I met Jim in 2002 when he came to Newton County High School as a teacher. I had only been there since 2000, so I was new, too. I have valued his friendship since then to this day, even as I have been retired since 2009. A farmer, a teacher, a pastor, a musician, and a kind person who is a friend to many, I felt Jim Savell was a good choice for this column.
Born in Meridian on July 8, 1977, to Mark and Lynn Savell, James Marcus Savell,was the oldest of four children. He says that he would not have been born if the triplets had been born first! Born in 1980, when Jim was three years old, William, Robert, and Jennifer Savell Jones were miracle babies. In fact, when I asked Jim to tell me of one of the greatest miracles he has witnessed, he had to tell about their birth. Born six months into the pregnancy, William and Robert each weighed one pound, 15 ounces, while Jennifer weighed one pound, seven ounces. Though his mother had difficulties after their birth, she lived 24 years after that.
Both his parents were teachers, while his father also farmed. Though Jim attended Union schools his first through ninth grades, his last three years were spent at Newton County High School. After his graduation, he attended ECCC and finished with a degree in liberal arts. He earned a BA in history and graduated cum laude from USM in 1999.
Both Jim’s parents influenced him greatly, each in their own way. His mother, who taught at Union, Clarke College, and ECCC, was very intelligent and pushed him in his education and introduced him to things outside of Newton County.
He says his father was a “strong, spiritual influence in my life. Dad made sure from the time I can remember that I was in Sunday school and in church every time the doors were open, as far as possible.”
His father taught at Union and later was the vo-tech director at the Newton County facility.
“He expected us to do our best.” He added, “He taught me how to work and very much modeled it. He led by example.”
His father is still the president of the Newton County School Board and works with Jim on the family farm.
After graduation from USM, Jim worked as a car salesman a couple years, first for Gray Daniels Ford in Brandon, then for Marshall Ford at Union. In January 2001, he began teaching — one semester at Choctaw Central and one year at Hawkins Middle School in Forest.
His year at Forest of 2001-2002 was significant and memorable. He recalls how the people of Forest and in the school system were all very good to him and took care of him. Sadly, his mother died in March. But that summer, he performed in a play in Forest called The Pajama Game and briefly met Jennifer Veazey at a gathering place there called the Kat’s Kave. A friend set them up on a blind date, and the rest, as they say, is history!
Jim came to teach at Newton County in 2002, and three teenagers helped him pick out her engagement ring! He and Jennifer married in June of 2003. He calls it another miracle that he has Jennifer as his wife. He says of her, “God gave me the greatest wife in the world!” Besides being his wife and mother of their two boys, she is currently one of the counselors at ECCC.
Adam, 11, was born Jan. 9, 2006; and Mark, 7, was born Sept. 2, 2010. I know from Facebook posts that these two boys are the icing on the cake for Jim and Jennifer. They follow him and their grandfather around on that farm, and he teaches them, just as his father before taught him.
Jim was saved when he was ten years old at the family church, Hazel Baptist Church. He says that every time he strayed away from God in any way or did anything wrong, he could “feel God’s pull back to Him.” From the time he was fifteen through 2009, including all through his college years, Jim served, first as assistant music director at Hazel Baptist, 1992-2000, then as Music Director at Pine Bluff Baptist, 2000-2004, and Sulphur Springs Baptist, 2004-2009. While at college he enjoyed singing with a USM Southern Gospel group called Wings of Eagles.
During all those years of working as music director, God dealt with him about surrendering to preach. Finally, after many misgivings based on his own self-examination, “in limbo, in between churches, running from God’s call on my life,” he surrendered to ministry at Hazel Baptist.
Since Dec. 15, 2009, except for his taking off a couple Sundays himself, he rejoices that “there has not been one Sunday that I could not have been preaching somewhere. God has definitely blessed me.”
While continuing to farm and teach school, Rev. Jim Savell pastored Calvary Baptist Church in Walnut Grove from 2010-2014, and he has been pastor at Cash Baptist Church since then. He says he has seen a lot of folks get saved while he was preaching. “I just got to be there. God did the work.” I got the impression he was saying, about all that has transpired in his life, “To God be the glory!”
You may contact me at lagnesrussell@gmail.com or 601-635-3282.
