Ignite Restoration Director – Brian DeCook
Brian De Cook is chairman of the Board at Christian Leaders Institute. He is passionate 
about igniting restoration and leading a movement of Christian leaders involved with restorative justice. Brian is an attorney and a CLA ordained minister. He is founder and president of Peacefire. Brian ministers with his wife Andrea. Together they are a dynamic team for ministry.
Brian De Cook surrendered his life to Jesus Christ in 1976 when he was 15 years old. He was introduced to Jesus through the witness of a treasured friend and his grandmother. He spent the next 25 years trying his very best to live the Christian life … and he failed miserably, according to Brian’s testimony.
Then in the late 1990’s, He listened to a series of messages by the late Major Ian Thomas that transformed his relationship with Jesus Christ. He learned from the Major the simple truth that only Jesus Christ can live the Christian life and that He wants to give that life to His people through the power of the Holy Spirit.
From that time onward, He began to let the Lord live His life.
Brian began to be burdened by the way Christians respond to conflict. As an attorney, he was very familiar with conflict and its potential to destroy relationships. He saw how conflict created crime and incarceration. He began to pray and ask the Lord what He wanted him to do with this burden.
At that time, the Lord began to answer his prayers by leading him to two ministries that eventually led him away from the practice of law and into the full-time ministry of equipping and encouraging people to respond to conflict in a manner that glorifies Jesus Christ. Those ministries were Peacemaker Ministries and Christian Leaders Institute.
At that stage of his life, he was running a law practice and raising a family of four children. There was no reasonable way for him to attend Bible College or seminary. CLI was a perfect fit! CLI provided him with the opportunity to receive training at no-cost and the flexibility to study at a pace his schedule could afford. He has taken classes at CLI and received his Commissioned Pastor Ordination.
The Lord has used his CLI training to equip him for a ministry called “Peacefire” that is international in scope (over 140 countries served), but personal in its delivery. Peacefire provides free resources to brothers and sisters in Christ who are called to serve people in conflict. As a result of the training he received at CLI, Brian closed his law practice. In addition to serving as the Executive Director at Peacefire (www.peacefire.net). he is also the Pastor of Congregational Care at Harvest Fellowship in Leo, Indiana.
In Late 2018, Brian assumed the responsibilities for leading the Ignite Restoration initiative at Christian Leaders Institute.
Your Restorative Justice Calling Ignited!
Are you called to serve God as a restorative justice leader? Maybe you are ordained as a Deacon Minister, and you are called to serve in the area of restorative justice. Maybe you are on your way to serve as a Restored Life Minister, Assistant Chaplain, or Chaplain through Christian Leaders Alliance. As a graduate of the Christian Leaders Institute, you value the ministry training you received. You are excited about your Deacon Minister Ordination. You are motivated and called to serve in your local community helping those with criminal records launch into restoration.
The Ignite Restoration website is an online forum and resource for ordained leaders with Christian Leaders Alliance that have been trained at Christian Leaders Institute. This Ignite Restoration website will include an international directory of ordained leaders and ministries from those in the Christian Leaders Institute trained family.
Ignite Restoration Features
As an ordained leader at Christian Leaders Alliance, you have access to all the resources of Christian Leaders Institute as you serve in your restorative justice calling.
The Christian Leaders Institute program of education is a tool for further preparation and training for your calling.
Here are some of the resources that have been put together for advancing your restorative justice impact:
Endorsement and encouragement by the Michigan Department of Corrections: The staff of the Michigan Department of Corrections envisioned an educational program that CLI offers for those on parole or on probation. Your local ministry can build on that recommendation. You or your ministry can become mentors for people who are seeking the New Life Card.
The Michigan Department of Corrections envisioned this program as an option for judges, parole boards, and other justice authorities to offer this study program opportunity as a condition of probation. Christian Leaders Institute saw this as an opportunity to help.
Free College-Level Classes: As a local restorative justice leader, you can help those who want to walk a new path to get a high-quality education. There is a free getting started class that establishes whether someone is ready for college-level study. No high school degree is required for admittance. If someone finishes this class, they show they have the motivation and ability to take more training at CLI. Share this link with someone you are helping.
As you help local justice individuals, you can help them take classes that will address their greatest needs and keep them walking on a good path. You may mentor them to take and complete this class:
- Restoring Relationships – Transforming Justice (3 Credits)
- This class is produced by Christian attorney and Peacefire.com president Brian DeCook. This class gives laser beam focus on the topic of offense and how to launch into a peace-filled restored life for the individual and as much as possible in every relationship. This class addresses the need for previous relationships to be restored.
Maybe you are part of a ministry that wants to become a provider of the New Life Card. Christian Leaders Institute will brand your ministry on the New Life Card for the justice individuals you help.
You can also mentor justice-involved people to take more classes. Maybe help them get a Bachelor Degree at Christian Leaders Institute.
Christian Leaders Institute is working on developing more classes in the restorative justice area. A growing number of courses specializing in restorative justice topics will come online as funding continues to grow in this exciting program.
Are you someone who wants to start a local Restorative Justice Ministry? Christian Leaders Institute is working on courses that will be helpful for you to start a new work. Some of the enterprise classes, as well as some ministry classes, will already aid you.
Maybe you want to get your bachelor degree? Outstanding. Over 180 credit hours of high-quality free classes are offered at Christian Leaders Institute to you as well. Classes in Ministry, Enterprise, and Christain Philosophy are available.
Directory
This Ignite Restoration website will provide a directory for ordained leaders of the Christian Leaders Alliance. We will feature these categories at this time:
Ordained Leaders will be a registry for Ordained Deacon Ministers who are interested in and work with justice individuals or restorative justice ministries. This category also includes those who serve in the role of Restored Life Ministers, Chaplains, and Associate Chaplains through Christian Leaders Alliance.
Restorative Justice Ministries will be a registry for our ordained graduates who work with restorative justice ministries, whether they started the ministry or not.