Belhaven University, affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), seeks a five-year grant to establish the Rural Mississippi Pastors Initiative (RMPI), an effort to connect, equip, and empower 80 rural pastors from across the state to help them strengthen their leadership skills and thus help their congregations and communities to flourish.  RMPI will recruit two cohorts of 40 pastors each who are serving rural communities throughout Mississippi.  Gathering regularly during a 24-month period, the pastors will build supportive and lasting peer relationships, form mentoring relationships with experienced rural pastors and engage in consultations with experts on specific leadership challenges, such as conflict resolution, finance, governance and communication.  Through these activities, the program seeks to deepen each pastor’s understanding of his or her professional identity.  To sustain this program, Belhaven’s development office will cultivate financial support from their network of large churches and their alumni/ae donor base.