To update the text on the left side of the home page is a bit strange, it is in the bio field of the user setup of all places! Bear with me…
Step 1: Go to Dashboard – Appearance – Theme Settings. Take a look at the ‘Author’ field and make a note of the user name for the author (3rd line down).
Step 2: Go to Dashboard – Users – and edit the user name you found in the Author above in step 1. Go down to the ‘About the User’ section and edit the ‘Biographical Info’ field with the text you want displayed on the home page. Click Update User button.
If you want to be able to add html into your bio text, install the ‘HTML in Author Bio’ plugin.
Hope this helps you.