Texas Tidbits

Buckner celebrates success at Founder’s Day event. Buckner International honored five people whose lives have been touched by the agency’s ministry to orphans and vulnerable children. At its Founder’s Day celebration in Dallas, Buckner recognized Aaron Hardin, who grew up participating in a Buckner after-school program at Wynnewood Community Center in South Dallas; Bruce and Denise Kendrick of McKinney, Buckner foster parents to 25 children; Charbra Richardson, a single mother attending a self-sufficiency program at Buckner Family Place in Amarillo; and Celeste del Carmen Hernandez Rosales, who lives in a Buckner transitional home in Guatemala.

DBU receives $250,000 foundation gift. The Fred C. and Katherine B. Andersen Foundation has donated $250,000 to Dallas Baptist University, to be applied toward construction of the Joan and Andy Horner Hall. The new building not only will provide new classrooms, a music laboratory and faculty office, but it also will house a state-of-the-art audio recording studio. Since 1965, DBU has received more than $5.8 million from the Andersen Foundation, DBU President Gary Cook noted.

Austin pastor named to SBC committee. Kie Bowman, senior pastor of Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin, has been named to the Southern Baptist Convention resolutions committee. SBC President Johnny Hunt recently announced appointments to the committee, who will serve during the June 15-16 SBC annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. Hunt named Russell Moore, dean of the school of theology and senior vice president for academic administration at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., as committee chair.

Valley Baptist takes step toward new health system. Valley Baptist Health System in Harlingen and Brownsville has signed a memorandum of understanding with Knapp Medical Center in Weslaco to work together to form a new nonprofit, community-based health system. Next steps include completion of due diligence, review and approval by regulatory and governmental entities, review and approval by bankers and other interested parties, execution of a definitive agreement and appointment of a new board of trustees. “By coming together to form this new health system, we would be assuring that not-for-profit health care in this area would be preserved and strengthened,” said James Eastham, president and CEO of Valley Baptist Health System. “In light of the current environment surrounding health care and reform efforts, the new system would not only benefit patients, but also the founding organizations themselves. The new organization would provide residents with broader access to services and physicians, streamline business operations and maximize community resources by avoiding duplication of costs and leverage increased buying power for non-salary items.”