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PLI is devoted to empowering leaders for wider influence for the sake of the gospel in their communities and effective leadership in their ministries. Learn more about our vision and process here.
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We provide a number of resources and materials to educate both our participants and the general public on effective leadership principles.
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Blog
The Wright Brothers Soft Landings… 3 Things I Learned
By: Jock Ficken
The Wright Brothers chose Kitty Hawk, NC, for their flying experiments. It had: Wind Good weather Sand dunes…. for soft landings Soft landings…for when their experiments failed! God seems to be providing unprecedented opportunities for wider Gospel influence for the people of God in the chaos of our current culture, but… …if most churches are … Continue reading
My Mom, the Sears Catalogue, and the Church
By: Jock Ficken
I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? (John 11:25-26) My 88-year-old mom had selected those words of Jesus for her funeral text sometime after my dad died 30 years ago. … Continue reading
Time to Grit your Teeth and get in the Local Mission
By: Jock Ficken
So many–pastors, churches, women, men–who intentionally enter some slice of their community to represent Jesus and respond to the mission of God start by gritting their teeth and finally giving it a try. They’ve heard about it, talked about it, prayed about it, but never did anything about it. There is a lot of talk, … Continue reading
Why Can’t I Disciple Leaders Like Jesus and Paul?
By: Jock Ficken
If the church is going to recapture the mission zeal of the New Testament or the mission zeal demonstrated in much of our own history, it will need to be able to navigate a significant shift from… recruiting volunteers to serve to discipling leaders for mission. Simple enough, right? More and more the Mission of God will … Continue reading
Three Essentials to Finishing Well
By: Jock Ficken
People who start well…oftentimes don’t finish well. And that includes ministries and ministry careers! I’m a football fan, and, in particular, a Cornhusker (a fading glory, I know!). A couple of decades ago, before the national championship seasons, Nebraska started each game well–they dominated, dictated direction for most of the game–only to see it evaporate and … Continue reading
You Could Do This…3 Simple Steps
By: Jock Ficken
You could do this! I’m sure little Nathan’s parents gave him a “you could do this” for his entreprenurial adventure. Nathan wanted to earn some money in the neighborhood. His budding career started well, meeting a neighborhood need, but it came to a quick conclusion when he discovered he really didn’t like walking dogs. More … Continue reading
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