Meet Our Writers
Laurie Cole is a wife, mother, grandmother, Bible teacher/speaker, Bible study author, and President of Priority Ministries. In other words, she’s a busy girl like you. But God taught Laurie the importance of priorities when she was in her twenties – about the same time she crashed and burned because her priorities were not in order.
In all of the busy years since, Laurie has sought and taught others to give God glory and priority in their lives because she knows that giving God priority – loving Him most and seeking Him first – is the key to glorifying God and fulfilling His purpose in life. It’s the very heart of what Laurie Cole and Priority Ministries are all about.
For 25 years, Laurie has been teaching Bible studies and speaking at women’s events in churches and at retreats and conferences throughout the country. Her Priority Bible Studies and videos have been used in churches, home study groups, and by individuals in 50 states, in Canada, and overseas.
Laurie and her husband Bill serve the Lord at Sagemont Church (Southern Baptist) in Houston, Texas where he is the Associate Pastor of Worship & Praise. They’ve been blessed with three fantastic sons (David, Kevin, and J.J.), two wonderful daughters-in-law (Stephanie and Rachael), and three glorious grandchildren (Ezra, Juliette and Caroline).
Find out more about Laurie’s studies, or check out her speaking page.
Emily E. Ryan knows how easy it is to allow the everyday distractions of life to overshadow the desire to give God priority. She’s a mom of four young children (Gideon, Canaan, Adelle and Solomon) and the wife of Jason, who serves as the Music and Communications Director at Sagemont Church. She constantly has to juggle her desire to give God priority with hundreds of other realities of life, including kids, schedules, deadlines, ministry, homework, housework, and laundry. Lots and lots of laundry.
Because of this, she has a passion for encouraging women into a deeper relationship with Christ in ways that are practical and realistic and with a style that embraces, rather than ignores, the plethora of responsibilities that busy women have.
She has been writing since she was ten, and her first book, Who Has Your Heart? The Single Woman’s Pursuit of Godliness, has been studied in Europe, Australia, South America and all across North America. Her latest book, Guilt-Free Quiet Times: Exposing the Top Ten Myths about Your Time with God, released in 2013 to great reviews, and her third book, Glo: 365 Devotions to Give God Priority (co-authored with Laurie Cole), is scheduled to come out in 2014.
She has also taught classes, retreats and conferences for both men and women, and after taking several years off from speaking to focus on motherhood, she is thrilled to open up her speaking schedule once again.
Visit Emily’s Speaking Page (coming soon) for more info.
Stephanie Cole is the proud wife of David, Laurie’s oldest son. Their marriage has earned her the much-coveted position as Laurie’s daughter-in-law and the even-better title – mother of Laurie’s three grandchildren! She considers herself very blessed to be part of the Cole family and to share such a loving relationship with her in-laws. How many people work for their mothers-in-law and love it? Stephanie does!
Stephanie first joined Priority Ministries as the Director of Prayer. Since then, her duties have morphed from prayer to administration and finance and now to writing for the Glo Girl Blog. She balances these tasks along with preschool drop offs, baseball tournaments, keeping up her vegetable garden and baking an occasional birthday cake.
Stephanie loves that writing gives her the opportunity to share Christ’s love with other busy moms who are facing the challenges and uncertainties of parenting, and she loves reaching out to them through the blog.