#DesireCon

Shaunti received her graduate degree from Harvard University and was an analyst on Wall Street before unexpectedly becoming a social researcher and best-selling author. Today, she applies her analytical skills to investigate eye-opening, life-changing truths about relationships, both at home and in the workplace.  

Her groundbreaking books, such as For Women Only, Thriving in Love & Money, and her Find series of devotionals have sold more than 3 million copies in 25 languages. Her research is regularly featured in media as diverse as The Today Show, Focus on the Family, The New York Times and iMom. Shaunti and her family live in Atlanta and enjoy every moment of life at warp speed.

Dr. Jessica McCleese is a licensed clinical psychologist and one of less than 200 certified Christian sex therapists in the world. She has a passion to see Christians living in the fullness of who God created them to be and helps individuals and couples walk in wholeness by focusing specifically on improving emotional and relational well-being.

Dr. Jessica received her doctorate at Regent University and completed her sex therapy certification through the Institute of Sexual Wholeness in Georgia in 2017. She works with couples who are interested in improving their communication, conflict resolution, and general compatibility with one another. She also works with couples recovering from affairs or experiencing sexual concerns. Dr. Jessica’s clients have often been encouraged by her bold, truthful approach as well as her ability to make them feel right at home from the beginning of their work together.

Julie Sibert is wildly passionate about encouraging married couples to enjoy and nurture authentic sexual intimacy. As a Christian intimacy coach, author and speaker, she shares out of her own story, and she encourages others to learn from their stories as well. She co-authored the book “Pursuit of Passion:  Discovering True Intimacy in Your Marriage” and has a successful blog at her website www.IntimacyInMarriage.com.

When she is not speaking and writing on all things sex, she is taming the calendar, enjoying her family, drinking copious amounts of overpriced coffee with friends, and trying to keep the dog from destroying the backyard. She also loves to read, sketch and paint. It’s a fun-filled, muddy-paw, caffeine-driven, Jesus-loving way of life in the Midwest. She wouldn’t have it any other way!

Chris Taylor has been writing and speaking about sexual intimacy since 2013. She began at The Forgiven Wife and then expanded to the Sex Chat for Christian Wives and Knowing Her Sexually podcasts. Now she writes at Honeycomb & Spice to encourage Christian wives who have struggled with sexual intimacy.

Three years ago she and her husband Doug (aka Big Guy) moved from Wisconsin to central Illinois to care for her aging father-in-law. When she isn’t writing or doing other ministry work, she spends her time knitting, reading, and serving on the board of her small village library. Chris and Doug have been married 32 years and have three grown children, six grand-furs, and one grandchild on the way.

Tara Buchanan is a home educator, writer, and the host of the Behind Our Smiles podcast along with her husband, Joe. They have been married for 25 years and have four children, ages 13-22, two of whom have flown the nest. Tara is honored to share what she’s learned being married to a man who has survived extensive childhood abuse and trauma. She was a “higher drive wife” during the first ten years that her husband was still working through the scars of his childhood. After learning to lean into the pain together, they have found healing and an intimacy only possible through God’s great grace. You can hear more of their story on the Behind Our Smiles podcast (part of the Wow God Podcast Network) or on Tara’s blog, Behind Our Smiles.

Joe and Tara live in Central Illinois, where Tara is always cold and Joe serves as the Station Manager of WCIC, the local Christian radio station. With only one student left in her homeschool, Tara is enjoying her nest-emptying years a little too much. She loves reading, teaching, thrift shopping, and living room dancing with her husband. 

J. Parker is a Christian sex author, speaker, blogger, and podcaster. While she has a master’s degree in counseling from the University of Houston, it’s her personal story of redemption in the area of sexuality that makes her passionate about passion. Her ministry, Hot, Holy & Humorous, began as a simple blog with the goal of helping others understand God’s design for sex in marriage. Since then, she’s published over 1,000 blog posts, written five books, released more than 120 podcast episodes with her three co-hosts, and launched an online community for higher desire wives.

She has two grown sons, a daughter-by-marriage, and lives in Texas with her fabulous but oh-so logical husband of 30 years, fondly nicknamed “Spock.”