Meet the Core Operating Team

Empowered Homes exists to provide practical resources and strategies to help empower your home to be all that it was designed to be.

Founder

Dr. Ryan Rush

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Pastor Ryan grew up in Central Texas and came to faith in Jesus at the age of 11. At 14, he shared with his home church his sense that the Lord was calling him to full time ministry and began serving in his first church position, just after his fifteenth birthday. Ryan has been ministering to families for over 35 years. Ryan and his wife Lana have been married since 1991 and have three daughters: Ryley, Reagan, and Lily.

In 2014, God called Ryan and Lana to Kingsland Baptist Church in Katy, Texas, where he serves as Senior Pastor. Throughout Ryan’s ministry, he has sensed a special burden to see homes transformed. Ryan has published three books, Home on Time: Life Management by the Book, Walls: Why Everybody’s Stuck (and Nobody Has to Be), and most recently, Restore the Table: Discovering the Powerful Connections of Meaningful Mealtimes. Ryan is a graduate of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, and holds a PhD in Christian Leadership from Dallas Baptist University.

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Partnership & Ministry Strategy

Bobby Cooley

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Pastor Bobby serves Empowered Homes as a partnership builder and family ministry leadership coach. He is the Adult Ministry Pastor for Kingsland Baptist Church in Katy, TX.

He is married to his beautiful wife Jen, and they share three kids on-the-go, go, go Charlie, Chandler Mae and Chapman. Bobby hails from Arlington, TX—he loves BBQ and will eat it anywhere, anytime. In college, he played football for HSU, but what you really need to know is he was back-to-back intermural handball champ.

Bobby helped get EH off the ground in 2019. He has been passionate about the EH mission from Day One. He wants to see a culture in every home that reflects God’s love and design for family life. He wants to see marriages made stronger and parents equipped to lead their children for the Lord. He’s especially passionate about pouring into parents who come from broken families of origin and helping fathers and men become healthy spiritually—helping men become “the dad I wish I had.”

Bobby earned master’s degrees in family psychology and family ministry from Logsdon Seminary and Abilene Christian University. He has travelled nationally and internationally leading family ministry trainings on all topics family. (He will travel anywhere, even the hard places.)

Hear Bobby on the Empowered Homes Podcast with co-host Meghan!

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Coaching & Leadership Strategy

Brad Flurry

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Brad Flurry is a husband, father, former U.S. Marine, pastor, and author of Bias for Action: Combatting Passivity in Fatherhood. Drawing from his experiences in the military, ministry, marriage, and fatherhood, Brad helps parents lead with purpose, conviction, and faith in the everyday moments that matter most.

As Executive Pastor of Ministries at Kingsland Baptist Church in Katy, Texas, Brad oversees discipleship, staff development, and Empowered Homes, a ministry dedicated to strengthening families and resourcing churches.

Before entering vocational ministry, Brad served for 18 years in the United States Marine Corps. Brad received his Masters of Arts in Organizational Leadership from the University of Oklahoma and earned an Executive Certificate in Leadership & Management from the University of Notre Dame.

Brad and his wife, Liz, have raised two sons and are committed to helping families thrive through the power of the gospel.

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Content Director

Meghan Landi

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Meg serves as the Director of Empowered Homes and a family ministry leadership coach. She and her husband, Joe, have two fast-growing kids, Logan and Rylea. Meg grew up in a small town in Illinois and graduated from the University of St. Francis where she pitched for the women’s softball team but more importantly met her best friend and husband, Joe.

She is passionate about helping families live the gospel out in everyday life. She wants to see parents pursue God at a personal level, and then lead their families to pursue God’s truth with healthy conversation and real connection in their home.

Meg and her family moved from Illinois to Katy, TX in 2016 when Joe joined Kingsland Baptist Church’s student ministry team, and eventually Meg joined the EH team in 2021. Since that time, Meg has traveled coast to coast sharing the mission of EH, sharing resources and hosting trainings to help parents grow strong families. Meghan, along with her pal, Bobby Cooley, co-host the Empowered Homes Podcast.

meghan@empoweredhomes.org

Meet the Contributing Team

Our contributing team consists of leaders who are passionate about equipping parents and leaders to live out the gospel in the everyday rhythms of life. We believe parents are the primary disciple-makers of their children. The church's role is not to replace the home but to equip it. Everything we create—from coaching and resources to site visits and training—is designed to strengthen that partnership so families can win at home!

Join the Contributing Team

Kina Cockroft

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Kina Cockroft has called the Houston area home for more than 17 years and has been married to the love of her life for over two decades. Together, they have a blended family with five adult sons. As a wife, mother, and ministry leader, Kina is passionate about equipping the next generation and strengthening families through intentional, Christ-centered leadership. Her personal experiences, combined with years of ministry, have given her a deep passion for partnering with parents and helping churches build healthy family ministries that connect church and home.

Kina serves at Kingsland Church, in Katy, Texas, where she provides strategic leadership for Birth–5th Grade and Childcare Ministries. She spends her days developing leaders, equiping volunteers, and creating ministry environments where children can know Christ and families are supported in their faith journey. Through Empowered Homes, Kina encourages and equips ministry leaders with practical strategies to strengthen family discipleship, build thriving ministries, and empower parents as the primary spiritual leaders in their homes.

In addition to her work with children and families, Kina has invested in marriages and encouraged couples through speaking and ministry opportunities, believing that healthy homes are foundational to a thriving church and community. She is committed to raising up leaders, fostering authentic relationships, and helping every generation grow in faith through the transforming power of the gospel.

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Eric Conley

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Check back for information about Eric!

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Omar Garcia

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Omar serves as Kingsland’s missions pastor and mobilizes upwards of 3,000 volunteers annually to serve in domestic and international initiatives. Omar and his wife Cheryl have three children and three beautiful granddaughters. When Omar is not traveling the world he enjoys spending time with Cheryl at their off-grid cabin in Big Bend, hiking, mountain biking, and canoeing. He writes about life, faith, and adventure at GoBeyond.blog and about his Texas adventures at ExploreTexas.blog.

info@empoweredhomes.org

Laura Hearn

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Shiona is awesome!  Stay tuned for all the awesome things about Shiona!

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Shiona Howard

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Check back for more information about Shiona!

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Carlos Ichter

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More to come about Carlos.

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Leslyn Jacks

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Cesar Perez serves as International People Groups pastor at Kingsland Baptist Church. He leads the efforts for reaching internationals that reside in the West Houston/Katy area. He provides leadership to enlist, equip, and train leaders for all these groups by establishing new On and Off campus Community Groups. Cesar also coordinates and supports outreach strategies and initiatives for Kingsland’s language ministries.

Cesar earned a Bachelor of Science in Linguistics, a Master degree on Philosophy and Theology (ThM), and graduated from a Doctorate in Ministry (DMin) at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, MO. He is currently a completing a PhD degree in Midwestern. Cesar Perez is being married to his wife, Gretha, for more than twenty years. They have two teen children, 16 and 12. He loves coffee and yerba mate, enjoys traveling with his family, and watching baseball and football.

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Chris Kincaid

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More about Chris to come.

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Joe Landi

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Joe is passionate about equipping and empowering life-long Gospel-advancing leaders and families as they fall in love with and follow Jesus Christ. He loves inspiring people to discover their gifts and ability to influence others for the Gospel. He serves as Groups Pastor at Kingsland Baptist Church in Katy, TX. He is a husband, father, pastor, workout enthusiast, and occasional author.

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Brett Laxton

More about Brett coming soon!

More about Brett coming soon!

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Leslee McWhirter

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More about Leslee to come!

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Millie Miller

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More about Millie to come!

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Lindsey Pickrel

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Lindsey Pickrel is passionate about helping others discover their true worth and identity in Jesus Christ. As a wife, mother, pediatric physician assistant, author, and avid runner, she brings both professional insight and personal experience to her writing. Through her contributions to Empowered Homes, Lindsey encourages readers with practical, gospel-centered devotionals that address everyday struggles such as loneliness, forgiveness, temptation, identity, and trusting God through life’s unexpected challenges. Her heart is to help individuals and families experience the hope, freedom, and transformation found in Christ while equipping them to live out their faith in everyday moments. At Kingsland Baptist Church, Lindsey enjoys serving by worshiping with the choir, attending the New Ground Community Group, and encouraging all generations to grow in their relationship with Jesus in various ways.

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Todd Pendergrass

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Info about Todd coming soon.

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Cesar Perez

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Cesar Perez serves as International People Groups pastor at Kingsland Baptist Church. He leads the efforts for reaching internationals that reside in the West Houston/Katy area. He provides leadership to enlist, equip, and train leaders for all these groups by establishing new On and Off campus Community Groups. Cesar also coordinates and supports outreach strategies and initiatives for Kingsland’s language ministries.

Cesar earned a Bachelor of Science in Linguistics, a Master degree on Philosophy and Theology (ThM), and graduated from a Doctorate in Ministry (DMin) at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, MO. He is currently a completing a PhD degree in Midwestern. Cesar Perez is being married to his wife, Gretha, for more than twenty years. They have two teen children, 16 and 12. He loves coffee and yerba mate, enjoys traveling with his family, and watching baseball and football.

info@empoweredhomes.org

JP Pruett

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As the Operations Pastor at Kingsland Baptist Church, JP manages church-wide projects and initiatives and provides leadership for day-to-day operations and administration. He and his wife, Jessie, have two sons, Paiton and Parker, and a daughter named Paisley. They love board games, telling jokes, and fun family dance parties.

info@empoweredhomes.org

Rebecca Skinner

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Check back for information about Rebecca!

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Elyse Squibb

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Omar serves as Kingsland’s missions pastor and mobilizes upwards of 3,000 volunteers annually to serve in domestic and international initiatives. Omar and his wife Cheryl have three children and three beautiful granddaughters. When Omar is not traveling the world he enjoys spending time with Cheryl at their off-grid cabin in Big Bend, hiking, mountain biking, and canoeing. He writes about life, faith, and adventure at GoBeyond.blog and about his Texas adventures at ExploreTexas.blog.

info@empoweredhomes.org

Susan Sowell

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Susan’s passion is for individuals and families to experience freedom in Christ and connect deeply with God. Susan’s role at Kingsland is Adult Minister. She is the author and founder of Breakthroughs which is a 13-week class to help people experience freedom from strongholds in their lives. Breakthroughs also equips parents to lead their family to freedom. Susan and her husband, Terry, have been married for 32 years and are blessed with a son (and his wife) and daughter. Susan and Terry love the simple things in life – spending time with their family, going on walks, coffee on the back porch, fishing and trips to the ocean.

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Jordan Vaughn

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Check back for information about Jordan!

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The Story of Empowered Homes

Empowered Homes is a ministry of Kingsland Baptist Church and an important part of our vision to see families transformed by the power of the gospel. We believe that parents and caregivers are the primary spiritual influencers in a child’s life, and that the church is most effective when it equips and partners with families to disciple the next generation.

In 2019, Empowered Homes was launched to share practical family ministry strategies, resources, and encouragement with churches and families around the world—completely free of charge. What began as a way to support our own church families quickly grew into a kingdom-minded initiative to help ministry leaders strengthen the connection between church and home.

As we served families and ministry leaders, we recognized a common challenge: many churches desired stronger engagement with parents but lacked the tools, strategy, or support to make it happen. Empowered Homes was created to help bridge that gap by providing resources, coaching, and proven ministry practices that equip churches to build thriving family ministries.

Today, Empowered Homes continues to serve churches of every size and context by sharing what God has taught us through years of ministry experience. Our heart is not to build a platform, but to build the Kingdom—freely sharing resources, encouraging leaders, and helping families grow in faith together. We believe that when churches and homes partner effectively, generations can be transformed for Christ.