Pinnacle Update
by Mark Tidsworth, Founder & Team Leader
Gratitude and Eagerness
As we begin this new year, we are filled with gratitude for our partners (you) in God’s mission, for how we were able to invest our energies together in 2021. We are also filled with eagerness for new adventures in this fresh, new year. Given this, I’m stepping away from our typical E-news articles to provide this update on Pinnacle. Plenty of you are curious people, inquiring what Pinnacle is up to now. Here are seven places our energy has and is focusing.
Strengthening Internal Support
You know how we’ve done so many size transitions trainings and consultations with many of you? Well, we too are making use of those principles and practices to develop the infrastructure we need to support our growth in two ways. First, this month we hope to hire an Operations Coordinator who will serve to manage our internal functions. This will strengthen us, while freeing others of us to serve better in the sweet spots of our giftedness. Second, we are developing Team Leader positions for specific service areas. While Ircel Harrison serves as Team Leader for Coaching, watch for other new team leaders coming soon.
Strengthening Current Services
Honestly, I can’t keep track of everything we do. That’s why we are expanding our leadership who can track and develop specific areas of service. Since Covid’s onset, we’ve used the opportunity to deepen the well so to speak in each service area, while also moving toward more online delivery systems. What are our primary services at this point? I can give you the big picture, while welcoming questions about more specifics: Coaching and Coach Training, Training (Example – Clergy Collective, Pastor Life Podcast), Consulting, Transforming Church Initiatives (Example – ReShape), Publishing through Pinnacle Leadership Press, and Web Design.
Expanding Our Team
We are 21 strong now. Since Pinnacle’s beginning we have used Jim Collin’s mantra of “getting the right people on the bus,” as our guide for adding Associates. The result is a fine team of genuine people with a wide range of expertise. I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to serve with these people. You might also be interested in noting most of our people are ordained clergy from various Christian traditions, reflecting Pinnacle’s DNA of ecumenical ministry. We invite you to update yourself on our expanding team found here https://www.pinnlead.com/ourteam.
Launching New Services
Perhaps your energy flow reflects our journey during this pandemic. Early on we responded with a huge burst of energy, creating services specific to the situation. Later, we experienced the innovation fatigue which so many others described. Then, after practicing sabbath and cocooning a while, we moved into another energy burst resulting in a flurry of new and emerging services. I’ll simply list some, recognizing I may unintentionally miss a few.
Pinnacle One - for congregations and coming this month
Summit Coach Training – nearly two years old now and growing monthly
Clergy Collective – Multiple tracks now: Lead Pastors and Layers
The Leadership Retreat – April 2022
The Congregational Leadership Collective – Through Central Seminary’s Thriving Congregations Initiative funded by The Lilly Endowment
Launching Enneagram Services – Gathering our team and coming this Winter/Spring
Pastor Life Podcast – New episodes in 2022
Developing The Church Assessment
Placing Pinnacle Camp on the calendar for early fall 2023
Developing New Content
Webinars, Youtube Videos, Hardcopy Books, Digital Books…
These are some of the ways we are creating and delivering training and inspiration over the last two years. I’m very encouraged with how my book ReShape: Emerging Church Practice In A Volatile World has given shape to a variety of engagement opportunities for leaders and churches. Pinnacle is providing the ReShape Transforming Church Initiative (learn more here https://www.pinnlead.com/reshaping-church) while Central Seminary in Kansas City is using ReShape in its Thriving Congregations Lilly Endowment funded services (learn more here https://www.cbts.edu/reshaping-church/).
Growing In Partnership
Since our inception, Pinnacle has partnered with various denominations and organizations in ministry. This is not new. What’s new is the breadth and diversity of our partnerships. So many are clearly seeing the benefits of collaboration now, abandoning the “go it alone” mentality of the twentieth century. Denominations and Seminaries continue to be our most frequent partners, while pursuing others as they arise.
Expanding Geographically
You know how your church often includes worshipers from far away in your worship gatherings through the internet? In a similar way, we are more of a national organization than before the pandemic. Yes, we were already providing events and doing consulting across the country, but now our training services are including clergy and church staff from many locations. Since moving our training and coaching groups more online, the participation door has opened, eliminating geographical restrictions.
In summary, we are very eager to embrace the ministry opportunities of 2022. No, the pandemic is not over, but we are not waiting on ideal circumstances to do ministry. What we have is the world we have, the world in which God calls us to be the unfolding church. We at Pinnacle are eager to live into our mission mantra.
Partnering with others to discover and pursue God’s mission in the world.