Who Is Pinnacle?

Our Heart
The staff of Pinnacle brings together decades of ministry experience as lay, pastoral, regional and national denominational leaders. We started as a strictly pastoral care agency, and we were grateful to get to pastors after a crisis. However, in many cases, after healing, they went right be to dysfunctional church. This gives rise to a saying we hold true - “Pastors often build churches God never asked them to build, using gifts and passions that are only borrowed. They can do that for only so long and they then crash."

That caused us to move to our present vision of “Healthy Pastors, Healthy Leaders, Leading Healthy and Effective Churches” and desire to see a movement of community-focused churches that obediently reproduce disciples, leaders and congregations. That has moved us from being a small agency in central WI to one that has touched and trained pastors around the world.

We believe that “church growth” is not enough; you can do the right thing the wrong way and damage people in the process. We desire to see effective pastoral families leading churches with true community impact. We believe that as a result, God will prosper His church.  We’re especially committed to providing affordable help for the smaller and mid-sized church (the attendance mean is still about 75, and 96% of all churches in the United States are 499 or less in attendance).

Our Mission
We are committed to helping churches take the next strategic steps to fulfill Christ’s mission.

Our Vision
Healthy pastors, healthy leaders, leading healthy and effective churches that reproduce disciples leaders and congregations.

Our Values

• We value kingdom impact through local church health and effectiveness.
• We value modeling and mentoring what we teach in our personal lives and ministry practices.
• We value ministry health and are committed to spiritually, emotionally, and relationally healthy pastors and leaders.
• We value a foundation of prayer, believing we cannot exist and serve without the empowerment and blessing of God.
• We value personal and professional integrity.

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, Nepal and Japan. 

Gary has been a pastor for over twenty years, a denominational executive for eleven (Currently serves as the Executive Director for Church Strengthening of a denominational district).  Gary is a certified Natural Church Development coach consultant, a certified Axuano Navigator and has taken additional specialized training in leadership development and conflict mediation. 

Marie serves as 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 candy 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, love to camp and travel, have been married for over forty-seven years, and have a wonderful cat (Moochie).