Pastor Ramiro Peña and Gatesville's Heavins unite churches in Coryell County
Pastor Ramiro Peña joined Gatesville’s Gary and Diane Heavin to push a church network effort rooted in Coryell County and tied to relief work in Venezuela.
Pastor Ramiro Peña brought a national ministry reach back into Coryell County by appearing with Gatesville residents Gary and Diane Heavin, the Central Texas couple behind Curves International, in a push to unite churches and strengthen ministry work tied to Venezuela.
Peña is the founder and senior pastor of Christ the King Church of Waco, where his television ministry in English and Spanish reaches all 50 states and 249 countries. His ministry bio says he has helped plant 14 other churches since 1991, building a network that stretches across Texas, Mexico, Cuba and India. He began youth ministry in 1982 and was licensed and ordained as a Baptist pastor in Temple in 1985.
The Heavins bring a different kind of influence to the effort. Gary Heavin and Diane Heavin founded Curves International in Harlingen in 1992 and built it into a major women-focused fitness franchise. One ministry bio described Curves as the world’s largest fitness franchise, with around 7,000 locations in 88 countries. The couple remains publicly associated with Gatesville and nearby Mound, and The Gary & Diane Heavin Community Fund is listed in Gatesville, giving the pair an established local base as they return to ministry and humanitarian work.
That mix of church leadership and business reach is what makes the gathering notable in Coryell County. Peña’s work has also crossed into broader faith and political circles, including service connected to the Faith and Opportunity Initiative and the National Hispanic Advisory Council for Donald Trump. More recently, he has been described as working to unite churches and minister to Venezuelan government officials, linking the local appearance in Central Texas to an international crisis response.
The Venezuela connection adds urgency to the story for Central Texas churches that often serve as the first layer of support when families, congregations and aid networks need to organize quickly. For Gatesville, the significance is not just that two recognizable residents showed up alongside a Waco pastor. It is that the Heavins’ local standing, combined with Peña’s church plant network and multilingual media ministry, can turn a regional gathering into something with reach far beyond Coryell County.
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