Powerful Question Institute
Powerful Question Institute was incorporated as a non-profit 501(c)3 in 2014. Its purpose is to educate and promote powerful questions as the intentional way to discover one’s purpose in life. This goal is carried out through educational efforts, workshops, and events. In addition to helping individuals discover their powerful question, it offers training to those who what to help others find their powerful question. The volunteer board of directors oversees publications of a journal and sponsors events to highlight the benefits of living one’s own truth.
Help more people find their Powerful Question!
Our Purpose
The purpose for which My Powerful Question Institute, Inc. has been organized is to serve as a
research and education corporation. (Article I: Sect. 3 PQI Bylaws)
Our Mission
The mission of My Powerful Question Institute, Inc. is to inspire individuals to discover and
develop their purpose and potential in life, and to be a positive catalyst for change in the world through
their unique “powerful question.” (Article I: Sect. 4 PQI Bylaws)
Our Shared Beliefs
• Meaning and purpose are vital to a healthy, productive and fulfilling life
• A Powerful Question provides a pathway to meaning and purpose, and leads a person to their
truth and role in God’s plan
• A Powerful Question is one that emerges from a person’s own life story and narrative
• A Powerful Question is self-validating when it produces an involuntary visceral response
• As a self-validating process, only the participant is allowed to judge the “rightness” of their
Powerful Question
• An individual’s Powerful Question must be respectful towards the diverse beliefs and personhood of
others
• A Powerful Question evolves as the person evolves
Ministers, artists, entrepreneurs, seekers, healthcare-workers, teachers, high school students, grandparents…all of these people have found their Powerful Question and it has changed their lives and the lives of people around them. Help us bring this program to more people by contributing to our non-profit institute. Dr. Olesnavage is often approached by a wide variety of groups, some who serve the poor or disadvantaged. Your Tax Deductible Contributions help to cover travel, materials, and coaches.
Board of Directors
Joe Hilke is the owner of Joe Hilke Productions LLC and serves the PQ Institute as the Director of Marketing. He holds and MS degree in I/O psychology and has spent more than 25 years in corporate Human Resources leadership. Joe is also a Certified Lay Servant and hold several leadership positions at the local, district, and state levels within the United Methodist Church.
Margaret Olesnavage is an attorney working in the Temporary Juvenile Detention Facility in Chicago, IL. She has a lifetime of social advocacy and commitment that began with involvement in the Young Catholic Worker movement during her teen years.
Rev. Kathy Reid is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, having earned a Master of Divinity degree in 1987. She currently serves as pastor of two United Methodist congregations in Sheboygan Falls and Kiel, Wisconsin. She has a background in pastoral psychotherapy and marriage and family counseling. In her spare time she enjoys camping with her husband, Ric, quilting, shelling on the Florida Gulf coast, and hunting for sea glass on Lake Michigan.
Edell Schaefer holds a MLIS degree since 1983 has been the director of the Brookfield Public Library. She also holds a Master’s degree in Systematic Theology from the SHSST “Cor Unum” program. Edell’s life experiences blend well with her Powerful Question and current efforts to develop a robust and sustainable ministry for the divorced.
Sally Smits, Treasurer, holds a Bachelors Degree in Accounting from St. Norbert College and a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. She recently retired as Vice President of Finance for Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology. Sally has spent her entire professional career in higher education.
Michael Wick is the Chief of Staff for the office of the bishop in the Diocese of Madison. He completed his D.Min. coursework at the University of St. Mary of the Lake-Mundelein Seminary and has a Masters of Pastoral Studies from Catholic Theological Union. He has four children and is involved in various Catholic apostolates such as the Militia of the Immaculata (MI) movement and the Knights of Columbus. His involvement in the Powerful Question Institute stems from a desire to assist others in discovering their own vocation and mission in life through discerning their powerful question.
