Wichita Prayer Breakfast Since 1963:
More Than a Breakfast
Part 2 of 2 — Trust, Relationships, and the Movement Ahead
By Damon Young
I'll be honest — I came into this first year at Lead Wichita with a lot of ideas and a lot of energy. But I've tried to hold those things loosely and lead with curiosity first. One of the best decisions I've made has been sitting down with leaders who carry the deep memory of Wichita — people who've been building quietly and faithfully for decades — and simply asking them: what have you learned?
That's what led me to this conversation with Richard Coe, Jon Rolph, and Nick Martineau about the history of the Wichita Prayer Breakfast. If you haven't listened to the full conversation yet, I'd encourage you to: Wichita Prayer Breakfast History. These are three men I'm genuinely grateful to know, and grateful to be learning from.
Richard Coe, Jon Rolph, and Nick Martineau, Damon Young
I'd encourage you to listen to the full conversation here: Wichita Prayer Breakfast History
In Part 1, I shared the origin story and the first big lesson: center on Jesus, and nothing else. (see Part 1 here). Here's the second.
Lesson Two:
To Build Something Big, Do Something Small — Consistently
Those who came to Wichita and those who responded to the challenge and the opportunity believed that transformation starts individually and in small groups between people who are willing to be real with each other. Today there are many small groups in Wichita and throughout the country. George Fooshee, who passed in 2022, said there were very few small groups in Wichita before 1963. George provided working committee and small group leadership while William F. Farha provided Citizens Committee leadership in those early years.
Wichita has a culture of leadership. When I ask people where it comes from, the conversation almost always traces back to relationships — the kind forged in trust and authentic friendship, in small groups and prayer gatherings, over decades. This breakfast is an expression and encouragement of that.
“Part of what helps me believe in God — that there's a God who loves me — is when friends like Richard and Nick and Damon love me for who I am. It helps me believe that there's a God I can't see who could do the same thing, because I begin to experience that.” — Jon Rolph, CEO, Thrive Restaurant Group
That's not a program. You can't manufacture it. It moves at the speed of trust and relationship — slowly, faithfully, irreplaceably. Richard Halverson, the longtime Senate Chaplain and a friend of this gathering, used to say the greatest problem in the world is alienation, and the answer to alienation is reconciliation, and the key to reconciliation is Jesus. Our Surgeon General said something strikingly similar in 2024. The epidemic is loneliness and isolation.
What this breakfast has been quietly offering for 63 years is still needed.
“I do not like to think about what my life would have been like had I not been exposed to people in this movement who majored on the life and teachings of Jesus. I think I would have been missing it relationally.” — Richard Coe, Retired Leader & Wichita Prayer Breakfast Steward
Come Help Us Carry This Forward
As I think about what Lead Wichita is building — a movement of connected, inspired leaders working together for a flourishing city — I'm increasingly convinced that we can't skip the small. We can't build the big thing without doing the relational work. When we experience love through relationships centered in Christ, we benefit and so does our community.
Jon said it well in our conversation: you feel like you inherit something special that you want to steward and then pass on. That's exactly how I feel. And I want to pass it on to you.
The Wichita Prayer Breakfast was one of the early city breakfasts in our country. Today there are prayer breakfasts throughout the U.S. and in many other countries.
Don't just register for the 2026 Wichita Prayer Breakfast. Buy two tickets and bring a friend. Better yet — bring a table. Bring your team, your community, your people.
Every seat filled is a statement that this legacy matters. Every new relationship formed on May 7th is a seed planted for the next generation of Wichita.
Sixty three years didn't happen by accident. It happened because ordinary, faithful people kept showing up — and kept inviting others to come with them. You're part of this story now.