jrasmus23@nul.org

Pastor Juanita Rasmus and Dr. Rudy Rasmus are authors, spiritual guides and humanitarians with a passion for outreach to the world’s most challenged communities. They co-pastored the St. John’s United Methodist Church in Downtown Houston for thirty years and have watched the diverse faith community grow from nine members in 1992 to thousands today. The couple celebrated 30 years of ministry in September of 2022 and reWIREd (some people retire) in May 2023 to become Pastors Emeritus of St. John’s and to explore the next horizon of life and service. 

The Rasmus duo founded the Bread of Life, Inc. (a not for profit corporation) in December of 1992 and the organization has literally changed the landscape of Downtown Houston by providing an array of services to individuals and families in peril. The organization's mission has evolved from serving hundreds of meals daily to the unhoused in the sanctuary at St. John’s to distributing over $30million in food and products last year to economically challenged families. Over the years the mission has expanded to address the social determinants of health by engaging the need for health equity, food security, and economic empowerment through training initiatives. The most recent innovation is the launch of the Bread of Life Academy and EcoLife Staffing designed to train, educate, and employ next-chance students to the next level. The Rasmus’ have raised in excess of two-hundred-million dollars in resources for families who have been challenged by life altering scenarios.

Seventeen years ago following the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast, Juanita and Rudy Rasmus answered the call for permanent supportive housing and founded the Temenos Community Development Corporation.The development agency has since completed over one ninety-million dollars in real estate projects created to provide housing opportunities for the previously unhoused in Downtown Houston and beyond. Thanks to generous support from an array of investment partners, the City of Houston Housing and Community Development Department, Harris County Community Development and U.S. Government’s Department of Housing and Urban Development along with significant donations to the initial capital investment from Tina Knowles Lawson, Beyoncé, and Solange Knowles the first project aptly named the Knowles Temenos Place Apartments was developed. The most recent development is nearing completion and will be named the Rasmus Temenos Apartments in honor of the agency’s founders and the commitment of their family to the disenfranchised. In 1999 Kelly Rowland teamed up with Knowles family to invest in the construction of the Knowles-Rowland Center as a facility focused on community empowerment activities for the young and old. Thanks to an $8million grant from the Harris County Department of Housing, the center will soon be transformed and reborn into the Knowles Rowland House Apartments, a permanent supportive housing development for vulnerable unhoused adults in the Houston community.

Pastor Juanita is currently working towards the completion of a doctorate at United Theological Seminary while maintaining a busy writing and speaking schedule focused on helping her audiences “live their most expansive lives.” Dr. Rudy has assumed the role of Executive Director of Bread of Life, Inc. and has launched the Immerse Collective, a unique coaching and spiritual direction initiative for next level achievers. 

Juanita and Rudy have been married for 38 years and are the proud parents of two amazing daughters, Morgan and Ryan, a phenomenal Son-in-Law, Hamilton (Ryan) and two of the cutest grandchildren in the universe.