Paula Dannielle
Paula Dannielle is originally from Phoenix, AZ. Currently, she serves as the Family Ministry Director for the Uptown campus at Forest Hill Church in Charlotte, NC. Paula holds degrees from Arizona State and Emory University, and has served in family ministry for over 20 years. She is passionate about empowering churches to partner with families in growing the faith of the next generation. Also, Paula is the founder of Purpose Over Rules, a family ministry coaching company. Paula is honored to share her journey with three gorgeous daughters: Chayil Destiny, Charity Joy, and Cherish Faith. In her "spare" time, you can find Paula vegging out and watching WWE or re-runs of Scandal.
The Power of a Dynamic Team
Thursday July 5, 2018 | Paula DannielleI have a lot of things I love about ministry. I love being a communicator. I love to write and speak, giving people tools to do what God has created them to do in new ways. I love to design new concepts, policies, and procedures. I truly believe policies protect people and thus are a […] Read more
Why Bother Leading Small?
Tuesday June 26, 2018 | Paula DannielleThe second step in our volunteer orientation is the coffee one-on-one. We take a potential volunteer out to coffee to find out about them and share the vision, practices, and opportunities within Family Ministry. When I begin to talk about the role of the small group leader it is often followed by one question: What […] Read more
Culture Eats Strategy For Breakfast
Wednesday May 23, 2018 | Paula DannielleIt’s been said that, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” While there is now a dispute about whether the business management leader Peter Drucker ever really said it, we believe that the statement remains true. A company or ministry culture will “eat” or thwart any attempt to create, enforce, or move strategies or vision that is […] Read more
Recruiting…But Not From The Stage
Thursday May 17, 2018 | Paula DannielleI’ve been in some level of family ministry for over 20 years, and there is one statement I don’t think I’ve heard anyone say, “We have so many volunteers I really hope no one else wants to serve!” The fact of the matter is that most kid and student ministries are always looking for ways […] Read more
Getting Everyone to See That Every Phase Matters
Monday May 14, 2018 | Paula DannielleThe phase, or the time in a kid’s life that we influence significant relationships, understand present realities, and leverage distinctive opportunities, flow in a continuum that requires all kid and student ministry workers to have a basic knowledge how one impacts the other. The four phases that allow us to embrace, engage, affirm, and mobilize […] Read more
What Square Pegs and Round Holes Have to do With Your Ministry
Thursday May 3, 2018 | Paula DannielleThere is nothing worse than trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. No matter how hard you push and pry it will not fit correctly. At this point there are two options: try to change the shape of the peg or put it in a different hole. Trying to change the shape […] Read more
Growth Requires Change! Embrace It!
Monday April 16, 2018 | Paula DannielleWhen my kids were younger, at two times during the year, Christmas Break and Spring Break, we would go through all the closets and storage boxes of clothes and discard anything that no longer fit. Some of the items were still in good shape. Some of the items were worn out. Some of them came […] Read more
What Heated Conversations Have to do With Producing Polished Diamonds
Monday April 9, 2018 | Paula DannielleHonest moment: I hate difficult conversations! Difficult conversations keep me awake at night, make me second guess my leadership, make me worry about the person for days to follow, and push me into countless conversations with mentors about whether I’m doing the right thing. This is one part of leadership that if I never had […] Read more
Leveraging Influence and Building Faith
Monday April 2, 2018 | Paula DannielleOrange—a strategy that combines the love of the family (red) and the light of the church (yellow) to make a greater impact. Our strategy has five essentials that help churches to influence the faith of the next generation. One of these essentials is Leveraging Influence. We believe that this puts hands-on faith that would otherwise just be […] Read more
Winning with Team Alignment
Monday March 26, 2018 | Paula DannielleTeam alignment can be well described through the sports analogy. Through middle and high school, I played basketball. While I wasn’t the best player you’d ever want to meet, I was pretty decent. In most games, I was a starter and got a decent amount of playing time. By 6th grade, I was 5’7” and […] Read more
