Texas Tidbits

Posted: 2/29/08

Texas Tidbits

BGCT mentoring partnership aims to help children of inmates. The Baptist General Convention of Texas is entering a partnership with Amachi Texas to change the lives of children of incarcerated family members through mentoring.

Nearly 400,000 Texas children have a parent in prison, on parole or on probation. Those young people have a 70 percent likelihood of going to prison, unless there is positive intervention. Through the partnership, the Baptist General Convention of Texas will recruit churches to provide volunteer mentors for young people. Amachi Texas—an initiative of the governor’s office, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, Texas Workforce Commission and the OneStar Foundation—will train those volunteers how to mentor young people. Research indicates after 18 months with a mentor, young people were 46 percent less likely to begin using illegal drugs, 27 percent less likely to start using alcohol and 52 percent less likely to skip school.

Lubbock ministry joins Buckner. My Father’s House, Lubbock, became part of Buckner Children & Family Services Feb. 22. The ministry provides job training and mentoring in a residential setting for low-income women and their children. Buckner is assuming full operation of the ministry, and My Father’s House, Lubbock, will retain its name. Buckner already operates Buckner Children’s Home in Lubbock.

More than 1,000 attend regional evangelism events.

View a slideshow of photos from the Engage meetings here.

Engage XP events, the regional evangelism conferences sponsored by the Baptist General Convention of Texas in El Paso, Belton, Kingwood, Universal City and Midland, drew about 1,000 participants. Combined with the statewide Engage conference in Rockwall and the Hispanic Evangelism Conference in Houston, more than 3,100 people have attended BGCT evangelism events this year.

San Antonio health foundation awards scholarships. The Baptist Health System School of Health Professions in San Antonio received $162,900 from Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio for 154 scholarships. These scholarships were awarded to spring semester students enrolled in the school’s nursing and allied health educational programs. Since Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio opened in 2005, the School of Health Professions has received nearly $1.5 million in scholarship assistance.

Summit focuses on church-based childcare. The Center for Family and Community Ministries at Baylor University’s School of Social Work and Buckner Children & Family Services will sponsor a church-based childcare summit, “Who Cares for the Children?” May 12-13 in Dallas. Participants will focus on the question: What is the mission of the church in caring for children and their families in weekday childcare programs? The program will feature two leading researchers of the topic, Diana Garland, dean of Baylor’s School of Social Work, and Eileen Lindner, head of research for the National Council of Churches USA. For registration or more information, visit the website, www.baylor.edu/cfcm, or call the School of Social Work at (254) 710-6400.