Dr. Conway Edwards, Lead Pastor

Dr. Conway Edwards is Lead Pastor of One ministering to the evolving communities of Plano, Allen, Frisco, McKinney and surrounding cities. Conway’s unique ability to communicate the truths of Scripture in a relevant and uncompromising manner has helped to reach a generation of men, women, singles, couples and families embedded in a culture defined by individualism, materialism and humanism. Conway formerly served as Director of Singles at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas under the leadership of Senior Pastor, Dr. Tony Evans.

Conway holds a Master of Theology, with an emphasis in Pastoral Ministry, from Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS). While at DTS, he was a Leadership Fellow with the Center for Christian Leadership under the guidance of Dr. Howard Hendricks. Conway also holds a Doctorate in Strategic Leadership from Regent University.

Conway has authored Leading a Turnaround Ministry: A Process for Exponential Growth. He and his wife, Jada, co-authored two books - When Love’s in View: Finding Focus in Dating and Relationships and The Undercover Woman: A Guide for Single Women and Their Spiritual Fathers.

In 2009, Conway and Jada recorded two broadcast interviews on Focus on the Family - Boundless (a podcast for singles), as well as a segment with Dr. Bill Maier and Dr. Juli Slattery. During both interviews, the Edwards discussed When Love’s in View, dating, relationships, marriage and God’s role for men and women.

Conway and Jada also serve together teaching, counseling and encouraging families, couples and singles. They live in Allen, Texas.

Steve Purdum, Pastor of the First Year

As a native of Oklahoma City, Steve attended college at Oklahoma State University. During college, he received Christ. This brought a passion for youth resulting in him serving in youth camps and assisting in youth ministry at his church.

Steve's career followed a dual path for many years. He has served as a youth pastor, adminstrative pastor, and most recently as an executive pastor within his 31 years in ministry.  During much of this time, Steve also ran a multi-million dollar sales agency, as well as regional shipping warehouses.

Kathryn met Steve while serving in youth ministry together. They later married and have been together for over 25 years.  Steve and Kathryn have three children named Corbin (Alaine), Stacy (Ben), and Tanner.

Steve's passion is helping the church equip believers and release them back into the community firmly grounded in biblical truths.

Jada Edwards, Creative Arts Director

Jada Edwards is an experienced speaker, Bible teacher, and mentor. Jada 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 Creative Services Director for One where she seeks to serve the evolving communities of Collin County through creative expression and cultural relevance.

She 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 in improving organizations through process improvement and technological initiatives. She works in new business development, partner relations and marketing for Caribbean Choice for Christ, a U.S. based nonprofit leadership organization, founded by her husband Conway. Their ministry focuses on developing and equipping Christian leaders throughout the United States and Jamaica.

Jada lives in Allen, Texas with her husband Conway.

Kurtran Wright, Director of Outreach and Life Groups

Kurtran Wright is the Director of Outreach and Life Groups. He was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. Growing up in “Sin City” encouraged Kurtran to dedicate his life to Christ at a young age and cultivated a love for the lost. His involvement in ministry began as a child, continued throughout his teen age years, and has matured into full-time ministry as an adult. Kurtran is passionate about seeing people actively living out the gospel in every area of their lives.

He is a graduate of Yale University and holds a Masters in Divinity from Biblical Theological Seminary. Kurtran previously served as Site Pastor in Philadelphia for five years. He also holds a Masters degree in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania.

Kurtran adores his wife Tracey and three children. They will all testify that he is a softy! In his spare time he likes buggin’ out to Holy Hip Hop and playing “ring around the rosie” with his daughters and basketball with his son. They live in Plano, Texas.

Dawn Stephens, Corporate Administrator

Dawn has always been a life long learner.  During her early years, learning meant observing what happens when a magnifying glass focuses the sun's rays on a leaf.  After that excitement, she focused on more formal learning.  Her studies led her to get degrees in physics, electrical engineering, and law.  Now, she is a student in the Christian Education Program at Dallas Theological Seminary. The pursuit of this degree aligns the most with her ministry passion.

While the seed for Dawn's ministry passion were the many years she spent in Sunday School, her passion became more evident as she began serving in capacities aligned with her gift/skill mix.  The joy that she found in serving was inexpressible.  As a single woman living away from home, her life changed dramatically through the community that she found in ministry.  Given these, her ministry passions include creating room for people to use their gifts/skills in ministry and helping women, especially single women, grow through community.

At One, Dawn is a part of One's Core Team and oversees the Finance Team, Communications Team, Legal Team, IT Team, Security Team, and Human Resources Team.

Brenton Cross, Children’s Ministry Pastor 

As a young adult in Jamaica, Brenton dedicated his life to Christ and soon began serving in his local church youth ministry, Sunday school ministry and became the community director of Youth for Christ. He later came to the United States to pursue theological and academic studies. Brenton earned a Bachelor’s degree in Biblical Studies and a Master’s degree in Ministry from Criswell College. 

Brenton has a passion for serving the church through teaching and equipping believers so that they can grow in their knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures and grow in their relationship with Christ. Brenton has served in various pastoral positions such as children’s pastor, youth pastor, and administrative pastor, including a tenure as the Research Assistant to both the late Dr. E. K. Bailey, founder and pastor of Concord Church in Dallas, Texas, and his successor the Rev. Bryan Carter. 

 While serving on the faculty of Irma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School, as the chair of the English Language Arts Department in the Dallas Independent School District; Brenton is currently pursuing a PhD in Humanities at the University of Texas at Dallas.  

Brenton, and his wife, Jessica live in McKinney, Texas and enjoy travelling and watching sports together.

Arthur Simmons is the Pastor of Partner Care and Volunteers. In addition to those areas, he also oversees the Care Network, which is the way we care for individuals during difficult times. Arthur is a native Texan who loves the outdoors.  He gave his life to Christ at an early age and was baptized along-side his mother at the church where his father continues to serve as a deacon.  Arthur committed to ministry service in his preteen years and soon thereafter committed his life to serving our country.  His official transition into ministry leadership began in 1992.

 
Arthur is an engineering graduate of Prairie View A&M University and holds a Masters in Business Administration.  He is presently continuing graduate studies at Tyndale Biblical Seminary and desires to complete a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership.
 

Arthur and his wife Crissy have a son and two beautiful daughters, Arthur II, Alyssia and Alanna.