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There are seasons that feel like fire.

Sometimes it’s personal. Sometimes it’s the world around us. We keep showing up, carrying responsibilities, leading where God has placed us,  and still the weight can feel heavy, even overwhelming.

 In Isaiah 48:10, God says: “I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.”

Even in affliction, His purpose is not destruction but refinement. God doesn’t waste the fire. He uses it to shape His people for what lies ahead.

If you feel that heat in your own life or leadership right now, remember this: you are not abandoned. The same God who allows the refining also walks with His people through it. And He is shaping a kind of courage and influence that can only be formed in the fire.

Whether you’re discovering Pinnacle Forum for the first time or looking to introduce it to someone in your sphere of influence, its true impact can be difficult to capture without experiencing a Forum firsthand. Many initially assume Pinnacle Forum is simply a prayer group, Bible study, or small group. While it shares elements of each, it is far more.

First and foremost, and unlike any other ministry, Pinnacle Forum is for you, the Christian leader of influence. Pinnacle Forum is an invitation-only, highly confidential, highly vulnerable, Spirit-filled place where you, as a Christian leader, can be poured into by true, authentic peers on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Our Forums meet for an hour and provide our Partners with a place to engage with the trials, tribulations, opportunities, and blessings they encounter as leaders and influencers who follow Christ Jesus. 

While some Forums engage with books or studies, content isn’t the focus—the content of the character of our Partners is. The men or women in your Forum commit to confidentiality, transparency, and authenticity. By showing up fully engaged, Partners experience the Holy Spirit move through a powerful exchange of wisdom, support, prayer, and transparency that often leads to profound personal and spiritual transformation. These conversations are not only deeply personal but also intellectually and theologically rich, challenging Partners to think critically, wrestle with Truth, and grow in both faith and impact with depth and rigor. For many leaders, finding true peers—people who can genuinely say, “I understand what you’re facing”—is rare. In Pinnacle Forum, you’ll find those peers: people who see the calling God has placed on your life and nurture it.

Furthermore, we believe that if these influencers, our Partners, are encouraged and equipped in the aforementioned ways their faith can be activated in big, bold, new ways which will then multiply their impact on our culture in a way that glorifies Christ and creates an environment rich for the planting and growing of faith.

Too often, these same leaders are overlooked by everyone, including the church, expected to have it all together while constantly pouring themselves out. Pinnacle Forum doesn’t compete with the church; it complements the Church. By equipping and encouraging leaders, we empower them to better engage and execute for impact as God uses them to transform their church, their families, their careers, their communities, and the broader culture—all for the glory of God.

Pinnacle Forum exists to transform leaders, who in turn transform culture.

By Mathew Swinson, Owner, Mathew Swinson Coaching LLC

Friday mornings are essential to me.

Not because I sleep in. Not because I ease into the day. But because, at the start of each week’s end, I sit in a Forum with a group of high-caliber, young leaders who love Jesus deeply and are hungry to grow. These men just “get me.”

My Forum is a place where honest conversation meets spiritual depth, and where growth isn’t optional, it’s inevitable. These men are the real deal. Leaders in their industries, influencers in their spheres, and passionate followers of Christ. But what strikes me most isn’t just their resumes or even our week-to-week topic of discussion. It’s the questions.

They ask questions that cut through the noise. The kind that makes you pause, dig deep, and wrestle with the heart of God’s calling on your life. It’s in these moments, sometimes uncomfortable, always refining, that I find myself growing. Not just in my day job, but as a man, a leader, and as a disciple of and influencer for Christ.

As someone who spends most of my time pouring into others, helping individuals and couples walk into healing, purpose, and transformation, it’s easy to get used to giving. But my Forum? They pour back into me. They see me. They support me. They challenge me in love. They remind me that I don’t always have to have the answers to truly lead.

There’s a phrase we often hear in the Pinnacle Forum: “God never designed us to lead alone.” I’ve never found that more true than in my Friday morning Forum. These brothers aren’t just fellow leaders, they’re a lifeline. A mirror. A compass pointing me back to the One who called me.

This is my experience. It looks like growth. It looks like vulnerability. It looks like brotherhood. It looks like a group of young men choosing to rise together for Christ, for each other, and for impact on the culture.

That’s my Forum. And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

High-capacity leaders are good at showing up. For family, work, Forums, and for the people who count on them. 

But the more a leader pours out, the more intentional they must be about being poured into. Most already know this, but even the strongest leaders forget to protect it.

The leaders who endure don’t wait until they’re running on fumes. They guard time for replenishment. They treat it like any other key meeting on the calendar: non-negotiable, because too much depends on it.

A few practices that help keep leaders steady:

Let someone else lead you. Step into spaces where you’re not in charge: a Forum, a study, a retreat, even a conversation where your only role is to listen. 

Allow interruption. Build enough margin that if God or someone in your sphere of influence interrupts, you can say yes. Some of the best leadership moments happen off-schedule.

Get serious about what fills you. Replenishment isn’t just rest; it’s spiritual renewal. Make space for your cup to be filled by the Holy Spirit. Surround yourself with people who know how God has wired you and will call you back to that design. Commit to serious study of His Word and stay close to those who encourage and equip you for the work He’s entrusted to you.

None of this happens by accident. It takes the same discipline and purpose that define every other part of great leadership.

By John Lochner, Board Member, Pinnacle Forum

When you grow up in a place like Green Bay, Wisconsin, you learn the value of deep roots. You understand the importance of community—not just the kind where you wave at your neighbor from the driveway, but the kind where you show up for each other. Faith, integrity, hard work—these aren’t just ideals; they’re the daily rhythm of life. And yet, even in a town like mine, where values run deep, we see the cracks forming in the culture around us.

That’s why I believe so deeply in investing time around a table with like-minded peers.

What I experience each week in my Forum is more than a network. It’s a movement. For me and many others, it was a call of the Holy Spirit. It’s the gathering of Christ-centered leaders from every corner of culture—business, government, education, media, the arts—who are saying, “We were made for more.” It’s a brotherhood and sisterhood that doesn’t just challenge us to lead well in our spheres of influence, but to lead differently: with humility, purpose, and boldness rooted in the Gospel.

What I’ve seen over the years is this: when a leader aligns their calling with God’s vision, things are transformed. Not just in the leader, but in their organizations, families, and communities. It’s like watching a light turn on in a room that had grown dim. Conversations deepen. Priorities realign. And culture begins to bend—not by force, but by example.

Power lies in those small, confidential groups where trust is built and iron sharpens iron. In those spaces, I’ve seen leaders drop their guard. I’ve seen tears, laughter, confession, encouragement, and breakthroughs. It’s where isolation is replaced by connection, and clarity is found in the chaos.

But here’s the thing: this isn’t just for the coasts or the big cities. It’s happening right here in places like Green Bay, WI, Modesto, CA, Champaign, IL, and Rapid City, SD. It’s happening in boardrooms and backyards, in early morning Zoom calls and over lunch at a Partner’s office. Because the need for cultural transformation doesn’t wear a specific zip code. It’s universal.

And so is the call.

We were never meant to carry the weight of leadership alone. Pinnacle Forum reminds us of that truth. It calls us into community, discipleship, and transformation—not just for our sake, but for the sake of the culture around us.

As Chairman of the Board, I see what God is doing through this ministry across the country and in the everyday lives of leaders who are tired of the status quo and hungry for Kingdom impact.

This is the quiet power of this important ministry. And it’s just getting started.