Why I give: offering talks 2026

It takes courage and vulnerability to speak to others about the connection between faith and money in our life, and our four lay witnesses did a beautiful job. We invite you to watch one or more of these amazing reflections on extravagant generosity and our Grace to Grow capital campaign as you prayerfully consider your financial commitments to St. Michael’s.

Meet David Jackson
Dave and Robin Jackson are longtime members of St. Michael’s and were married here in 1998 when the Church was still on Bee Cave Rd. All four of our children and both our grandchildren were baptized at St. Michael’s. Dave currently serves on the Vestry and sings in the 11 am Choir. We both recently retired and are thoroughly enjoying spending more time traveling and working on home improvements and health improvements.

Meet Ellen Jockusch
Ellen grew up in San Antonio, where she and her family attended St. Mark's Episcopal Church. After attending college in the Bay Area, Ellen settled in Austin in 1977 to attend graduate school in English at UT. She met Philip Turner, who has been her friend ever since and through whom in Lent 2024 she felt the Holy Spirit drawing her to SMEC. Much to Ellen’s surprise, being a self-proclaimed hymn nerd, she loves the contemporary music, and the hymns, at the 9:00am service. Ellen worked for 22 years at UT in various academic programs. After her time at UT, she directed the degree programs in counseling and spiritual formation at Seminary of the Southwest. Ellen is married to Jim Garrison, a retired UT professor of English, and is the mother of two wonderful grown sons. 

Meet Brent Bellm

Brent and his wife, Hilary, moved to Austin in 2010 from Saratoga, California, shortly after spending four years in Luxembourg and Ireland. Brent works in tech, having spent many years at PayPal, eBay, HomeAway (an Austin IPO in 2011), and BigCommerce (another Austin IPO in 2020). He recently joined his newest venture, Wave Neuroscience, which seeks to revolutionize mental healthcare based on neuroanalytics and personalized neurostimulation. He grew up non-religious but found faith two years after college. Brent and Hilary have a daughter Scarlett (14), son Aaron (18), and dearly-departed son Landon (Aaron’s identical twin). Brent has degrees from Stanford and Harvard.