Texas Baptists dedicate new Rambler Park office space

After three days of unpacking crates and settling into new workstations, the Texas Baptists staff gathered together for a dedication of the eleventh and twelfth floors of the Rambler Park building located at 7557 Rambler Rd. in Dallas, which now houses the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

At the dedication ceremony, executive leaders recognized the dedicated work of internal employees and external partners who helped make the transition possible. The staff then joined one another in prayer for the building, the staff and for partners in ministry, including the 5400 BGCT-affiliated churches.

Jill Larsen, treasurer/CFO for Texas Baptists, led the transition since the approval to sell the 333 N. Washington Ave. building in Dallas to Baylor University occurred in May 2014.

"My prayer was that God would make the decisions obvious, and He really did with this place," Larsen said at the ceremony.

The 14-story Rambler Park building is located at US-75 and Walnut Hill, near Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. It is adjacent to the Walnut Hill DART station and is located just eight miles northeast of Dallas Love Field Airport, providing a convenient location for visitors arriving by airplane.

She credited Dr. David Hardage, executive director for Texas Baptists, for setting the vision for the transition.

"Dr. Hardage really had that vision of our office being a place easy for our churches to find, easy to get to, and a place where they would feel welcome," she said.

In a short devotion during the ceremony, Dr. Hardage spoke from 2 Chronicles 6-7, comparing the building's dedication to Solomon's dedication of the temple.

"As you pray for yourself, as you pray for this work, I ask that you also pray for God's direction [like Solomon did]," Hardage told the audience. "This [move] is not my work and this is not your work, this is not our work. This is the Lord's work about which we are stewards. It is imperative that we pray for direction."

Larsen gave a special thanks to the following companies, as well as various individuals, for their instrumental work in making the transition possible: Transwestern, Preston Interior Design, Highland Builders, Gap Consulting, Corporate Source, GL Seaman, Knoll, and Parmenter Realty.