As the Wife of Pastor Dr. Bruce Bagby, Dr. Velma and her husband have been married for 48 blessed years. Both have served as leaders in their former church ministries and Pastor Bruce as Assistant Pastor. Dr. Velma and Pastor Bruce now serve at True Foundation Ministries (TFM) in California. A young ministry of seven years, the two provide servant leadership to under 50 members. There, Dr. Velma is an Associate Minister and regularly preaches during Sunday morning service, as well as a guest speaker for other local ministries. She serves as the Women’s Ministry Leader, a Bible teacher, and is active on the TFM Praise Team.
An ordained Minister of the Gospel, a Teacher, and a Speaker, Dr. Velma has 40+ years in Christian ministry and has been a professional speaker throughout her 38-year career in State government. She got her Doctor of Theology degree (Th.D.) and has held a variety of positions, including facilitating Bible studies, and Sunday School, and being a teacher at a former church ministry’s Theology College. Dr. Velma has been a guest speaker for several Bay Area church ministries, and non-profit organizations, and a featured morning speaker for prayer breakfasts and women’s prayer groups. She has been a regular guest on KDYA 1190 Radio Station’s Pastors’ Forum, under the leadership of Pastor Harold Pierre.
As a minister, she coached/counseled for 30+ years, providing pastoral/pre-marital/marriage counseling to singles and jointly with her husband for married couples. She mentored singles for years before obtaining her official certification as a Christian Dating-Relationship Coach and later joined the AACC (American Association of Christian Counselors).
As a 6X Award-Winning Author of 27 books, Dr. Velma shares God’s truths, inspiring others to grow and live their best through God’s Word.
A Deputy Administrator for the State of California for 35 years, she provided leadership to over 100 staff and oversight to ten employment centers. Dr. Velma embarked on her author journey after retiring from her career in 2012. She has written Christian nonfiction/fiction and co-authored children’s books with her granddaughter. She became an author after years of watching the downward pattern of the dating culture in the Christian community. This was her first Christian nonfiction book where Dr. Velma integrated her message to singles about the date with intent strategy, with the book topic. Her first relationship-focused book, written at her daughters’ urging, was based on their conversations about dating for marriage and how to prepare. It is called Your Adam Is Asleep Until God Opens His Eyes.
Women continue to express an interest in the longevity of Pastor Dr. Bruce and Dr. Velma’s marriage and inquire about how they, too, can find a love that lasts. Dr. Velma does not hesitate to be transparent about her marriage. She showed this when she released her personal marriage journey in a kindle eBook about how she and Pastor Bruce met. It’s called My 70s Love Story.
Later in her writing career, Dr. Velma discovered her love for Christian Contemporary Fiction, enabling her to continue her passion to write about dating for marriage. She admits to questioning this path until she read a Christian blogger’s comment addressing those who reject Christian fiction. She knew God sent this answer because the blogger explained how Jesus used over 45 parables or fictional stories to share deeper biblical truths. Underneath the stories was something profound to learn, allowing the hearer to discover themselves in the story, find the path to redemption or change, and in the end, it was the listener’s choice to take action. Since Jesus is a Master Storyteller, his fictional stories were non-threatening or preachy. Dr. Velma found solace in His approach and adopted the same method of storytelling in her 2022 release of a 3-book set called The CATCH series.
Besides books, she is a contributing writer for Victorious by Design Magazine’s Love Zone section and occasionally writes as a guest blogger for fellow authors.
Dr. Velma self-publishes her books, as CEO of Adoni Publishing, LLC. One of her greatest joys was helping her granddaughter become a first-time author at age 6, while in first grade. Her granddaughter is now an award-winning author for her book, The Little Letter k, and the Boring Alphabet Line. Now, nine years old, her granddaughter has three books published. Dr. Velma says she is simply her co-pilot.
She credits her family, TFM family, and friends for supporting her writing career and the associations that provided guidance and support: Advanced Writers & Speakers Association (AWSA), American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), Independent Book Publishing Association (IBPA), the Bay Area Independent Publishing Association (BAIPA), Christian Authors Network (CAN), Christian Indie Publishers Association (CIPA).
Dr. Velma and Pastor Bruce’s family include two adult daughters, both Registered Nurses (RNs), one son-in-love and Dr. Velma’s multi-media expert, and three beautiful grandchildren.
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