Annette fell in love with children’s ministry in the 1980s and has never looked back. After graduating from Bible college in 1991 with a certification in children’s ministry, she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Texas A&M University, and a Master’s from SMU. Over the years, she has consistently served in various roles in the church from volunteer to director of children’s ministry. Annette has been a member of the Ministry Architects team since January of 2012, and co-authored Sustainable Children’s Ministry with Mark DeVries in January of 2018. She loves to share the joy of children’s ministry with others through workshops, trainings, and national conferences. She lives in McKinney, TX with her husband Kevin, and their two children, and enjoys traveling, cooking, and writing.
Content vs. Systems Meet Anxious Amy. She loves, loves, loves Jesus, and she loves kids. She has been leading a large children’s ministry at her own church for over 7 years. And Amy has been running at full speed, ever since she can remember. Her motto is, “If you want something done right, you have…
How do you know when it’s time for a redirection? Does your congregation need a fresh dream or more explicit direction? Here’s a good starting metric: check the level of enthusiasm in your church. Can you find it? Is it focused and aligned or scattered and invested in all sorts of places? If the enthusiasm…
It’s easy to get weighed down by the day-to-day tasks of ministry. I’ve seen dozens of us work early and late hours, make ministry happen, and neglect ourselves and our families. Meanwhile, our ministry work is barely appreciated and very much expected; people are quicker to criticize than applaud. After a few weeks of this,…
Balcony time is an intentional, weekly practice of spending time working on your ministry rather than just in your ministry. Often, doing church ministry and other non-profit work can feel like putting out one fire after another and prioritizing what feels urgent over what feels important. Balcony time helps alleviate those issues by increasing the…