President & Director of Business Operations
Gary & Marie Harrison – Gary is the President of Pinnacle Ministries, as well as one of the Retool Kit authors/ trainers/coaches. In that capacity he has worked with pastors and churches throughout the country, as well as in the Philippines and Japan. Gary has been a pastor for over twenty years, a denominational executive for six (Director of Pastoral and Church Resources), as well as an interim pastor. Gary also currently serves as the Executive Director for Church Strengthening of a denominational district. Gary is a certified Natural Church Development coach consultant and has taken additional specialized training in leadership development and conflict mediation. Marie serves the Director of Business Operations, and coordinates all things business at Pinnacle. In additional to her experience as a pastor’s wife (where she often serves in encouraging other pastors’ wives) she has been a production planner for a factory, legal secretary and administrative assistant. Marie often consults with churches in the area of policy, compliance and financial systems. Gary and Marie live in central Wisconsin and have been married for over forty years, and have two wonderful cats (Agatha Kitty and Moochie).
Revitalization Specialist
Ray & Kay Swatkowski – Ray serves as the executive vice president of Pinnacle Ministries. A graduate of Fort Wayne Bible College (B.A.) and Trinity University (M. Div.), he has served as a church planter, pastor, missionary to France and executive vice president of Converge Worldwide (’95-’08). A passion for local churches to be biblical in their nature and intentional in reaching their community led to his giving direction to the development of the Retool Kit Pathway©. Ray has coached churches of varying sizes and locations, launching movements of church mobilization in the US, the Philippines and Japan. Ray has also served as an intentional interim pastor. Kay is a retired counselor and author. She has a Bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a Masters in clinical pastoral counseling. Her blog, www.americangrandma.com has given her a popular forum for her writing, and her books A Grandmother’s Prayers, and Make Yourself at Home – Rediscovering the Heart of the Church (with Ray) have been published by Discovery House. Ray and Kay have four married children and eight grandchildren, and reside in Antioch, IL
Dan and Eva Thompson – Dan and Eva bring a wealth of experience as veteran church leaders.
Dan wears a number of hats at Pinnacle, primarily that of overseeing the technical needs of the ministry (V.P. of Operations). However, he is also a certified Retool coach, has coached churches in Retool and gives leadership to lay leader development. He currently serves in his local church as discipleship instructor through the Framework to Following Jesus course. Dan has served as a elder for 20 years (chairman for 10), and is a retired airline captain.
Eva gives leadership to our strategic prayer initiatives. She served as chairperson for the prayer ministry in her church for 25 years. As our Director of Strategic Prayer she oversees a 24/7 team that prays for pastors, churches, our international work and the needs of Pinnacle. She is a freelance writer and has written discipleship material that is used in a number of churches (and that they both teach!).
Dan and Eva have been happily married for 52 years (41 of which as believers!).
Faculty – Church Health and Pastor Care Chris and Faith Creech
Chris has served in ministry for over 40 years, including 30 years as a pastor and/or church planter in the United States and in Canada. He served as a missionary for eight years with Converge Worldwide, in Singapore and Malaysia, as a seminary lecturer and chaplain. Chris has a B. S. from the University of Colorado in Boulder and an M. Div. and a Ph. D. from Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth. He has also done adjunct teaching in Russia, Estonia, Israel, Jordan, Brazil, Canada, China, and the United States. Chris is the author of Toxic Church, which outlines the causes and cures of conflict within Christian ministries from a biblical perspective. Chris regularly teaches seminar courses in the US and Asia on ministry health, and in addition helps to training interim pastors in dealing with difficult churches.
Faith has been a pastor’s wife for almost 30 years, with an active ministry to children and women as a mentor and teacher. She has also taught for 18 years in Christian and public schools. Faith has a B. S. in elementary education from Baylor University. As a missionary, she has been mentoring large numbers of female students and the wives of male students, helping them learn healthy ways of coping with the stress of ministry. She has also team taught several counseling courses with Chris.
