Furthering its mission to make families strong, the Arkansas Baptist Children & Family Ministries recently held the grand opening for its new headquarters in Little Rock.
Located at the Markham Street Baptist Church campus the centralized location provides a statewide ministry hub for each of the ministries that encompass the organization and allows room to expand into new areas of ministries, providing Arkansas families with more resources for counseling, advocacy, foster care and adoption.
“We’re not celebrating a building; we are celebrating a vision,” said Derek Brown, executive director of the organization, during the ribbon cutting on Dec. 12.
“Together, we’re united because of a shared vision. We have a vision of a better Arkansas. We have a vision of an Arkansas with healthy families.”
Expansion
Among those in attendance at the ceremony was Arkansas First Lady Susan Hutchinson, who expressed her excitement and shared a few words on the the mental, emotional and spiritual health of a child, citing Romans 12: 1–2.
The grand opening comes roughly 10 months after Markham Street Baptist Church transferred ownership of its campus to the Arkansas Baptist Children & Family Ministries on Feb. 1.
After renovations, the organization moved administrative offices in October from the Arkansas Baptist State Convention building to the new location.
Expanding on already existing ministries, the centralized facility provides a new Living Well Counseling location for the Little Rock area, and Connected Foster Care & Adoptions now has a resource center for foster families and visitation space for biological families, along with training and office space for staff. Desired Haven Family Care also now has training and meeting space for advocates and staff.
“Everything works together for the good of the children and families that we serve,” Becky Bruns, adoption specialist, said while guiding a tour during the grand opening.
The congregation of Markham Street Baptist Church still meets inside the building for fellowship as well as Little Rock Immanuel Baptist Chinese Church and Antioch Church.
For more information about Arkansas Baptist Children & Family Ministries, visit https://arkansasfamilies.org.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Mary Alford and originally published by Arkansas Baptist News.
