ABOUT
Annemarie Cross
Sometimes we recognise the path only after we have been walking it for a while.
When I look back across my life now, I can recognise threads I could not always see while I was living them.
ABOUT
Annemarie Cross
Sometimes we recognise the path only after we have been walking it for a while.
When I look back across my life now, I can recognise threads I could not always see while I was living them.
A Thread I Began To See
And as I have learned to look at my story with the Father, I have begun to recognise threads that once seemed disconnected.
A love of seeing possibility in people.
An ability to recognise patterns and connections.
A desire to help people see what they often struggle to recognise in themselves.
Decades spent helping others give language to their experience, expertise and ideas.
A pioneering journey in podcasting and communication.
A love of creating frameworks that make something complex easier to recognise and understand.
And, through many different seasons, an enduring desire to help people recognise what they carried and find ways to use it in service of others.
For many years, I understood much of this through the language of message, distinction, credibility, influence and thought leadership. Those things were not necessarily wrong. But the Lord was inviting me deeper.
And increasingly, the question was no longer simply: How do we recognise what makes someone distinctive and help them communicate it?
The question became: Father, what have You placed within our care — and how are You asking us to faithfully steward it?
Wonderful Opportunities
There have been wonderful opportunities, decades of learning and work I have deeply loved. There have been ideas that became frameworks, conversations that changed direction, unexpected doors that opened and experiences that taught me far more than I understood at the time.
Difficult Chapters
There have also been difficult chapters.
Seasons of disappointment. Hiddenness. Painful experiences I would never have chosen. Times when I could not see what the Lord was doing or where the story might lead.
God's Faithfulness
I don't look back now believing that every painful experience needs to be given a purpose or turned into an assignment.
But I can look back and say this:
The Lord has been faithful.
Again and again.
A Thread I Can Recognise Now
Long before I had language such as faithful stewardship, there was a pattern running through much of the work I loved to do.
I was often helping people recognise something they could not yet fully see in themselves.
Through coaching and mentoring, I worked with people who had accumulated years of experience, expertise, insights and ideas, yet often struggled to recognise what was distinctive about what they carried or how to put it into words.
I loved helping them notice the patterns. To draw out what had become so familiar to them that they could no longer see its value.
To find language for what they knew.
To turn ideas into frameworks, methodologies, programs and messages they could share with others.
And communication became another significant thread.
I launched my first podcast in 2008 and went on to host and create multiple shows, interview hundreds of guests, build podcasting frameworks and help others use their voices and expertise to serve the people they wanted to reach.
Along the way, I developed principles and intellectual property around message, distinction, credibility, influence, podcasting and communication.
One of the convictions that emerged through those years was: Message BEFORE Microphone.
Because I had learned that no amount of visibility, marketing or podcasting could compensate for an unclear message.
At the time, much of my work was expressed through the language of business and thought leadership.
But looking back now, I can recognise something underneath it.
Again and again, I was drawn to the place where someone would say, in one way or another:
I know there is something here. I just can’t quite see it or put words around it.
And I loved helping them look again. I could not have known then how significant that thread would eventually become.
The story was still unfolding.
When the Lord Began Drawing Everything Back To Christ
Over time, the Lord began stirring something deeper in my heart. It wasn't that everything I had learned, created or taught over the years was suddenly wrong. But I sensed Him inviting me to look again.
To bring the frameworks, intellectual property, experience and ideas I had accumulated back before Him. To hold them with open hands. And to ask different questions.
Not simply: How can this help someone build credibility or influence?
But:
Lord, what have You entrusted here?
What do You want me to recognise?
And how do You want this to be faithfully stewarded for Your purposes?
As I continued seeking Him, the centre became increasingly clear.
Christ.
When the Lord Began Drawing Everything Back To Christ
Over time, the Lord began stirring something deeper in my heart. It wasn't that everything I had learned, created or taught over the years was suddenly wrong. But I sensed Him inviting me to look again.
To bring the frameworks, intellectual property, experience and ideas I had accumulated back before Him. To hold them with open hands. And to ask different questions.
Not simply: How can this help someone build credibility or influence?
But:
Lord, what have You entrusted here?
What do You want me to recognise?
And how do You want this to be faithfully stewarded for Your purposes?
As I continued seeking Him, the centre became increasingly clear.
Christ.
Not Christ added to a framework. Not biblical language placed around something I had already decided to build. Christ as the beginning. Christ as the centre. Christ as the One to whom everything continually returns.
And that began changing how I understood much of the work I had been doing for years.
Distinction was no longer primarily about standing out in a crowded marketplace. I began looking more deeply at the uniqueness of how God creates each person and the life they have lived — and how those things might be prayerfully recognised with Him.
Message was no longer primarily something to clarify so others would understand what you do. It could also be something entrusted — a testimony of God's faithfulness, a conviction, wisdom or truth that needed to be handled with care.
Influence was no longer something to pursue as the measure of whether a message was succeeding.
And stewardship became increasingly important.
Because if something has been entrusted by God, then the first question is not: How far can I take this?
It is: How can I remain faithful to the One who entrusted it?
I didn't have the entire picture. I still don't. But I had a stirring.
And as I continued bringing that stirring before the Lord, something began to unfold.
A Stirring I Couldn't Ignore
As I continued drawing closer to the Lord, there were things He began stirring in my heart that I could not simply set aside.
A deep concern for women who loved God but had been deeply hurt, disappointed or wounded — some of whom had withdrawn into places of isolation and hiddenness.
A growing awareness of those who sensed there was more the Lord was calling them toward, yet needed space to continue healing, rebuilding trust and learning to walk closely with Him before rushing into what might come next.
And a recurring recognition of something I had encountered throughout my work for years: people carrying experience, wisdom, testimony, convictions and insights they often struggled to recognise or put into words.
I did not begin with a plan to build an ecosystem around these things.
I began with the stirring. And I kept bringing it before the Lord. Praying. Listening. Opening Scripture. Taking the steps I believed He was asking me to take while allowing Him to make the next ones clearer.
Over time, different expressions began to emerge.
Cave to Calling became a place to speak into seasons of hiddenness, hurt, healing, restoration and preparation — continually pointing back to Christ and His faithfulness.
Prophetic Pioneers Alliance began taking shape as a community for women emerging from those seasons who desire to continue walking closely with the Lord, growing in discernment and preparing to faithfully respond as He leads — including those who sense He may be calling them as prophetic pioneers.
And Entrusted Steward Academy emerged as the place where Stewards can learn to recognise, articulate, faithfully express and steward what the Lord has placed within their care.
Even the intellectual property, frameworks and programs I had developed over many years began coming back before the Lord with a different question:
How might these now serve what You are asking Your Stewards to faithfully carry?
Some things are being refined. Some are finding a different place.
Some may become practical equipping for particular assignments. And some may simply belong to an earlier chapter.
I am still learning to hold what I have been given with open hands, listening for the Lord’s leading as the story continues to unfold.
And perhaps that is one of the most important things the Lord has been teaching me about faithful stewardship:
We don’t need the whole picture before we can faithfully respond to what He has placed before us today.
Then I Recognised Something I hadn’t Set Out To Create
As The Steward’s Formation Roadmap began taking shape, I started to recognise something that stopped me in my tracks. The journey I was developing to accompany other Stewards reflected a journey I had already been walking with the Lord.
Not as a neat five-step process. And certainly not because every part of my story could be explained or fitted into a framework.
But I could recognise the rhythm. The Lord had been drawing me back to Abide in Christ — bringing what I had built, learned and carried back beneath Him and reminding me that everything begins with Christ and continually returns to Christ.
He had been inviting me to Recognise — to look again at how He had created me, the life I had lived, what I had experienced and learned along the way, the recurring patterns across decades of work, the difficult chapters, and the things He was now bringing to my attention.
As recognition grew, I needed to Articulate what was becoming clearer. New language began emerging around entrusted stewardship, formation, calling, message, faithful expression and the convictions that would eventually become foundational to Entrusted Steward Academy.
Then came Faithful Expression.
Not through one predetermined form, but through the different expressions that began emerging as I continued seeking the Lord and responding to what I believed He was placing before me.
And now I find myself continuing to learn what it means to Faithfully Steward it all.
To remain close to Christ. To listen. To discern. To hold plans with open hands. To take the next faithful step without needing to know every step that will follow.
The Roadmap did not create this journey for me.
In many ways, it gave language to a journey I realised the Lord had already been walking me through.
And perhaps that is part of why this work is so close to my heart.
I am not standing at the end of the Roadmap telling you how to complete it.
I am a fellow Steward, still learning to walk faithfully with the One who entrusted everything in the first place.
My role is not to tell you what God is calling you to do
That belongs with the Lord.
I believe one of the most important things I can do as I accompany another Steward is continually point them back to Christ — not make them dependent upon me for answers only He can give.
What I can do is create space for recognition.
I can open Scripture with you and help draw attention to what it reveals about the character, faithfulness and ways of God.
I can ask thoughtful questions that invite you to look again.
I can help you notice patterns and connections across things that may initially seem unrelated.
I can help you find language for something you recognise but are struggling to articulate.
My role is not to tell you what God is calling you to do
That belongs with the Lord.
I believe one of the most important things I can do as I accompany another Steward is continually point them back to Christ — not make them dependent upon me for answers only He can give.
What I can do is create space for recognition.
I can open Scripture with you and help draw attention to what it reveals about the character, faithfulness and ways of God.
I can ask thoughtful questions that invite you to look again.
I can help you notice patterns and connections across things that may initially seem unrelated.
I can help you find language for something you recognise but are struggling to articulate.
And where it genuinely serves what the Lord is asking you to steward, I can draw upon decades of experience in coaching, communication, message development, intellectual property, business, podcasting and interviewing to provide practical guidance and equipping.
But I cannot manufacture revelation for you.
I cannot decide that a particular experience was preparation for an assignment.
I cannot tell you that every stirring means you are being called to build something.
And I cannot promise where faithful obedience will lead.
My role is to accompany, equip and continually point you back to Christ.
Because ultimately, the hope is not that you leave Entrusted Steward Academy more dependent upon my voice.
It is that you become increasingly grounded in Scripture, walking closely with Christ and attentive to the Holy Spirit’s leading as you bring what you are recognising before the Father and learn to faithfully respond.
Experience I Bring To This Work
The journey to Entrusted Steward Academy has been shaped by decades of learning, listening, creating, mentoring and walking alongside people as they seek to recognise what they carry and communicate it faithfully.
My professional background includes coaching and mentoring across career, leadership, business, message and communication, alongside training in counselling and studies in psychology and human behaviour.
I launched my first podcast in 2008 and have since created and hosted multiple shows, interviewed hundreds of guests, developed podcasting and interviewing frameworks, and helped coaches, consultants and entrepreneurs use podcasting to communicate their message and serve their audiences.
Over the years, I have also created intellectual property, methodologies, programs and frameworks that help people recognise patterns, clarify ideas, articulate what they know and translate that into practical ways of serving others.
Along the way, my work has received recognition including being named among Melbourne’s Top 20 Business Coaches and hosting the award-winning Ambitious Entrepreneur Show.
I am grateful for those experiences and the opportunities they have brought.
But today, I see them differently.
They are not the centre of this work. Christ is.
They are experiences I can draw upon when they genuinely serve another Steward — while remembering that wisdom, discernment and faithful stewardship begin with the Lord.
Perhaps Your Story Is Unfolding Too
Maybe there are parts of your own story you have struggled to understand.
Years you have quietly dismissed. Experiences that seem disconnected. Gifts that feel ordinary because they have always been part of you. Things you learned simply because life required you to learn them.
A stirring you cannot yet explain.
Or perhaps there are chapters you have looked back upon and wondered: What could God possibly do with that?
I understand something of that question. And I have learned not to rush to answer it.
Instead, perhaps there is a gentler invitation:
Bring the story before the Father.
Not so you can force every experience to mean something. Not so every painful chapter can be turned into an assignment. And not so you can construct a perfect explanation for how everything fits together.
But so you can look again with Him.
Perhaps what you have been calling disqualification, the Father has been using as formation.
Perhaps there are threads of His faithfulness you could not recognise while you were still living through them.
And before you decide those years were wasted, perhaps bring them before the Father and ask what He wants you to notice as you look back with Him.
You may not receive every answer. You may not yet see where the story is leading.
The story may still be unfolding.
Mine is too.
But we can continue walking with the One who has been faithful through every chapter and remains faithful still.
And perhaps, for today, the invitation is simply to ask:
Father, what do You want me to notice?