She is the author of Social Justice Handbook: Small Steps for a Better World (IVP, 2009), which won the 2010 Outreach Magazine Resource of the Year Award in the category of justice. She is also the author of Just Spirituality: How Faith Practices Fuel Social Action (IVP 2013) and co-author of Forgive Us: Confessions of a Compromised Faith (Zondervan, 2014). Cannon hols an MDiv from North Park Theological Seminary, an MBA from North Park University’s School of Business an Nonprofit Management, and an MA in bioethics from Trinity International University. She received her doctorate in American History with the minor in Middle Eastern studies at the University of California (Davis) focusing on the history of the American Protestant church in Israel and Palestine.

Cannon began her work in the Middle East in 2009. She left the Holy Land with a strong conviction that American Christians have a significant role to play in being peacemakers contributing to the end of the ongoing violence in the region. In 2010-2011, Mae lived in Jerusalem and worked extensively in areas of reconciliation and justice in Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt in an attempt to bridge the gap between American Christians and the Christian community in the Middle East. Her several publications about the Conflict including Mischief Making in Palestine: American Protestant Involvement in the Holy Land from 1917 to Today and several other papers and articles have been presented at the American Academy of Religion regional and other annual conferences. Her work has been highlighted by the Chicago Tribune, Christianity Today, Leadership Magazine, The Christian Post, Jerusalem Post, EU Parliament Magazine, and Huffington Post. In 2014-2015, she also served on the State Department working group focusing on the role religion can play in a global conflict mitigation.