37th Annual Overland Park
Mayor's Prayer Breakfast
Brian Holman
The Overland Park Mayor's Prayer Breakfast
was Thursday, April 12, 2012
6:45 AM - Overland Park Marriott Hotel
10800 Metcalf, Overland Park, KS
The featured speaker was Brian Holman
Former major league baseball player and businessman.
For ticket information, call Sheryl Block at Valley View Bank: 913 381-3311
or email Sheryl at: sblock@valleyviewbank.com
CLICK HERE for a PDF of a
Overland Park Mayor's Prayer Breakfast flier
To hear or download the entire program CLICK HERE
or order a CD by emailing Jim@MathisPhoto.net
As a former Major League pitcher, I learned early in my career that in order to be the best player I could be and compete at the Big League level, I had to maintain a positive attitude, stay focused on my long term goals, adhere to a relentless work ethic, use failure as fuel, and adopt the attitude that no matter how hard things get, you just never, ever quit.
Now that I'm in the business world, I enjoy applying the same values and principles I learned in professional baseball, to serve my clients at Ronald Blue & Co. I truly love what I do and enjoy serving people with excellence.
My family has endured many difficult trials over the years. From the tragic loss of my youngest daughter to leukemia, almost losing my youngest son to a brain tumor, and battling the challenges that come with raising a son with Asperger's Syndrome, you have to make a choice to keep pushing forward no matter what, and try to use the struggles that you've endured to help others.
As a motivational speaker, I share my messages of hope and endurance as often as I can to various audiences around the country. I challenge and encourage people to NEVER give up and to keep their eyes focused on the goal. As a ball player I only knew how to play the game one way, and that was all out, all the time, so whether you cross the lines to play a game or you cross the lines of life, ALWAYS play like your hair's on fire!
The Overland Park Mayor's Prayer Breakfast is not affilated with the City of Overland Park. It is organized exclusively by Kansas City CBMC, Inc, a not-for-profit organization.
The Overland Park Mayor's Prayer Breakfast Committee is:
Tom Van Dyke (Chairman)
Honorable Carl Gerlach
Jim Mathis (Program)
Tracey Osborne (OP Chamber of Commerce)
Sheryl Block (Reservations and Ticket Coordinator)
Rick Boxx (Church coordinator)
Dave Thompson (Ticket Sales)
Tom White (Program and Arrangements)
Jacob Swisher
History of the Mayor's Prayer Events
In 1973, Homer Anderson (the man Homer’s Coffee House is named in honor of) proposed a plan to begin Mayor’s Prayer Breakfasts in cities throughout Kansas and Missouri. Homer visited with mayors throughout the region and asked them to let Kansas City CBMC sponsor Annual Mayor Prayer Breakfasts in their cities.
Over the next few years many such events were begun. Other CBMC areas followed our lead and began Mayor’s Prayer Breakfasts as well. Nationally, CBMC sponsors Mayor’s Prayer Breakfasts in St Louis, Houston, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Los Angeles, and many other cities.
The purpose, then as now, was to present the claims of Jesus Christ to the business and professional community in a non-threatening and open environment. The guidelines were that there would be no mention of political parties or denominations. We would discourage politicians and clergy from speaking and the main speakers would be business people or athletes who had had a significant encounter with Christ.
Now, thirty-eight years later, Kansas City CBMC is still involved to some degree in about a dozen of these events each year. Some of the cities with Kansas City CBMC sponsored mayor prayer events are: Overland Park, Kansas City, KS, Independence, Blue Springs, and Topeka. We are not involved with the Kansas City, MO Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast. Our purpose and guidelines have remained unchanged. The main challenge has been to keep politics out of the events and stay focused on God. Only in recent years have we begun to receive resistance from a small minority who believe that important issues, such as spirituality, should not be discussed in a public meeting. Others believe that there should be zero connection between anything spiritual and anything related to the government. This is certainly not what our founding fathers intended when they wrote the establishment clause.
Past speakers have been:
2011 - Pam Morgan
2010 - Karen Kornacki
2009 - Goran Hunyak
2008 - Brian Bannister
2007 - Brig Sorber
2006 - Dr Bernard Franklin
2005 - Robert Rogers
2004 - Gracia Burnham
2003 - Jerry Molnar
2002 - Richard Fenstermacher
2001 - Carol Kent
2000 - Charles Jones
1999 - Tom Osborne
1998 - Ted Sprague
1997 - Albert Diepeveen