Connected in Ministry: A Staff Spotlight Series continues with Dwanda Hayton, Executive Administrative Assistant for the Greater Detroit District. Her 19 years of service, belief that administrative work is sacred, and commitment to listening and following through shape how she supports pastors, laity, and churches.
Editor’s note: This is part of a new series — Connected in Ministry: A Staff Spotlight Series — spotlighting Michigan Conference staff members. You’ll get to know them better, hear what brings them joy in their work, and learn how their ministry helps local churches fulfill their calling and mission. Read the full series.
The moving truck was supposed to be the easy part. An associate pastor was coming to the Greater Detroit District from another annual conference, and the paperwork for the change of appointment had been prepared and sent. Then word came back that it had never reached a key staff member. Without it, the conference couldn’t approve funding for the out-of-state move. The pastor’s belongings sat waiting, and so did the parsonage. The first Sunday in July wouldn’t wait.
The senior pastor called Dwanda Hayton and asked whether there was anything she could do.
Hayton, Executive Administrative Assistant to the Greater Detroit District Superintendent, reviewed the submission step-by-step until she identified where the communication had broken down. She got the approved documents to the right hands, the approval came through, and the movers delivered. The new pastor had time to unpack before that first Sunday.
It is the kind of save almost nobody notices, which is more or less the point. “What may look like an administrative task on the surface,” she says, “often has a real person and a real ministry behind it.”
Hayton has spent 19 years in this work, beginning as a church secretary and membership secretary for a local United Methodist congregation. She traces her path further back, though, to the Pentecostal church of her childhood and the Vacation Bible School summers she looked forward to each year. Those weeks gave her a sense of belonging and her first taste of the joy of serving others. She couldn’t have known then where it would lead. Looking back, she believes God was already planting a heart for service in her.
Her days are rarely predictable now, and she likes it that way. She manages the superintendent’s calendar, schedules appointments and meetings, and is usually the first to respond when pastors, ministry leaders, and laity call or write the district office. One hour goes to tending conference documents, and the next to addressing a pastor’s unexpected problem or tracking down an answer in another department. Sometimes the whole job is listening. She sees herself as a bridge between the conference, the district, and the churches.
If a church member could ask Hayton one thing, she suspects it would be this: when I call the district office, will someone actually help me? Her answer is yes. She may not know the answer right away, she says, but she will listen, look into it, find the right person, and follow through. She believes everyone who reaches out deserves a timely, respectful response, and she wants each person to feel heard.
That conviction has a source. The first Methodist pastor she worked for told her that administrative work is sacred, and she has held on to that idea ever since. According to Hayton, “When I can help resolve a problem, clarify a process, connect someone with the right resource, or remove an administrative barrier, I am helping create space for our pastors and church leaders to focus on the ministry God has entrusted to them.”
When the work gets heavy, she turns to Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (NRSVUE). Most mornings begin with twenty minutes of energy medicine exercises that help her feel grounded. Outside the district, she leads wellness classes, often for youth and young adults, on managing stress and self-care. She gardens and walks when it’s warm. She cooks year-round with what she calls an international palate, favoring Asian, Mexican, and Mediterranean food, and she loves sharing it with family and friends.
Her hope for how people will remember her is simple. She wants to be known as someone who was willing to listen, help, and walk alongside them when they needed it. “That is what servanthood means to me,” she says.
The Ministry Shares your church faithfully contributes to the Michigan Conference help keep Dwanda Hayton at her desk, ready to answer when your church calls. Thank you!
This article was written from a questionnaire completed by the featured individual and then edited by Michigan Conference staff with AI assistance.
Last Updated on October 14, 2026