By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer
MONROE, La. (LBM) – Perry Hancock has led the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home and Family Ministries through creation of a foster care and adoption network, Compassion Center, ministry for homeless women and their children, a women’s learning center and the minister care residential program during his 22 years as president and CEO.
As he reflected on fond memories ahead of his February 2026 retirement, Hancock said he is thankful for the way God has used the LBCHFM to share the hope of Christ with others on campus and beyond.
“The years (my wife) Tonya and I have spent at the Children’s Home have been an incredible blessing,” Hancock, who announced his retirement to the Louisiana Baptist entity’s board of trustees on Sept. 25, told the Baptist Message. “This ministry has given us the privilege of living out our calling in very tangible ways by serving children and families in need. We have built friendships and relationships that we will cherish for the rest of our lives. The Children’s Home is now woven into the fabric of our family’s story and for that we are truly grateful.”
PATH TO MONROE
Hancock has served as leader of the LBCHFM since July 1, 2003. Prior to that, he served as dean of graduate studies and professor of discipleship with New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. When he was elected president and CEO of the LBCHFM, Hancock told trustees that he looked forward to creating a family-style atmosphere among workers and administrators and continuing Louisiana Baptists’ desire for the ministry to put children first. As he nears retirement, Hancock has seen that vision become reality.
MINISTRY’S GROWTH
Among the highlights of Hancock’s leadership of the LBCHFM are the ministries he began or expanded.
Foster care and adoption
–Connect1Child foster care and adoption network provides individuals and churches a toolkit to be a “helper to the orphan.”
In November 2022, a new model was launched to help associations better engage churches in foster care and adoption ministry.
Since its inception, four associations representing 250 churches have participated in this coordination of efforts to serve the foster care community. This model recognizes that an
association provides a more streamlined approach to meet urgent needs.
Compassion for Kids
Compassion for Kids offers ministry designed to meet the basic life needs of economically challenged children and their families in Northeast Louisiana and around the state. In May 2025, the Children’s Home Compassion for Kids ministry opened the Compassion Center, a 16,000 sq.-ft. facility located on the Monroe campus.
The Center provides food for 1,200 families each month. In its first four months of operation, the Compassion Center
and its church partners have served more than over 11,000 people. and could impact 25,000-50,000 children and their families annually in one of the state’s poorest regions as well as across Louisiana. The 15,000- 16,000sq.-ft. facility provides food, school supplies, diapers, shoes, new clothing and other life essentials. Additionally, the center offers space for a mission church or Bible studies.
HOMEPLACE MINISTRY
Since its inception in 2010, HomePlace has offered homeless women and their children a place to stay for six to 12 months at no cost to the residents, and their stay can be extended. More than 500 women and their children have participated in the program. While there, the women may work toward their high school equivalency and receive life and job training through the on-campus Women’s Learning Center.
MINISTER CARE PROGRAM
The Minister Care Residential Program was launched in 2018, and allows Louisiana Baptist terminated ministers and International Mission Board missionaries on stateside assignment (transitioning to a new ministry or recently retired) to receive a free apartment on the LBCHFM’s campus in Monroe for up to one year. The program provides Christian counseling if needed and ministerial guidance.
SUPPORTIVE SPOUSE
Serving alongside Hancock has been his wife, who greatly contributed to the ministry of the LBCHFM herself.
During her tenure there, she started the Women’s Learning Center in 2010 and served as the full-time volunteer executive director for 15 years. This center provides women 18 years and older the chance to prepare for the High School Equivalency Test and receive career training at no cost. The Center also offers training and encouragement from the ministry team and fellow classmates in a caring, Christian environment as students prepare for a better life for themselves and their families.
Additionally, she served as a representative for the LBCHFM in churches and civic organizations.
“It has been a privilege to minister side by side with my husband at the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home and to see God’s love changing lives every day,” she said. “My heart has been deeply touched by children who now feel safe and loved, families restored through Granberry Counseling Centers and homeless mothers who’ve found hope and stability for their children.
“Working with the Women’s Learning Center has been one of my greatest joys – watching women discover that God has beautiful plans for their lives (Jeremiah 29:11) as they gain skills to provide for their families and step into new beginnings,” she continued. “I am forever grateful for the opportunity to serve in this ministry and to witness God’s faithfulness up close.”
WORDS OF APPRECIATION
Jason Lupo, LBCHFM board chairman and pastor with First Baptist Church, Hornbeck, commended the expansion of ministries at LBCHFM under Hancock’s leadership.
“What he has done has benefited not only the Children’s Home but the state as a whole,” Lupo said. “It’s hard to put a number of how much more full heaven is because of him, but if you think about what he’s done and how he has impacted children’s lives that have lived at the Children’s Home, it’s massive.”
Mike Hawkins, past board chairman with the LBCHFM and pastor with Salem Baptist Church, Stonewall, commended Hancock’s faithfulness.
“He is committed to his God, to his family and to his ministry,” Hawkins said. “During his tenure at our Children’s Home, while similar ministries in other states struggled or even closed, ours flourished. He was diligent to carefully consider changing laws and to adapt to those changes so that our ministry expanded. Many lives have been changed eternally through the faithfulness of Perry Hancock.”
Steven Kelly, associational mission strategist with Northeast Louisiana and Morehouse Baptist Associations, met Hancock in 1988 while the two were working on their degrees with New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Additionally, Kelly’s wife, Tammilee, and Tonya Hancock were colleagues as campus secretaries.
“The Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home is not the same place that it was when Perry started in this position,” Kelly said. “His leadership fingerprints are all over the campus both in facilities and ministry direction. His gentle heart and spirit combined with his vision and tenacity have put the Children’s Home in a tremendous position to move even further forward.”
Louisiana Baptist Executive Director Steve Horn commended Hancock’s faithfulness.
“Every leader desires to leave an organization better than he finds it, and this will certainly be the legacy of Dr. Hancock,” he said. “He has served our Lord, and Louisiana Baptists, with faithfulness and excellence.
“Dr. Hancock is arguably the most well-known Louisiana Baptist leader. We will miss his leadership, but if I know anything about him, he will continue to be a champion for Christ, for children, for compassion, and our cooperative missions and ministries.”
Karen Sanders, director with Geaux and Deaux Ministries in Baton Rouge, touched on her friendship with Tonya.
“Tonya is such an inspiration in everything she does,” she said. “She embodies the fruit of the Spirit. Tonya is intentional with praying for God’s people.”
