Kansas City doesn’t need another march. It needs power greater than ourselves | Opinion
In Kansas City, there are streets that tell stories. Troost Avenue, long known as our city’s racial dividing line, recently drew attention when city leaders and local business representatives gathered to highlight the mayor’s revitalization efforts. Cameras recorded the event, and the corridor received widespread support and public recognition.
But one couldn’t help but notice what was missing: Prospect Avenue. Why not Prospect? Perhaps because of its reputation. Crime has scarred it. Businesses have shuttered. Just this summer, the Sun Fresh grocery store at the Linwood Shopping Center closed its doors, leaving yet another food desert in our city. For too many, Prospect has become synonymous with fear, loss and abandonment.
I know that reality firsthand. On June 23, 2022, my wife and I had just left her mother’s home and stopped for gas at 35th and Prospect. It was about 11:00 that night. As I walked inside to pay, I exchanged a few friendly words with someone I recognized. Then, suddenly, gunfire erupted.
Because it was so close to the Fourth of July, I thought for a moment the noise was from fireworks. But the sound was sharper and louder as bullets pierced the building. In that split-second, I dove for cover. I believe that dive saved my life. If I hadn’t gone down, I would not be here to tell this story.
But survival was only the beginning. The months that followed were marked by trauma. I struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder. I turned to substances to numb the fear and the flashbacks. My wife walked with me through nights of anxiety and despair. Counseling and community support helped. But more important, I was met by the grace of God. Slowly, I was restored. Slowly, I began to hear a call — not just to heal, but to return.
Now, three years later, I am coming back to Prospect not as a victim, but as a witness. Not with fear, but with faith.
On Sunday, Sept. 28, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and again from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., we will gather in the ArchWell Health parking lot at the Linwood Shopping Center for what we are calling the Revival on Prospect. This is not a concert. This is not a performance. This is about presence — the presence of God in the midst of a community that desperately needs healing and hope.
This revival also marks a new beginning. My wife First Lady Belinda Estill and I are planting King of Glory Global Church, with our first official service taking place here. At the same time, we are launching Project IOTA at 5001 Independence Ave. — Kansas City’s first urban monastery, a spiritual community rooted in prayer, service and hospitality. It’s also a social initiative aimed at creating lasting solutions for our city’s unhoused population.
Some might ask: Why Prospect? Why hold a revival here, when other corridors might be safer or easier? My answer is simple: Because this is where the wound is deepest. And when the wound is deepest, that is where healing must begin.
Kansas City doesn’t need just another event. It doesn’t need another march or another speech. What we need is an encounter — an encounter with the living God, full of hope, grace and a power greater than ourselves. That is why we are coming to Prospect. That is why we are inviting the city to join us.
Three years ago, I lay face down on the ground at 35th and Prospect, praying that I would live to see another day. This September, I will stand again on Prospect — not in fear, but in the power, in the glory and in obedience to he who has given life. I am living proof that even in the darkest corners of our city, light can shine. And I believe, with all my heart, that light is about to break forth on Prospect Avenue.
Marvin Estill and Belinda Estill are organizers of Revival KC and founding members of the King of Glory Global Church in Kansas City.
