Director for Personal/Spiritual Development
mkpetty@mwcma.org
Why you want to talk to her:
- Assessments | You need an expert to help your team decode the nuances of their hard-wiring and motivational values to function more effectively and in a healthy manner.
- Spiritual Disciplines | You want to pursue what it means to dwell in Him as He dwells in you, and experience the “deeper life” of knowing Him.
- Retreat Ministry | You need a chance to unplug, have times of intimacy with the Lord, and the opportunity to connect with others as you spiritually companion together.
- Prayer Ministry | You want clarified calling, inner healing, or deeper intimacy with Jesus and need someone to listen with you for His sweet words of life.
Mary K’s ministry journey has been a tapestry that began when she just a young child. She is so grateful to have grown up in churches that believed in the Holy Spirit and gave her opportunity to pray that He might fill her completely. It was in third grade that He made Himself known to her and called her to a ministry that would flow out of a life with Him. That experience with the Lord carried Mary K through a very chaotic and unstable childhood and gave her hope that there was something more. Because of frequent moves, she attended a different school almost every year. At age thirteen her parents went through a very messy divorce. In order to start a new life and be active in vocational ministry, her mom and step-dad had her full name legally changed – first, middle and last! She was asked to adopt a rewritten history of her life which further isolated her from authentic community. The frequent moves continued which kept a real sense of belonging and being “known” always out of reach. It was in the midst of this upheaval that Jesus invited her to find her true identity.
Perhaps that’s why she has resonated so profoundly with using assessment tools as a part of her ministry; a way to celebrate how uniquely God has crafted people, and also to shed light on those places that might need His gentle touch. During ministry in India Mary K saw the impact of this for the first time. A church planter in India, who grew up as an orphan and could not seem to see himself as anything but a forgotten child, found out the description for his hard-wiring was that of champion. “He began to weep as he allowed the words to penetrate his protective shell,” recalls Mary K. “Today, that man is not the same man! It was incredible to watch the change in his identity, life and ministry!” She returned from that trip convinced she needed to get certified in some assessment tools. Jon Rich graciously gave her opportunity and platform in the Midwest District, and that’s what helped launch Mary K into the ministry she engages in today.
Aside from the passion of her calling, Mary K. is known for her immense love of two things: her grandchildren and going fishing with her best friend and husband, Bob. If you put a fishing pole in her hand – especially a fly rod – you’ll probably have to pry her fingers from it and drag her home at the end of the day. Likewise, her grandchildren are the delight of her heart. She never knew she could love someone as much as she loves her babies and grandbabies. She is amazed that the same delight she takes from just being with them is a small taste of how God feels when He looks at us. God has blessed her with a “people” to call her own. Such amazing redeeming love!
Mary K wonders where she would have been today if Jesus would not have been her Constant Companion, speaking words of belonging and acceptance, identity and a new name over her. She says, “There are no words to describe the depth of love and gratitude I feel for Him. He is my Everything.” Jesus rescued her not only from loneliness and a lack of belonging, but also from herself and her own brokenness. It’s why she’s so passionate about the Lord’s ability and desire to heal others. God continues to lovingly draw her out into places of freedom and joy, and she delights in being allowed the privilege of walking alongside others as He reveals His love and goodness to them.
There are so many verses she clings to, but Philippians 3:10 speaks of the desire of her heart:
(For my determined purpose is) that I may know Him… (AMP)