Watch this story or read below to learn how mentors have influenced Betty Wright Riggins, a leading woman of American Baptist Churches USA.

Recalling Mentor Ella Pearson Mitchell: “She taught me how to have my own voice”  
By Rev. Betty Wright Riggins, Founder/Principal of TrustOne, Spiritual Direction and Leadership Coaching

Rev. Dr. Ella Pearson Mitchell was pivotal in my life at a time when I wasn’t really sure where God was calling me. Ella was a Christian educator, bright and smart. She worked tirelessly with pastors who had not yet gained all of their theological education and worked with them individually on how to write and express themselves. She taught me to stand firm and to be Betty and that your advocacy for women comes out in your preparation, how you affirm God’s call in your life and in letting the spirit move through you. I can still hear her voice in my ear when I am quiet. She had a very distinctive way of speaking and approaching scripture. “She taught me how to have my own voice, how to bring who I am to the preaching moment, and to bring all that God has given me to that moment.”