A SMALL INVESTMENT - A HUGE RETURN

Interview with Dena Petty

“Thank God for Aunt Nell.” The words echo from a recent discussion with Dena Petty, an eleven-year member of FBC and the Founder/Director of Mentors Care, a nonprofit organization that connects at-risk high school students with adult mentors.

If anyone understands the importance of having a caring adult in her life, it’s Dena. Growing up with an angry, violent father and a disengaged mother who was immersed in a religious cult, Dena reflected, “No one woke me up to go to school in the mornings. No one checked to see if I had my homework done. No one at home told me that I was loved or gave me hugs.”

At age 16, Dena’s parents divorced. At 18, when she would no longer submit to the doctrines of her mother’s religion, Dena was disfellowshipped by church leaders, disowned by her mother, and found herself living in her car. To provide enough income for food and gas, she took a job, working day and night, hanging wallpaper in a government housing project.

“I knew there was a different way to live. Aunt Nell, my mom’s sister, modeled health and godliness for me.” Dena didn’t have a lot of access to her aunt, having stayed with her only three times while grow

ing up. But the impact was dramatic. “I watched the way she loved her husband and children.

I watched the way she gave of herself in serving others. Her example gave me a goal for a better life.”

On a trip to Florida, Dena met her future husband from her home state. Todd Petty was an engineering student at Louisiana Tech. Because of her attraction to him, Dena decided to enroll herself. “They told me I needed to take the ACT or the SAT. I had no idea what they were talking about. I had barely graduated from high school. But here I was enrolling in college!” she says. “My declared major was interior design, but truthfully I majored in Todd Petty!” she laughed.

When Todd graduated and was offered a job in Georgia, Dena decided to leave school to concentrate on being a wife and eventually a mother to their two children – Bryce and Lexi. “I wanted my life to look like Aunt Nell’s. I wanted to have a healthy family. I wanted to give back to my community.”

When the Pettys moved to Arkansas, she got her chance. Attending a small Methodist church, they

began to serve as volunteers in the youth ministry. Eventually, the church asked Dena to become the Youth Pastor. “I had no idea how to serve in that arena, but the church sent me to a training conference, and I soaked up everything I could. Within five years, we had developed an effective discipleship module and had grown from 10 kids to 100,” she recalls.

Her work in that church would eventually bear fruit in our area. In 2006, Todd took a job in the metroplex. The Pettys moved to Ellis County and joined FBC Midlothian. Dena soon began volunteering in our church, the schools her kids attended, and the community. Then, in 2009, she was approached by the principal of Midlothian High School about starting a mentoring program.

“There was no plan and no money, but God was already at work putting it all together,” says Dena.

“I began asking for input and prayers from my church staff and family, and they were answered in an amazing way.”

Dr. Wayne Shuffield, the Evangelism Director for the Baptist General Convention of Texas at that time, was a member of FBC and on the MISD school board. “He told me that the convention did not have a school selected, or a program designed, or even a person to lead, but they DID have money set aside to launch a mentoring program for at-risk teens! It was a God-thing!” Dena exclaims.

Having been an at-risk teen herself, Dena has a unique perspective for what kind of program works best. And the influence of her Aunt Nell convinced Dena that a small investment of one’s time, heart, and energy could make a massive difference in the outcome of another’s life.

Dena Petty and KBEC 1390AM/99.1FM owner Jim Phillips.

While many high school mentoring programs fail, Mentors Care has experienced great success. Volunteers receive an initial 2-hour training and then advanced preparation each year. And though students meet with their mentors only one hour a week, 98% who complete the program graduate from high school and close the academic gap that exists between them and their peers.

From the inception of Mentors Care, Dena has enlisted volunteers through her relationships at FBC and within the community. “My first office was a broom closet that doubled as a book drop room at the library. But in ten years, we’ve expanded to six high schools in the surrounding area!” she reports.

Dena Petty knows something about how a small investment can make a such a sizeable return. And while she thanks God for Aunt Nell, hundreds of students in our area thank God for Dena Petty.

For information about serving as a mentor to at-risk students in our area, visit mentors.care.

For information about serving in other organizations or ministries in our community, contact Kevin Phillips at, kevin.phillips@fbcmidlo.com.