Children’s home alum brings hope and healing to girls, moms & mentors

CORPUS CHRISTI—Most teenaged girls like rollercoaster rides, and that may account for the positive response Jenny Broughton receives from her audience. After all, young people who hear her story about surviving the trauma of neglect, abuse and the murder/suicide of her parents describe it as an emotional rollercoaster.

During a recent “It’s a Girl Thing” conference in her hometown of Corpus Christi, Broughton—a South Texas Children’s Home Ministries alum—moved seamlessly from humorous tales of imitating ’60s model Twiggy to impress her heartthrob, to the sobering details of early verbal, physical and sexual abuse.

Her story of survival and success particularly resonated with 12 girls from South Texas Children’s Home Ministries who were eager to hear how she went from obscurity to inspiring audiences throughout the country with her message of hope and healing.

"My father was in the Navy and gone most of the time, so my mother was like a single mom caring for five children,” Broughton shared. “When Mom was drunk or angry, she would often tell me: ‘You were an accident, Jenny. I didn’t mean to have you.’”

When she was 11 years old, Broughton’s father came home briefly to attend a funeral. But his visit did not turn out the way she had hoped. While she and her siblings were at school, her father strangled her mother to death and then shot himself.

“I was suddenly orphaned and sent to live at South Texas Children’s Home Ministries along with two of my brothers. I lived in one of the cottages with a housemom and several other girls on a beautiful ranch. But I felt alone, angry and scared to death,” Broughton said.

“I didn’t realize it at the time, but Jesus was there, loving me through the staff at the home. We read the Bible daily, but I couldn’t believe God’s word would ask me to trust a man, considering all the pain men had caused in my life—especially a man I could not see.”

A defining moment for 19-year-old Jenny Broughton came when she met Billy Graham in 1973. Broughton gave her testimony at the Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas and sat on stage between Graham and then-Governor Jimmy Carter.

Finally, one sweltering summer night, in the loving arms of her housemother, Jenny realized that even though she was a victim who had been sinned against, she also had sinned against God and others.

“I knew that night that I was a spiritual orphan and that Jesus was stopping by for me again,” Broughton told her audience. “It was like he was asking, ‘What do you want me to do for you, Jenny girl?’

“I wanted so badly to see and understand. I wanted to know this man Jesus and that he loved me. I wanted someone to care and to know that I was not an accident. I gave my heart to the Lord that night and began a journey with God that changed my life forever.”

Carissa, a senior living at South Texas Children’s Home Ministries, was deeply moved by Broughton’s message.

“Jenny Broughton was amazing. She was on the level and put a lot of herself into her message. It was like she was saying, ‘I know what you are going through, and I’m here to help.’ It is hard when your family is falling apart and you don’t know what to do. Jenny showed us you can get through it, like she did, and she did it through Christ.”

Broughton’s husband, Sam, serves as pastor of Ethnos Church, a Baptist mission congregation in Oklahoma City. As a pastor’s wife, inspirational speaker, mother, grandmother and teacher, she has had ample opportunities to meet women and learn about their needs.

“I’ve learned that many women and girls have suffered and never been comforted when something hard happened in their lives,” she said. “Their needs were not met, and no one ever came along to say ‘I’m so sorry and sad you have been hurt.’ In my years at the children’s home, God used houseparents, caseworkers and counselors to bring healing to my life and open the doors that he wanted me to walk through.”

Jenny Broughton talks with girls from South Texas Children’s Home Ministries. (PHOTOS/South Texas Children’s Home Ministries)

Diane Gryseels, a counselor at the STCHM family counseling office in Corpus Christi, remembers Broughton’s teenage years and continues to support her today.

“Jenny loved to attend meetings and always wanted to meet the speakers,” Gryseels recalled.

“One Christian speaker Jenny really identified with was the very humorous Marge Caldwell. When Jenny was 12, I introduced her to Marge. Once Jenny realized her sense of humor could be used for God’s glory, she began to deal with her life issues and grew in her ability to use personal experiences and humor to draw people to God.”

When she was 19, she had the opportunity to give her testimony at the Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas. She was seated on stage between then-Governor Jimmy Carter and Billy Graham, who also spoke that night.

“It was a defining moment for Jenny,” Gryseels said.

Now, as a professional inspirational speaker, Broughton connects with people of all ages—but particularly with teenaged girls.

“Teens identify with the abuse Jenny experienced, her low self-esteem issues, and her tales of making a fool of herself and learning to laugh about it. It helps them see what God can do in their life if they let him,” Gryseels noted.

Carissa admits that she was an atheist when she first began living at South Texas Children’s Home Ministries but that after a few months, she said, “I opened my heart and let Christ in.”

“After the ‘Girl Thing’ conference, I began to try harder to stay near Christ and stay in the word each day,” Carissa said. “When I went home over Easter weekend, I led my mom to the Lord. We are a lot closer now and it is great. I discovered that what Jenny said is true. God does stop by our lives, and if we listen, we can hear him.”

“Every generation has their share of pain and suffering,” Broughton reflected. “And it isn’t easy to grow up in a children’s home and deal with the reasons you find yourselves there. But I want girls and boys alike to realize that the children’s home is not the end of the line for them. It is, instead, an open door of opportunity to break the cycle of unhealthy behaviors in their families and make it possible for them to achieve their dreams and become what they’ve always hoped to be.”

Sarah Pitzer, an “It’s a Girl Thing!” organizer, is grateful for how Broughton touched the lives of girls from all over South Texas.

“The way Jenny shares about her encounters with truth is so freeing. She simply says that at the toughest times in her life, God came to visit. We all want to have hope—a hope that God loves, cares and hears and that he will rescue us. And, of course, as we discover in his word, he does, and he will.”