Rev. Dr. Annette Jones is a woman of integrity, excellence, and great faith who serves as the Fifth Senior and First Woman Pastor of South Suburban Missionary Baptist Church (SSMBC). Ordained in 2006, she served as Co-Pastor from 2006 to 2019 before being called to serve as Senior Pastor in 2019, making history as the first woman to lead this historic Black Baptist congregation.
Dr. Jones operates in the gifts of leadership, administration, and prophecy. She is a sought-after preacher, teacher, and speaker called to share God’s message of favor, hope, and love to all creation. Her preaching is both prophetically challenging and deeply encouraging, and she counsels couples and singles in family, marriage, and relationships with pastoral wisdom born from decades of leadership experience.
A distinguished executive leader, Dr. Jones brings over 40 years of strategic leadership experience to her pastoral ministry. She retired from federal government service, where she led large-scale operations with over 1,200 employees across 20 plus states, managed budgets exceeding $150 million, and provided congressional testimony on behalf of millions of American taxpayers. This executive acumen enables her to lead SSMBC with exceptional strategic vision, organizational excellence, and transformational impact.
Dr. Jones is an accomplished educator and author. She served as Vice President and Program Director of WM Jones Bible Institute, where she designed and delivered over 25 graduate-level theological and leadership courses. She has edited and authored multiple books including Sermons of Praise: 25 Years of Ministry (2018), Sermons of Praise Workbook (2019), and Life Abundant Series: Fulfillment (2021). She shares her teaching and preaching gifts at conferences and training meetings across the country and was inducted into the Board of Preachers of The Martin Luther King, Jr. International College of Ministers and Laity at Morehouse College in 2017.
Compassionate in her service to humankind, Dr. Jones has established transformative community initiatives that demonstrate her holistic understanding of ministry. In her early ministry years, she helped develop a Food Justice Ministry and established a senior adult ministry program addressing spiritual health and wellness in the Chicago metropolitan community. In efforts to respond to multiple global pandemics, Dr. Jones led SSMBC’s Crisis Care: Crucial Conversations for Current Times webinar series featuring people of faith as well as scholars, activists, and community leaders in various professional fields to address the essential care for the traumatic conditions facing churches and communities. For nearly two decades, she has organized a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program, which has served over 300 taxpayers annually since 2007, preparing annual tax returns and educating marginalized populations with financial literacy strategies and tools. Under her pastoral leadership, SSMBC has experienced liberation and transformation through innovative outreach strategies, comprehensive discipleship initiatives, grants supporting congregational growth, and community partnerships addressing social justice and economic development.
Dr. Jones is passionate about empowering Black women in ministry and breaking through barriers in leadership. She earned her Certificate of Womanist Leadership through The Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership and secured a small-town ministry grant to design The BIG Retreat: Branding. Innovation. Growth., a transformative leadership intensive for Black Women in Ministry nationwide.
Dr. Jones holds a Doctorate in Ministry and Master’s degree in Theological Studies from Midwest Christian College and Seminary, a Master of Business Administration (Honors) from Keller Graduate School of Management, and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Illinois Urbana. She is a Certified Public Accountant and serves as Chicago Chapter President of the Association for the Improvement of Minorities, where she has led growth in membership and established scholarship programs providing annual aid to deserving students.
Since 1985, Dr. Jones was happily married to Pastor Michael Jones until his passing in 2019. Their union birthed one lovely daughter, The Reverend Melanie Chanté Jones Quarles, Ph.D. In her leisure, Dr. Jones enjoys writing and publishing poetry and songs.
Dr. Jones’s life and ministry demonstrate that leadership in secular and sacred spaces can be unified in service to God and humanity. Through her executive acumen, educational innovation, pastoral wisdom, and prophetic voice, she continues to break barriers, open doors, and create pathways for the next generation of leaders to flourish and fulfill their God-given callings.
Reverend Stephen Barrett discerned a call to ministry and service in his formidable years and ordained a Deacon by Pastor Michael Jones. His call to preaching commenced January 2020, where he embarked on a journey to minister God’s Word. He and his wife align and serve as team members with a Marriage Ministry called “Couples Committed to Becoming One.” Their energy enlivens the Marriage Ministry of South Suburban MB Church as they lead and enrich the lives of married couples and those becoming married. Minister Barrett is a man of service and honor. In 2019, he became the first African American Fire Chief of the Sauk Village Fire Department, where he served 15 years prior. Minister Stephen attended Central State University, Wilberforce, OH and later graduated from Prairie State College, Chicago Heights, IL, with a degree in Fire Science. He believes strongly in being active and involved in community service, ensuring department diversity, hiring within the community, and collaborating with agencies to ensure public safety. Minister Stephen’s strongest passion is being a family man, the husband to Clinette, father to Arnell and Tyler, and affectionately “PauPau” to Arnell Jr, Aniyah, Adonis, Noah, Alise, and Anise.
Reverend Zaneta Y. Dabney is an emerging preacher, whose desire is to shift the narrative of what a Baptist-bred, millennial black woman preacher looks, sounds, and feels like in today’s world. She is the daughter of the late Reverend Zonas L. Dabney, Founder of South Suburban Missionary Baptist Church. With mic in hand at the tender age of 4, Zaneta sang her first solo of “Walk with Me Lord.” This song became the soundtrack to her Christian journey as she navigated through ministry lending her gifts through song, dance, and exhortation. Minster Zaneta accepted her call to ministry and preached her first sermon January 2020. She is the Minister of Education focusing on “Equipping the People of God by Educating in Excellence.” She fostered a Financial Foundations six-series workshop, and Crisis Care panel discussion on Pastoral, Social, Mental, and Spiritual Health. As spiritual growth and outpour to those in need has always been a priority, Reverend Zaneta equally has a passion for education growth and strives to leverage her Christian beliefs in her secular passions. Minister Zaneta’s collegiate success has led her to fortune 500 corporations and allowed travels nationwide and internationally. She is the first African American woman to lead her company’s Finance Diversity and Inclusion initiatives for experienced professionals and speak at conferences on the criticality in inclusivity within finance.
Reverend Dennis Foster II is a gifted singer, activist, and preacher. He has had a fulfilled Christian journey where he served as a youth leader, praise and worship team member, and worship leader. His brass undertones and full range scale makes him a sought-after Psalmist, often giving of his time, talents, and treasures to aid others in social and spiritual projects. Reverend Dennis is in a recording contract to produce his first single and album. In 2020, Minister Dennis preached his first sermon culminating years of ministry work. He has a message of influence and healing desiring to see others shift into a knowledge of wholeness and wellness. He is the minister of music at SSMBC and leads the youth ministry. He also works in the field of mentoring and educating youth. He attended Gwendolyn Brooks High School, where he was the soloist on many of the music projects and where his singing gift emerged. He also is completing his studies at Southern IL University, Carbondale, IL.
The Reverend Melanie Jones Quarles, Ph.D., is a womanist ethicist, millennial preacher, and intellectual activist embodying radical love and revolutionary justice in the Church, classroom, and global community. As the youngest ordained woman minister at South Suburban Missionary Baptist Church, Rev. Melanie is a third-generation Baptist preacher bringing a powerful voice to pulpits nationwide. She earned her B.A. from Howard University, M.Div. from Vanderbilt University, and Ph.D. from Chicago Theological Seminary. Committed to enlivening a world where Black women and girls are whole and free, her book, Up Against A Crooked Gospel: Black Women’s Bodies and the Politics of Redemption (Orbis Books, 2024), boldly calls Black women to reclaim their moral agency. As a leading millennial voice in contemporary Christian discourse, Rev. Melanie is a sought-after lecturer and global leader, serving professional societies and international boards, with noted academic and popular publications, as well as television, radio, and digital features. She is married to The Reverend De’Quon A. Quarles, M.Div., and together, they represent a new generation of ministry leadership.
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Nicholas Bradley
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Dennis Foster, Sr.
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Vera Mickens
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Denise Scott
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Tamica Thomaston
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Lavonn Traylor
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Yolanda Warner
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Jennifer Williams
