Texas Tidbits

Posted: 9/14/07

Texas Tidbits

Buckner collaborates with Hispanic San Antonio church. Buckner Children and Family Services entered a collaborative agreement with South San Filadelfia Baptist Church to provide community ministry programs in the congregation’s southside San Antonio neighborhood. Buckner and South San Filadelfia will provide after-school care, a food pantry, health clinics and youth mentoring. Buckner currently provides community programs in several Texas Baptist churches and one church in Knoxville, Tenn., but the collaboration with South San Filadelfia marks the first with a Hispanic congregation. Sara Rangel will serve as site coordinator at South San Filadelfia.

Baylor hospital CEO packs a punch. Joel Allison, president and chief executive officer of Baylor Health Care System, was named No. 26 among Modern Healthcare magazine’s “100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare.” More than 26,000 readers visited the Modern Healthcare website and voted for those nominees they believed had power to influence the nation’s health care delivery system. Allison also was ranked on last year’s list. Allison’s career includes more than three decades in health care management. He joined Baylor Health Care System in 1993, serving as senior executive vice president and chief operating officer before being named president and CEO in 2000. For the complete list of the “100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare,” visit www.modernhealthcare.com.

Children at Heart expands in Houston. HomeAid Houston, a project of the Greater Houston Builders Association, has agreed to partner with Children at Heart Ministries to build a second home for its Gracewood residential ministry to single mothers and their children in Houston. In addition, Gracewood plans to remodel its existing home to convert office space into more living space and add an additional living unit. When the two projects are complete, Gracewood’s capacity for single mothers and their children will expand from its current five families to 14, plus many others served through after-care and nonresidential ministries. Also, Children At Heart’s STARRY ministry will assume program responsibility for foster care services at Rio Bend, a residential foster care facility located in Richmond, southwest of Houston. Rio Bend, located in Fort Bend County, will be part of STARRY’s child placement program. STARRY operates foster care, emergency shelter and counseling programs in Round Rock.

Ramos named to WorldconneX post. WorldconneX, a missions network affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, has hired Sergio Ramos of Fort Worth as church activation specialist. Since 2001, Ramos has been director of networking for Tarrant Baptist Association in Fort Worth. Prior to that, he was assistant pastor at Getsemani and executive director of Metro Family Ministries in Garland. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Christian ministries from East Texas Baptist University in Marshall and a master’s degree in Christian education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. He is pursuing a doctorate in leadership from Dallas Baptist University. Ramos and his wife, Dora, have two children—Giovanni, 6, and Priscila Anai, 4.