Anyra Cano

Director of Programs and Outreach

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Bio.

Originally from El Paso, Anyra earned her undergraduate degree in biblical-theological studies from the Baptist University of the Américas and her master’s degree in global leadership from Dallas Baptist University. 

She has experience working with Baptists through positions with Buckner International, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in advocacy work, CBF of Texas, and Baptist University of the Américas. Before working at Fellowship Southwest, she served as the first coordinator of Texas Baptist Women in Ministry, academic coordinator for the Christian Latina Leadership Institute, and as Youth Pastor of Iglesia Bautista Victoria en Cristo since 2011. 

Anyra has previously served on the board of several organizations, including Texas Baptist Women in Ministry, Baptist Women in Ministry, and currently serves as Chair of the Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty. She continues to teach as a faculty member of the Christian Latina Leadership Institute. 

Somos familia.

Anyra and her husband, Carlos Valencia, live with their four-year-old daughter in Fort Worth, Texas. In addition to their full-time jobs, the couple serves at Iglesia Bautista Victoria en Cristo, where Carlos is senior pastor. 

  • I love to travel and go to the beach! I have visited 14 countries, some of them multiple times, and I would love to travel to at least 15 new countries before I leave this world. Seeing the world through other cultures/ethnicities is life-giving to me.

  • I have had many memorable experiences as a child, and my favorite was when my family traveled. We were a large family with little money, but we had lots of creativity. My parents would cook tons of burritos, egg and potato burritos for breakfast, bean and cheese burritos for lunch, and picadillo burritos for dinner. They would wrap them in aluminum foil and place them in the car's hood (when hoods were giant). These and many more memories are so special because while my parents did not have much, they taught us the importance of saving and being frugal so that we could experience much more in life.

  • I have two, my mom and daughter. My mom, a young immigrant to this country with a very young family who did not speak English and had little resources, broke MANY barriers. She got through college, raised a family as well as she could in her context, taught preschool for over 20 years, and left a legacy in my life. She was tenacious, strong, witty, intelligent, crazy, creative, fun, happy, faithful to her church, and loved Jesus.

    My daughter keeps me in check, on my toes, and seeking Jesus like never before. She is the most intelligent and self-confident little human I know. She is my most precious gift. 

Columns Anyra has written for FSW:

Featured
The power of Latin@ gatherings
The power of Latin@ gatherings

The Latino community can be a force to be reckoned with when we unite.

That is one reason why Fellowship Southwest is thankful to partner with the Latino Christian National Network (LCNN), and as a Latina myself, it is a personal privilege.

LCNN is an ecumenical network of Latino leaders working to provide Latino and Latina Christian leaders with a respectful space for dialogue, mutual formation, cooperation, amplifying our prophetic voice, and civic engagement for justice.

FSW at a conference on migrant ministries - Como Nacido Entre Nosotros
FSW at a conference on migrant ministries - Como Nacido Entre Nosotros

Stephen Reeves and I spent last week in Cd. Juarez, Mexico, for a four-day ecumenical conference on human mobility by “Como Nacido Entre Nosotros ( or CNEN)” (as one born among you). CNEN is a regional network driven by churches and Christian organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean that seeks to join existing efforts to strengthen the capacity of the Christian community to care for, protect, and promote the rights of migrants.

That Time I Was the Stranger Among the Nations
That Time I Was the Stranger Among the Nations

A few weeks ago, I was honored to meet over 350 remarkable women from 22 Latin American countries in Bolivia. I joined my friend and mentor, Rev. Alicia Zorzoli, at a quinquennia gathering of Baptist Women in All of America (UFBAL--an auxiliary of the Baptist World Alliance).

Bienvenida y Hospitalidad Sagradas
Bienvenida y Hospitalidad Sagradas

"El Espíritu del Señor está sobre mí, porque me ha ungido para proclamar la libertad a los cautivos. "

El mes pasado en Brownsville, TX, junto al pastor Carlos Navarro y la Iglesia Bautista West Brownsville, nos reunimos en un centro de bienvenida establecido para las organizaciones sin fines de lucro. Estábamos ahí para ofrecer alimentos, agua y otras necesidades básicas a los refugiados y migrantes. Minutos antes de entrar a este centro de bienvenida, ellos son liberados de los centros de detención de la Patrulla Fronteriza.

Sacred Welcome and Hospitality
Sacred Welcome and Hospitality

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim freedom to the captives.”

Last month in Brownsville, TX, alongside Pastor Carlos Navarro and Iglesia Bautista West Brownsville, we gathered in a welcome center set up for non-profits to offer food, water and other basic needs to refugees and migrants. Minutes before they enter this welcome center, they are released from Border Patrol detention centers.

Haiti is not on the border
Haiti is not on the border

Last time I checked, Haiti was not on the border of Texas.

I was born and raised on the border, in El Paso, TX. My parents are immigrants from Mexico, so traveling to the neighboring city of Cd. Juarez and into Mexico was very normal to me.

I’ll never forget waiting in the car for hours to cross back to El Paso. The trips back were filled with dismay, as the bridge was filled with children begging for money or selling candy or souvenirs. It was a reality that always disturbed me but taught me empathy and compassion. It was always an opportunity for my parents to teach us about our privileges, despite the fact that we were a low-income family.