Cory McElvain

Pioneering Director of Zero Hour Ministries

Cory and Celicia McElvain are Kansas City natives with a passion for training and equipping students to be disciplemakers in their school to reach a hurting and lost generation with the beauty, justice, and good news of the Gospel. Together, Cory and Celicia have one son, Luca, and a daughter on the way.

Cory began planting microchurches as a high school student in his senior year after being captivated by the movement of the global Church. He continued making disciples and planting microchurches with REACH starting in 2007 and continued until 2012. After moving to Lawrence, Kansas, in 2012, he began planting collegiate-focused microchurches alongside his CrossFit gym, which operated as a “business as missions” for around two years. After a break from ministry to jump back into the fitness industry, Cory realized he was missing his relationship with students. He began working as the youth pastor at Colonial Presbyterian in 2017 and continued to build those relationships even after his departure in 2019.

Through all of these moments, Cory knew God had something more planned for him. After starting a job at a gym in Overland Park in July 2019, he was still feeling a constant tug at his heart to reach students. Cory and Celicia began praying for where they would be called next and in the summer of 2020, the McElvains decided to come underneath the Kansas City Underground to launch Zero Hour Ministries. With the vision to see students mobilized to make disciples and multiple student-led disciple making teams in every school within a 30 mile radius of Kansas City so that every student would be able to see, hear, and respond to the Gospel!