lift Jesus up together. The prayers, scripture readings, worship, and speakers on May 7th carried that tradition beautifully.
And somehow, after all these years, it still works.
There is something sacred about a room full of people willing to sit shoulder to shoulder - not because we agree on everything, but because we believe Wichita is worth loving together.
But what stays with us most after the room empties is not simply the size of the gathering.
It’s the question that follows it:
What happens now?
Because transformation has never been built on one inspiring morning alone.
Bill Courtney challenged us not to become “turkey people” - the kind of people who show up once a year with a charitable gesture and disappear until the next holiday season. Real change, he reminded us, belongs to people who stay. People willing to let relationships grow deep enough to actually change something from the inside out.
That kind of work requires humility.
It requires patience.
And honestly, it requires dependence on God.
We do this despite our weakness, not because of our strengths or strategies. God’s strength is made perfect in weakness, and maybe that is exactly why we keep returning to the table together year after year.
In the days since the Prayer Breakfast, I’ve also continued thinking about a quote shared by Tony Kriz from C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters:
“The great thing is to direct the malice to his immediate neighbours whom he meets every day and to thrust his benevolence out to the remote circumference, to people he does not know. The malice thus becomes wholly real and the benevolence largely imaginary.”
There’s something painfully honest about that.
It’s easy to love “the city” as an idea while becoming impatient with the actual people around us - our coworkers, neighbors, classmates, family members, and strangers we pass every day.
We can become passionate about causes while neglecting the people standing right in front of us.
But the antidote is not louder opinions or grander gestures.
It is real kindness.
Slow relationship.
Genuine care for the people in front of us.
It is choosing to be for one another…and through that, for our city.
That’s where transformation begins.
Not simply in packed rooms or inspiring moments, but in everyday acts of faithfulness that continue long after the event ends.
So to everyone who joined us - especially the hundreds who attended for the very first time…thank you.
And here’s my encouragement to you:
Pick one person you met on May 7th.
Reach out this week.
Send the text.
Schedule the coffee.
Pray for someone by name.
Find common ground.
Keep the relationship going.
Because a thousand of us in a room is a beginning.
A thousand of us in deeper relationship is a city being transformed.
If you’re new to Lead Wichita and wondering where to begin, start with us.
Tell us which realities in our city you feel most passionate about changing, and we’ll connect you with people already doing the work.
Wichita does not change through programs alone.
It changes through people willing to stay connected, stay hopeful, and keep showing up for one another.
And after May 7th, I believe more than ever:
That kind of city is possible.
- Damon
Lead Wichita is Faith Inspired, with Big Goals, Humble Actions, a commitment to Measure Progress, and a love for Joyful Networks.
