Growing up the daughter of a pastor, Anne Jackson experienced firsthand the conflict, stress, and struggle church leaders often face. She vowed her life in ministry would be different. Yet, years later, as a church leader, she was hospitalized because stress began wreaking havoc on her body. After being released from the hospital, an associate pastor asked her, 'Does working at this church interfere with your communion with Christ?' The question was paramount in turning her life around. Thinking she wasn't alone, Anne developed a website that allowed church leaders to share their struggles. Within a few days, she was flooded with over a thousand responses from people pouring out their stories of burnout. Using anecdotal parallels between Mad Cow Disease and leadership trends in the church, she writes not only to help us realize what church leaders are facing, but also to provide practical and positive treatment plans. Mad Church Disease is a lively, informative, and potentially life-saving resource for anyone in ministry---vocational or volunteer---who would like to understand, prevent, or treat the epidemic of burnout in church culture.
Anne Jackson has written two books, Mad Church Disease - Overcoming the Burnout Epidemic (Zondervan, February 2009) and Permission to Speak Freely: Essays and Art on Fear, Confession and Grace (Thomas Nelson, August 2010).
She is currently writing a third book to be published with Thomas Nelson in early 2014.
Anne speaks internationally at colleges, conventions and churches on issues like social justice, sexuality, health, addiction, and general Biblical themes of grace and restoration. She has traveled around the United States and to 18 countries telling the stories of hope found in least likely places.
Since 1999, Anne has been communicating for and with corporations, non-profits, faith-based organizations and publishing giants. In addition to her position as a bi-weekly columnist for Relevant Magazine, she has written features for publications such as Cosmopolitan, Leadership Journal, Christianity Today, Neue, Reject Apathy, Youth Worker Journal, Outreach Magazine, PurposeDriven.com, ChurchLeaders.com, The United Methodist Reporter, and BeliefNet.com.
Anne hasn't always been just a writer. For three years in the late 90s, she managed a profitable bookstore. She then took a year to learn the ins-and-outs of non-profit budget analysis. When she realized math was her arch-nemesis, she jumped into the world of communication, first as a marketing and business development associate for a top-50 dot.com and then as a graphic communications designer and ad copywriter. In 2003, she took her first ministry position and spent six years on staff at various churches in communication, technology and project management roles. In 2009, Anne left her steady paycheck and health insurance behind and currently desires to help as many people as possible as a freelance writer, strategy consultant, and all-around Jill of Most Trades. Anne has helped raise over $2 million dollars for various non-profit organizations and she'd like to help you, too.
Anne has partnered with:
Zondervan Publishing (author)
Thomas Nelson Publishing (author, copy editor, Bible contributor)
Baker Books (developmental editor)
The Youth Cartel (managing editor)
Seth Godin (eBook contributor, copy editor)
Blood:Water Mission (copywriter)
... and many other people and organizations ranging from human resource firms to real estate investors to advertising and new media agencies to churches to her friends and even her little brother.
Anne is an advocate for Compassion International and Blood:Water Mission. She was a cyclist on the 2010 Ride:Well Tour, a cross-country cycling tour in Summer 2010. The two-month long, 3000 mile trip from San Diego to Myrtle Beach raised awareness and funds for water projects in Africa. She's also a big fan of The Mentoring Project and To Write Love on Her Arms.
