UPIKE welcomes a new bear to religion
0Written by Rita Seal
UPIKE welcomed an adjunct instructor in religion this semester.
Joseph L. Wells, Jr. is from Louisville, Ky. Wells teaches Old Testament, and next semester, he will be teaching New Testament.
Wells came to Pikeville in 1977 right after the flood that Pikeville experienced in the month of May.
“My dad had moved here a couple of years before me; he and another union bricklayer (Danny Melvin) came here during the ‘coal boom’ days to contract bricklaying jobs. I came here to work with my dad and Danny Melvin as an apprentice and did so for about 15 years or more,” he said.
“I have been married to the most wonderful lady that a man could ever want for the last 16 years. Her name is Bridgette, and we have been the best of friends since the first day that we met each other. I cannot begin to imagine what life would even be without her. I really do believe that there is such a thing as soul-mates because that is exactly what we are to each other and what has made us so close to each other,” he said.
Wells and his wife don’t have any children, but they have had a hand in helping to raise Bridgette’s two nieces. They were raised in a single parent home and their mother experienced a tragic death. The girls stayed with them a lot in the last five years or so, until they both finished their schooling. They both have done well and one of the girls has completed her education at UPIKE and the youngest one is still at UPIKE.
Wells has a few hobbies.
“I love Christian reference books, and I have over a thousand that I have bought and collected over the years. I spend every moment possible, reading and studying the Bible and utilizing those books. I am interested in writing books, and I hope to do more in that area as time moves along. I have one book that I have written and published and you can find it on Amazon; it is called, Pauline Authorship of the Book of Hebrews,” he said.
Wells has always been interested in teaching.
“I have always wanted to teach anything that has to do with the Bible especially as it relates to history and how that the Bible has come down to us,” he said.
Wells prefers to teach at a university level.
“I look at my position as an instructor at UPIKE more as a calling or fulfilling a ministry. I had several teaching opportunities since I first began obtaining my Bible degrees that had no appeal to me when confronted with the positions. One was teaching a sixth grade history class in a Christian school outside of Pontiac, Mich.,” he said.
He also had another opportunity in the ‘80s at Christ Central in Pikeville; the only problem was that neither of these were Bible classes. They were both in Christian environments, but that was not what God’s will was for him to do.
He has spent many years teaching the youth as a director, and he enjoyed it very much. His desire was to study God’s Word. He would teach to a group of kids in a grade school or high school before he would be a professor in any other subject such as math, reading, science, or any other non-related Bible subject in any university. He has always wanted to teach the Bible on an under-graduate level, and now he has the opportunity to do it.
Wells’ experience has been good so far in Pikeville.
“I have been living my dream come true. I am very thankful that Dr. Hess has allowed me this opportunity to come and be a part of the UPIKE experience. The young men and women that I have had the pleasure of teaching have just been amazing. I admire and care for each one of my students, and I try very hard to make their experience in my class to be one that they will always look back on with appreciation. I come to class understanding into God’s Word,” he said.
Wells shared his motto in life, “One thing that I always tell people is that the right road always leads to the right place at the right time.”