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The Road Back
90 Days of Health, Hope, and Renewal
Starting June 1, Gareth Keown, MSML, CEO of City Union Mission, invites the community to join a 90-day journey focused on health, leadership, recovery, faith, resilience, and hope. This journey is personal, but it also reflects the broader mission of City Union Mission: helping men, women, and families find their way back from crisis, homelessness, instability, and hardship. Over 90 days, Gareth will share honest thoughts on his personal and organizational health, homelessness, nonprofit leadership, burnout, recovery, Kansas City, and what it really takes to care for a city.
This won’t be polished. It won’t be filtered. It will be real. Join the journey. Pray with us. Share the story. Help bring hope to Kansas City.
Follow Campaign Progress
90 Days. One Step at a Time.
Follow the campaign’s progress here as Gareth shares 90 days of health, reflection, leadership, and stories from the Mission.
Follow Gareth linkedin.com/in/garethkeownmsml
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Days 1–10: Honest Assessments
In this introduction, Gareth Keown shares why he’s starting this 90-day journey and why it matters for City Union Mission, Kansas City, and anyone who is on their own road back.
In recent months, Gareth has taken on the challenge of leading a 102-year-old Mission through tough times. He’s also faced the honest truth that his own health isn’t where it should be.
The Road Back is about choosing to begin again.
It’s about being honest, taking the next step, and staying committed to rebuilding—personally, as an organization, and as a community.
Follow the 90-day journey and invite someone to join you.
Day 1 of 90 – The Road Back
Fact: you didn’t get to the place you find yourself overnight.
Reflection: It happened because of a series of decisions, good, bad or indifferent. So now what? Whatever the change you desire, it doesn’t start by waiting for the ideal moment. Feelings and even motivation to a degree has nothing to do with it. It’s a decision to change. And, then, you simply start. The first step is not perfect, it’s simply that, action.
Invitation: What decision have you been delaying? It started with exchanging 5am emails with 45 mins of walking. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a start. Go on, start.
Day 2 of 90 – The Road Back
Heath starts with assessment. Facts. Also known at times as the “uncomfortable truths.” This is true for individuals and organizations. Know the truth, and the truth will set you free. The turnaround that is happening before our eyes City Union Mission started with a courageous and humble assessment. When I started in this new role, we had a board-approved $2.8 mil deficit in our 2026 budget. This was not reckless leadership; this was an unshakable belief that we had a road through and BACK to sustainability…which is happening before our eyes and with even greater health. Our mission is growing stronger and healthier each day.
Day 3 of 90 – The Road Back
People and organizations don’t simply drift into health or performance; it requires a highly intentional act of will and discipline. While we often rely on KPIs to measure performance, it’s essential to consider OKIs as well. At City Union Mission, we are focusing on four key OKIs that we aim to improve or achieve before the end of the year.
The Road Back – Day 4
Think outside the box.
The road back to health, must have you thinking beyond the current reality. Meaning, if you don’t change your mindset, your behaviors and patterns will stay the same…and thus your current reality. City Union Mission’s Thrift Stores represent that out-of-the-box thinking. We are not a federally funded organization – we are funded by the community. And, as such, we need multiple revenue streams that not only contribute to financial sustainability but also tie into our program. “The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence—it is to act with yesterday’s logic.” — Peter Drucker
The Road Back – Day 5
Pain often signals that something needs attention. In the body and in organizations, pain is not always the enemy. Sometimes it is the warning light that leads to healing. What’s your pain trying to tell you?
The Road Back – Day 6
Health is built through small decisions repeated over time. One workout does not transform a body. One meeting does not transform an organization. But repeated choices compound. Learning to change the response to the stimulus is what is key. At City Union Mission we are not only teaching ourselves as an organization to change the response to the stimulus, but also our guests and clients. And now, meet Bob!
The Road Back – Day 7
Discipline After Motivation
Fact: Motivation usually fades before transformation is complete. Real change depends on discipline after the emotion wears off. That’s why we City Union Mission are doubling down on the fundementals – “our why, getting real clear on our mission statement, how we measure that, etc.” BTW, we do this for our guests and clients too. Today meet Dave Capp! He has been with the mission more than 30 years!
The Road Back – Day 8
Humility is the first step! Wait, we are on day 8? Shouldn’t that have been the first day? Yes. But sometimes we have to go through days 1 through 7 to reach humility. Sometimes (not always), things need to break first, as unfortunate and unnecessary as that often is. Humility says, “This is not working anymore; I can’t keep doing this like this, or what got us here won’t sustain us in the future.” What conversation must you have with yourself or your organization that starts with a posture of humility?
The Road Back – Day 9
The Body Keeps Score
The body reveals the cumulative effect of habits. Organizations and relationships do the same. Culture, finances, systems, and outcomes reveal what has been practiced over time. Transformation takes hard work that is focussed and disciplined literally rewiring the stimulus/response disposition. Meet Lauren Pope, SHRM-CP City Union Mission HR team lead – she has stepped into a challenging role and is doing a phenomenal role in executing the change we need.
The Road Back – Day 10
Naming the Goal A clear goal gives direction to sacrifice. …and just like a vector, that direction provides key insights into the speed at which you have, are, or must travel. Also, does your goal help you identify distractions? We, City Union Mission, are making significant progress in clearly identifying distractions that may be, in fact, “good,” but are not necessarily “best” for what we are called to do for this season of our story.
Days 11–20: Health, Stewardship, and Mission
The Road Back – Day 11
Steward what’s in your hand. The temptation is to wait till you have all the pieces you need for what you want to, or dream, to do. The facts are, that rarely happens. So for individuals and organizations you must steward what is, not what was, or what ought to be. City Union Mission we are doubling down on that principle for our buildings, our vehicles, our programs, our systems and our people. And, just like the second half looked very different for both the #Knicks and #Spurs last night in game 4, so can and will it look for you and us as we remain faithful with what has been entrusted. Meet Stacy Capp !
The Road Back – Day 12
In seasons of change, organizations don’t need more thermometers telling everyone how cold it is. They need thermostats willing to set a new temperature.
Anyone can describe the culture they inherited. Leadership begins when you take responsibility for the culture you create. This is what we are unapologetically pursuing at City Union Mission – it’s a new day.
The Road Back – Day 13
Over time, secondary trauma can show up in subtle ways. You may find yourself becoming emotionally exhausted, cynical, irritable, overly protective, detached, or feeling like the problems are too big to solve. It can impact your sleep, relationships, decision-making, and overall well-being. In ministry and nonprofit work, we often assume these feelings are simply part of the job, or worse, it’s just the price to pay as part of your calling, but if left unchecked, they can lead to burnout.
Here’s what we at City Union Mission are doing to bring awareness and address this. Oh, and here’s a sneak preview of my new ride thanks to Ventum
The Road Back – Day 14
Not all resistance to change comes from a place of ill intent.
Yesterday, we discussed how secondary trauma can manifest itself through protectiveness. In mission-driven organizations like City Union Mission, that protectiveness often comes from a genuine desire to help people and preserve what has worked in the past.
The challenge is that protectiveness can unintentionally create two outcomes:
1. Program drift — as exceptions and additions slowly dilute the original purpose of a program.
2. Increased cost — as complexity grows and more resources are required to achieve the same outcome.
Good leaders learn to distinguish between resistance rooted in self-interest and resistance rooted in care. One should be challenged. The other should be listened to, honored, and evaluated against the mission.
Sometimes the most caring thing we can do is have the courage to change.
The Road Back – Day 15
The Importance and Role of the Board!
Suffice to say I am grateful to our board and its leadership Mark Sewalson. I have also been encouraged by Michael Wallace, MBA, CLTC®, VBS who always goes out of his way to check in on me and make time to “just see how you are doing.”
This is an exciting time for City Union Mission – Let’s go!!!
The Road Back – Day 16
Crisis is expensive – Prevention is preferred.
At City Union Mission our mission is transformation.
Don’t wait for crisis to force change. Address the small things now. Prevention may not be exciting, but it is almost always less painful, less expensive, and far more effective than recovery.
Food for thought:
In Scripture, God established the Year of Jubilee, a time when debts were forgiven, captives were released, and people were restored to freedom.
“Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you.” Leviticus 25:10
The heart of God has always been freedom.
What if City Union Mission could provide both spiritual and tangible pathways to liberty and with that restoring people right here in Kansas City and beyond to self-sustainability?
Let’s go!
Days 21–30: Organizational Diagnosis
Days 31–40: Kansas City and Homelessness
Days 41–50: Nonprofit Sector and Leadership
Days 51–60: The Turnaround Middle
Days 61–70: Strengthening the Mission
Days 71–80: Renewal and Resolve
Days 81–90: Commissioning the Next Season
Why This Journey Matters to City Union Mission
The Road Back is more than just one person’s health journey. It’s a story about the transformation City Union Mission works toward every day. Every person who comes to the Mission is somewhere on a road back.
For some, that road begins with a meal.
For some, it begins with a safe place to sleep.
For some, it begins with recovery.
For some, it begins with prayer, counseling, work, community, or a single moment of hope.
City Union Mission serves people facing poverty, homelessness, crisis, and deep need. The Mission offers care that is practical, personal, and grounded in faith.
The themes of this 90-day journey—health, truth, discipline, stewardship, recovery, resilience, and renewal—are closely tied to the Mission’s work.
Rebuilding a life, like improving personal health, takes time.
Lasting change, like organizational health, needs truth and discipline.
Transformation, like a long ride, takes endurance, support, and hope.