About

Life is about God; it is not about us. The first commandment is still in effect: We are to love God with all we have and are. One way we show that love is by being excellent stewards of what He has entrusted to us. He entrusted us with businesses and resources, but most of all He entrusted us with relationships - a relationship to Him, our spouses, our children, extended family, friends, and those we worship with. He called us to be fruitful and multiply what He has given us to manage. Every area of life needs to glorify Him, and 1PL aims to help leaders do just that. This goal won’t be fully realized until we see Christ face-to-face but the more we become convinced that God loves us with all He has and is, the more every area of life will become more Christ-like.

There is one significant barrier to achieving this goal: We have a sinful nature that wants to replace God. The world, the flesh, and the devil will always conspire to stop us from loving Him with all we have and are. That doesn’t change the commandment nor does it change that we are supposed to be excellent stewards. When we study God and see who He is, what He’s done, what’s He doing, and what He will do, we see that He loves us with all He has and is and our hearts melt. Then we long to love Him with all we have and are and fulfill the greatest of all goals. This study must continue until we take our dying breath; only in death are we fully sanctified. In the meantime, we are to learn, heal, grow, and obey. 

In our 30+ years of working with clients, we have noticed that all people experience doubts, fear, and unresolved hurts as we study Him closely and implement what we learn. We must deal with what is between God and us or else we will not be functionally one with Him, and the process of transforming every aspect of our lives - including our businesses - will be that much more difficult. Our process must begin with identifying the pain and reconciling the false beliefs we’ve held against God. From this wrestling, we will see God clearer, repent, and feel the sweetness that comes from knowing He loves us.

In order for us to help you wrestle, we need to understand who you are and how you are wired. Our clients take a few assessments and then embark on what we call Foundation Sessions. In those opening sessions, we ask you to tell us your story. By diving into your history, debriefing the assessments, and equipping you with the language to process how you feel and describe who you are, we are able to connect quickly and partner together to get to the heart of what’s in the middle of you and God.  In doing so, we set up a path tailored to your personality type and story to eliminate the unresolved obstacles between you and God.

We use a combination of executive coaching, Biblical counseling, and consulting to help our clients experience a closer oneness with Him. The byproduct of this approach is having every area of life glorify God.  Will this be perfect oneness?  No. We have a sinful nature that will always want us to worship idols, but as we identify those obstacles and clear out the sins that have been deeply rooted, it becomes easier to abide and fight the world, the flesh, and the devil through the power of the Gospel.

We use all the services of our Gospel-centered counseling and life coaching practice (1st Principle Group) and our organizational effectiveness company (LIROS Group) to help you explore what areas of life are out of alignment with Christ and craft plans for all of them. In doing so, we hope you discover that your burden, when given to Christ, is lighter than what you’ve been experiencing and develop a life and business that thrives through your oneness with Christ.

Clients love that we get to the heart fast and develop strategies from that core level to create exponential growth in each area of life. We utilize principles primarily from Scripture but also from James Clear’s Atomic Habits and other resources to help our clients make huge changes in their lives through small persistent changes. Examples of the kinds of issues we address with clients are:

• Increasing marital oneness

• Improving interpersonal relationships

• Forgiving others and themselves

• Building trust

• Improving communication

• Resolving conflicts

• Developing high performers

• Casting vision

• Refining the systems you have already built to prepare for greater growth

• Designing self-care programs

• Advancing excellence in leadership

• Developing high performing teams

• Hiring and retaining top talent

• Dismantling false beliefs that hold you back and replacing them with godly ones

• Leveraging your wiring better

• Brainstorming solutions to problems - marital, parental, professional, etc.

• Parenting

• Repairing relationships

• Deepening their relationship with Christ

• Discovering ways to build intimacy with their children

• Advancing in emotional intelligence

By now, you may have realized: What we are really talking about is sanctification, and sanctification is a lifelong process. We want to play a part in your sanctification process for as long as it makes sense for us to have a role, but that is ultimately up to you and your needs. On our death beds, if we were asked, “Are there sins you haven’t fully repented of?” our answer would be a resounding, “Yes.” At 1st Principle Leadership, we are looking to be catalysts who help you become more like our Savior Jesus Christ than you could have done alone.