Jewells experience ‘great joy in giving’ to Southwestern Seminary

Editor’s note: this article appears in the Fall 2021 issue of Southwestern News.

When the new occupant of their old house on Felix Street walked across the street with a misdelivered envelope, Mike (’92) and Estelle Jewell were blessed by God’s timing. The envelope was from their home church in South Texas and, almost to a penny, met the need for a bill the financially struggling seminary couple received the same day.

“That is a lesson that [is] so ingrained my memory,” Mike says. “I was so grateful for someone else’s obedience to give … obviously there’s a great joy in giving.”

In 1985, Mike and Estelle, both of whom are from San Juan, Texas, closed their business, packed up their three little girls, and moved to Fort Worth so Mike could attend Southwestern Seminary to work on an advanced graduate diploma in theology.

Estelle worked as a dental hygienist in Granbury while Mike attended classes during the day and served as the maintenance supervisor at the Recreation and Aerobics Center on campus at night.

After a year and a half of attending classes, Mike was involved in the project for one of the seminary’s Doctor of Ministry students. The student, whose name has been forgotten, was the “seminary mechanic.” The first Sunday night the study group met, the student learned Mike had been an auto mechanic before moving to Fort Worth.

The following day, after attending classes and picking up their daughters from school, Mike arrived home to find the student sitting on his porch. He explained to Mike he had a car at the seminary he was working on and could not determine what was wrong.

“He said, ‘Mike, could you come look at it with me?’” Mike remembers. “So, I went over to the seminary campus, crawled under it, showed him what it was [and] had him bring me home. And I thought all was well with the world.”

However, for the next two afternoons, when Mike returned home with the couple’s daughters, he found the student sitting on his front porch with more auto issues on cars around campus. When the student neared his time of graduation, he told Mike, “You know, you really should take my place and start doing this around campus.”

“As grateful as I was for the ability to work for the seminary and be a ‘blue shirt,’ I figured out quickly I could financially take better care of my family doing this than I could being a blue shirt,” Mike says. “So, I began to work out of a little three car carport behind the house I lived in, and [the business] continued to grow.”

The Jewells moved what is now known as Jewell Auto to its current location on James Avenue, a few blocks south of the seminary campus, in 1989.

Estelle explains when the business first moved to the James Avenue site, Mike had a couple of seminary students work for him, who even painted a sign for the original building.

“It’s very humbling to see where we were and where God has brought us,” Estelle adds. The role the seminary has played in their lives is part of the reason the Jewells invest in Southwestern Seminary.

“I believe the seminary played a huge part in our lives, spiritually,” Mike says. “I felt like the Lord allowed me to sit at the feet of some brilliant, brilliant, godly caring men.”

Mike explains when he was a student, the classes in his degree program were taught by Ph.D. students. He petitioned the dean of the School of Theology, the late Bill Tolar, to take his coursework with master’s level students so he could study with some of the professors. This has led to “lifelong friendships with faculty,” he says.

One of the semesters Mike was a student Estelle had to have three surgeries. Mike remembers, “A number of [the faculty] brought food, came and prayed with us [and] ministered to us in such an incredible way.”

Estelle, though, explains the primary reason the couple gives to Southwestern is because “God calls us to do that.”

“There [were] so many times during our life at seminary that we were without and had needs, and people met those needs monetarily,” Estelle says. The couple now does the same for others, anonymously, which allows them to experience “the joy that you see on somebody’s face … because a lot of times they don’t know that it was you. … You see how God uses that to meet their needs and it’s just a quiet way to see how God works.”

The Jewells have a particular interest in the seminary police department.

“We’ve … developed a great love for the police department and those who keep the seminary safe, and take care of safety,” Mike says on the couple’s behalf. “I think the rule of law is very important in our society today and believe so strongly in what the seminary has decided to do in developing their own police department.”

As a result, the Jewells have contributed to the police’s equipment and maintenance and

care of their vehicles.

The Jewells continue to invest in Southwestern Seminary because they believe in the seminary’s common bond, goal, and service to “help prepare people for ministry,” Mike says.

Ashley Allen is the managing editor of Southwestern News.