The Pre-History
The Spirit-work that was to be Kaw Prairie began in the early 2000s with several different but converging movements of the Holy Spirit. An eager group of Johnson County Christians (Lutherans mostly) were praying for a Spirit-led leader for a new church they were hungering to plant in western Johnson County. Meanwhile, a 30-something husband/father/pastor from the Chicagoland area with church-planting experience was sensing the stirring of the Holy Spirit to leave the “Land of Lincoln (and of expressways that doubled as parking lots) and trust God about starting a new church wherever He led. And about the same time, a group of mission-minded planners from a different church tradition (Presbyterian) had purchased a prime piece of real-estate for the ‘someday’ use of a new church plant.
The Pastor
When Pastor Dan McKnight and his wife Laura came to visit the area in fall 2003 to meet the church-planting team, they not only felt God’s clear calling, but they also just plain fell in love with Johnson County (there are no exposed rocks around Chicago---just corn) and its people. Dan shared sad goodbyes with his former church, friends, and colleagues around Chicago, and in early November kissed Laura goodbye, promised he wouldn't speed or not pay attention while he was driving, and then drove his '96 minivan to Shawnee to recruit and train a small planting team. Meanwhile Laura stayed back in Chicago with their boys to try to sell their old house. When the family finally arrived in March 2004, they all moved into their new house in northwest Shawnee.
The Core
Meanwhile, the core team had arranged with the DeSoto School District to rent Mize Elementary School, a wonderful but hard-to-find educational outpost near the Kaw River in western Shawnee. So it was there that in April 2004 Dan & a growing core team started Sunday evening “Prairie Burn” worships & bible studies—to train the growing church leaders in Biblical leadership (and burn off some of the bad habits that all of us Christians fall into over time!) In August 2004, the church kicked off its Sunday morning worship, with about 90 people at its first worship. The next week, looking over some 70 or so people, discouraged but not daunted by the low numbers, they moved forward with powerful worship, relevant Biblical messages, and servant-hearted spirit—and grew slowly but surely.
The Partnership
At about that time, those mission-minded Presbyterians with the 18 acres of highway property began conversations with Kaw Prairie and our Lutheran partners about a unique-in-the-nation missional paradigm where Kaw Prairie might witness to the world the unity of Christians in an era of schisms and denominations-- by formalizing an arrangement that would make Kaw Prairie an interdenominational church started by both Lutherans and Presbyterians, for the sake of the world that Jesus came to save.
The St James Years
Meanwhile God led us to look for more accessible space for worship, and directed us to the brand new Catholic High School under construction just a half-mile off K7--the St James Academy. So in July 2005, after celebrating an outdoor baptism of new believers in Shawnee Mission Park’s lake, we started worshipping in St James Academy, and with the closer proximity of the school to local K7 and K10, the church grew more rapidly, and by early 2009 were worshipping on average 330/week. Excited worshippers and strong giving allowed two more full-time staff to join the mostly volunteer team-- Judy Hamner as our Children's Director, who had built up the ministry for years as a volunteer, and Pastor German Portillo as our first Worship Director, to take our worship experience in a direction both soulful and spiritual.
Perhaps the most powerful blessing in these early years was the servant-heartedness of the Kaw Prairie volunteers themselves, who like the pioneers who came before us simply rolled up their sleeves, worked up a sweat, and did whatever was necessary to, with God's help, lay the foundations of something wonderful in the fertile fields of Kansas.
The Building
In spring 2007 the church’s first ever capital campaign netted gifts and commitments of $1.4 million, and with that strong foundation we moved forward on our design/build of our first ministry center, which except for a small punchlist was substantially complete in May 2009. Our first worship in the new building was on Pentecost Sunday, May 31, 2009. There's still a lot more work--and ministry--to be done in the 23,000 ft building, but Kaw Prairie looks forward to using its toolbox for Jesus in many and various ways for decades to come. By December 2009, about 450 folks/week were worshiping God together at Kaw Prairie--and nearly 300 had become covenanted members.
Who we are now
If the concept of church is a foreign one to you, you'll find Kaw Prairie a pretty unintimidating place to start finding your way back to God. If you're a longtime churchgoer or a religiosity expert, you might find Kaw Prairie annoying, though. See, we're a Christ-first Community Church, grateful for our denominational heritage but not shackled to it. We're passionate for Jesus and for loving the world he came to save, but we try not to be judgmental and defensive around folks who don't think much of us or our Lord. No, we're a church that without putting on any airs really does try to be the salt and the light the world needs so badly. If you're eager to join us in changing lives with Jesus' love, come visit this Sunday!