Bloom

Ruth Chou Simons

Ruth Chou Simons is a Wall Street Journal bestselling and award-winning author of several books, including GraceLaced, Beholding and Becoming, and When Strivings Cease. She is an artist, entrepreneur, and speaker, using each of these platforms to sow the Word of God into people’s hearts. Through her online shoppe at GraceLaced.com and her social media community, Simons shares her journey of God’s grace intersecting daily life with word and art. Ruth and her husband, Troy, are grateful parents to six boys—their greatest adventure.

Jada Edwards

Jada Edwards is an experienced author, speaker, Bible teacher, and mentor. She has committed her life to equipping women of all ages, regardless of marital status, with practical, biblical truth to help them live more genuine lives. Jada currently serves as the Women’s Pastor and Creative Services Director for One Community Church, where she seeks to serve the evolving communities of Collin County through creative expression and cultural relevance. She has served in various directional capacities within the youth and singles ministries at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, a church with over 1,000 youth and 3,000 singles. Jada holds a Master of Business Administration with an emphasis in organizational strategy and has experience improving organizations though process development and technological initiatives. Jada and her husband, Conway, have a son named Joah and a daughter named Chloe.

Melanie Karssenberg

Melanie Karssenberg is the happy wife to a very tall Dutchman and mama to three small children on earth and three in heaven. From ministering to women in the red-light district of Amsterdam to working with troubled teens in juvenile detention centers in Dallas, Melanie has gained experiential wisdom on the struggles facing today’s women. She is a speaker, writer and worship leader and uses her voice to bring hope to her generation as she shares with passion and authenticity how Jesus has healed her heart and redeemed her sorrow. From years of infertility and multiple miscarriages to failed adoptions and trauma in marriage, Melanie deeply understands feeling disappointed in God and devastated by life. Now, she is passionate about helping women find their hope in Him.

Vanessa LeRow

Vanessa LeRow is a wife, mom, writer, and grace lover. She is a Bible teacher who is passionate about declaring the praises of Jesus, who called her out of darkness into His wonderful light (1 Pet. 2:9). She serves on the Sisterhood Leadership Team at Harris Creek Church in McGregor, Texas, where she writes study curriculum, teaches, and encourages the next generation of women to surrender whole-heartedly to love and follow Jesus. While on staff at Harris Creek, she co-created The Bible Reading Plan—a resource for people to love Jesus more through reading His Word.

Vanessa and her husband, Stefan, met at church camp when they were 13, but went the long way around to marriage. They have four adult children, one daughter-in-law, and the smartest, cutest, most remarkable grandson in the history of grandchildren. On good days, Vanessa takes a shower, calls her four children by all their right names, cooks a hot meal, replies to emails, and remembers to move the laundry from the washer to the dryer. On the other 364 days, she embraces grace and the beauty that God makes out of messes. She is living proof that Jesus restores the broken, redeems the past, and rescues the lost.

Shelby Houston

Shelby Houston is going on her second year as a YTH Ministry Intern at c|Life. She has recently assisted in launching the c|Life Canton campus, as well as their YTH ministry. She is a college student at Dallas Baptist University, pursuing a degree in psychology and ministry.

Shelby is currently writing a book about the passing of her father, Officer Richard Houston, with the help of Bob Goff and other authors. She is passionate about student ministry, as well as speaking and writing.

Her mission is not only for people to know Jesus, but to also love Him deeply.