About our Founder Julie Ryan

Founder Julie Ryan has had a passion for ministry to women and children for over three decades. In the 1980s, she began “Young Mom’s Support Groups” to bring young mothers together in mutual support and encouragement, helping each other in the important task of raising their small children.

Later, she became the Women’s Ministry Director at her local church, where she helped women connect through small groups and weekly Bible studies, and revitalized women’s retreats. While serving in women’s ministries, Julie became painfully aware of the burden on single moms. So, with the Lord’s leading, she designed an event where single mothers and their children could be ministered to in a myriad of ways by volunteers from the church and the community. This “Single Mom’s Morning Out,” in partnership with local media outlets, has grown significantly as several other churches throughout the region host Single Moms’ Morning Out in their own communities.

As the years went on, Julie found that her passion for ministry extended beyond the local area, and so she joined an international ministry that supports indigenous foreign workers as they free women from oppression in some of the most difficult areas around the world. Giving women the knowledge that they are highly valued in God’s eyes frees them from the lie that they are simply property. Learning that God loves and values them gives them dignity, giving them hope and determination to pursue a better future for themselves and their families.

Bringing her years of experiences and passions together, Julie recognized that a need existed to combine local and global ministries, and after much prayer and seeking God’s direction, in December of 2014, Catalyst Ministries was born. It has been Julie’s desire, and the ultimate goal of Catalyst, to glorify God and to lean on Him as The Catalyst and change agent in the lives of women at risk — both locally and globally.

Today, Catalyst Ministries has a mission to reach out to women and children in the most difficult of circumstances and to lift them up with new hope. Women are the group most victimized by the scourge of human trafficking, and Catalyst is working at home and abroad to rescue and restore these women. Single mothers are the most likely to be in poverty, and Catalyst partners with local churches to minister to these women and their children. God’s mighty hand continues to be evident in guiding Julie and Catalyst forward in their ministry to bless those most in need. His faithful guidance and providence are evident as the ministry advances in the cause of transforming the lives of at-risk women and children.

Julie resides in the Dallas, Texas area with her husband Tim, who together have three grown daughters. Julie loves to garden and enjoys being a grandma to five sweet kiddos.

“You insult your Maker when you exploit the powerless; when you’re kind to the poor, you honor God.”

— Proverbs 14:31