INTRODUCING AMBER & THE BLACK BUTTERFLY HOUSE I met Amber a couple years ago. Amber was incarcerated as a teenager and when she was released, she lived in transitional housing. With the support she received in this home, she made significant life changes. She is now the executive assistant of a Vice President at a Fortune 500 company. In addition, she started a non-profit called the Black Butterfly House, which is a transitional home giving women the same opportunity that was provided to her. This month, Amber welcomed her baby girl into this world. It was an honor to celebrate with her at her shower and pray for the new journey ahead of her as a mother. MN ADULT & TEEN CHALLENGE: Also this month, I received an invite to lead worship for a Fall kick off night at MN Adult & Teen Challenge. It was an event for alumni who have graduated their long and short-term programs, current clients in their Leadership Institute, and current clients who are in their Restoration program to recover from relapsing. A highlight of the evening was one of our worship team members sharing her faith story with those who attended. Her story resonated with the experiences of many of those in the room and they gave her a standing ovation when she finished. Thank you for your support and investment in this ministry to see lives changed and transformed through the full and abundant life Jesus offers (John 10:10). Much love to you all! Jackie
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I want to start by saying THANK YOU to you all for your continued support and investment into God's kingdom through my ministry work with Consumed.
This month has been 10 years since I joined the Consumed Ministries staff team. I've been spending some time reflecting on all the opportunities God has opened doors to these last 10 years and the work He has done. It has included being a part of the Urbana worship team, helping the Celebrate Recovery ministry to grow inside the Waseca Federal Women's Prison, gathering to worship and share the love of Jesus inside an eclectic coffee shop where many New Agers would meet, teaching Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace class out of our home with Jake, leading worship at retreats and conferences for college students, coming alongside families to lead them in prayer and singing worship songs as they've grieved an unexpected loss of a family member, leading worship at various churches, bringing groups with me into the Women's Shakopee Prison to worship with the women inside and pray for them, worshiping together via Zoom during the heart of the pandemic, mentoring young worship leaders, leading worship for MN Adult & Teen Challenge, and most recently getting to connect with women who were formerly incarcerated inside the Women's Shakopee Prison on both a weekly basis (our weekly check-in support group) and monthly (Prison Fellowship alumni breakfasts). It is truly humbling to remember all the ways that God has moved and has touched my heart and others' through these experiences in the last 10 years. I'm just so grateful. Thank you dear family and friends for your continued love, support, and investment into God's kingdom. Your prayers, giving, and support are intertwined in these experiences and stories shared. Much love, Jackie THANK YOU to my friends and family for supporting my work with Consumed Ministries. I am so grateful for each and every one of you! 2016 has been a year filled with joy, change, and opportunities to see God work in many new ways. I’m excited to share with you how God has been so faithful! Mentorship with Anna: Last year, I spoke of a young lady who I have been mentoring, named Anna. This year, Anna experienced her first time leading worship at a church where we co-led together. It was a great experience to see Anna take another step in sharing her talents and passion for leading others into the presence of God. Recently, Anna has taken on a full-time worship leader position at this church! It's been an honor to be a part of seeing this young lady grow and be used by God to share the Gospel with others through music. Prison Ministry: A couple years ago, I was restricted to go into state prisons here in MN due to a conflict of interest in knowing people who have been in these prisons. I had to wait a certain amount of time to go back in and this year, through God's faithfulness, I was finally granted clearance to lead worship inside all state prisons again! Since regaining clearance, I have gotten to go to the men’s prison in Lino Lakes and the women’s prisons in Shakopee and Waseca. I am very excited and look forward to continuing to minister in these places! Newest Member to Team Dixon!: Jake and I welcomed our son Obadiah Edward Dixon (aka “Oby”) to the world in September. He is the joy of our life and makes us laugh every day! Thank you to those of you who have come alongside us in this transition. You may or may not know that I broke and displaced my tailbone during labor. It has been a difficult recovery these past few months, but I am thankful that I am continuing to heal by God’s power and am hopeful I will not need surgery. I have seen God work in incredible ways to bring us through this. God's mercy is real and my relationship with Him has taken on a whole new meaning now when I think about Oby. He cracks us up with his smile and facial expressions and keeps us on our toes with his independent personality ("I'll do it!"). We love him dearly and can't wait to see how God works in his little life.
Year-End Giving: I know many God-honoring ministries are asking for year-end donations. My ministry role with Consumed, like many of our brothers & sisters serving Christ, would benefit from year-end gifts as well. I would be grateful and honored for your consideration in this matter. I know there are so many amazing charities and ministries for you to invest in, so thank you for giving to my work with Consumed if you choose to do so. All gifts are tax-deductible. For online giving, you can donate HERE. May you experience the richness of God's blessings for you in the New Year! Our Visit to Lino Lakes Prison It was exciting to return to the Lino Lakes men's prison! Jake was able to come with me on this visit and I wanted to share with you some thoughts he wrote about from our experience there: "I always leave Lino Lakes with many takeaways, but the one thing that I am always reminded about is the passion and freedom these men show in how they worship. To the world, it's so backwards. Here are men that are imprisoned, lacking physical freedom and under constant supervision, but when I see them in that room, they are no different from any other person who is seeking God and looking to bring Him glory. That's the truth about who Jesus is. He's greater than walls and cells. He can give freedom to all that's greater than any physical confinements. It is always a joy and an honor to go with Jackie on these visits and it has really helped me grow in my faith and obedience in the Lord." “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’" -Mat. 25:37-40 MN Adult & Teen Challenge Graduation Every month, this awesome ministry holds a graduation for those who have completed their 13-month, Christ-centered rehab program. I had the joy of going again to July's graduation and was struck by what a wife of one of the graduates shared: "Faith is not a feeling. It's a choice you make to trust God even when the path is uncertain." -Wife of a Teen Challenge graduate Amen! So thankful for the ministry of MN Adult & Teen Challenge and the opportunities I've had to partner with them to see lives transformed through Christ. Mentorship I met Anna, a college student at Normandale, last year. In meeting weekly throughout this past year, we've developed a friendship that has also led to an opportunity for me to mentor her in leading worship. Anna has started to lead worship among her peers on campus, and recently experienced her first time leading worship at a church a couple weeks ago where we sang together. Here are a couple video clips from our time leading together at Grace Church in Inver Grove Heights: It's been so fun to watch Anna grow in her faith and mature in her leadership. I was so proud to be in a supporting role as I was a part of her leading for the first time at this church. I'm excited for her as she continues to use what she's learning to be an influence on her campus, using her gifts & talents to share Christ with others. Pictured: Anna, Jackie, and Emma. What a joy to lead worship with these gals! Preparing for Baby Dixon 37 weeks along! Excited to meet Baby Dixon soon!
Once Baby D arrives, I'll be taking a maternity break for a couple months to adjust to our new normal and enjoy time with our little one. We'll keep you posted with pictures! THANK YOU for all your generous and faithful contributions to my work with Consumed Ministries. I count it an honor and blessing to be sent out to do these kinds of things through your gifts. If you would like to offer an annual contribution or become a monthly financial partner, you can check out the Giving link to the left of this page or feel free to Contact me for more information. Thank you to those of you who were able to come to our Consumed Ministries open house dessert night. It was fun to chat with you and share stories of how God is moving! I am grateful for your partnership in helping me to share the Gospel through music. I couldn't do what I do without your support! Thank you! InterVaristy Cross Training Conference At the end of October, I had the awesome privilege of leading worship for about 400 college students who attended InterVarsity's Fall Conference called, Cross Training. Many students were empowered to live out God's mission for them back on their college campuses and 8 students made a first-time commitment to follow Jesus! Hallelujah! I was moved to tears after students made these commitments to place their faith in Christ as we sang, "I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back. The cross before me, the world behind me, no turning back, no turning back." Words can't describe the joy that filled me as I looked out and saw a sea of college students singing this full-heartedly. Praising God for His great work among these students! Here are some videos from our time worshiping together at the conference. Be encouraged by hearing these students praising Jesus! Visit to Winona on Nov. 13-15 Jake and I are looking forward to returning to Winona to visit! I will be singing at Pleasant Valley Church for both services on Sunday, Dec. 15 at 8:30am and 10:30am and would love to chat with you while we're there! Wow, God is so good! Pictured above is me standing in the Teen Challenge chapel with two young ladies who were an important part of our night at MN Adult & Teen Challenge this past Friday. To my left is Emma, who is a recent Teen Challenge graduate and helped me to lead worship. To my right is Emma's mom Tammy, who is a nurse at Teen Challenge and shared her testimony. About 100 women who are in the Teen Challenge program joined us for this once a month prayer and worship night. And God was powerfully at work! Our time there included praise & worship, personal testimonies, and a time of prayer ministry. God had a special surprise in store for us. Have you ever wondered, "Does God really speak"?...
There were three of us who shared personal stories and encouragement with the women from up front. None of us knew what the other would be sharing, but it became very clear that God was giving each of us the same message to speak. Tammy's encouragement to the women was to WAIT-- wait on God for their husbands, for a job, and that God will never be late to answer but will always be right on time. Beverly shared next and her message was to WAIT-- be still before God and wait on Him, to treasure their time alone with Him. I was last to share and by this point I was amazed that Beverly and Tammy had spoken exactly what God was pressing on my heart too. God had given me the same word as I prayed during the week leading up to this night, to WAIT--and I recalled Isaiah 40:31 which says, "Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary." I encouraged the women to wait on God for new strength, to press on in finishing their program and to run the race with perseverance, to not give up--that God has them there for a reason and to wait on Him to allow for His work in them. Amen! God's message was coming through loud and clear as 3 different people delivered the same word! We then opened up the night for the women to come and receive prayer with some women I invited from our church who were there to pray with them. I was told that normally when the women are invited to come pray with others, that there is a hesitation and not many come forward right away. But God again was clearly stirring in hearts, because as soon as we invited them to come receive prayer, entire groups of women were lining up to be prayed for! And an extra special part of the night was one young lady, who had just started the long-term program (a 13 month program) a couple days before this night, who prayed with Beverly to receive Christ into her life! This gal had related to parts of Beverly's story when she spoke earlier in the night, so what a blessing that she got to be the one to pray for her. A new life and journey with Christ has begun for her! Hallelujah! Feeling blessed that I get to see God work in such powerful ways through times like this. The joy that comes from watching God changes lives right in front of you is indescribable. Thank you for being part of this with me through your prayers and support! Last week, I had an amazing opportunity to attend a graduation at MN Adult & Teen Challenge. At this event, we joined together to celebrate with 11 people who have completed their 13-month long-term recovery program from addiction. Each graduate shared a testimony of their journey to recovery and how Jesus is the one who has brought them true freedom.
I have gotten to go to a couple of these now, and I always leave so inspired! I wanted to share with you some quotes from guests, graduates, and their family members who spoke: "This Christ-led program is one of the best in the country. The answer's always Jesus." -Judge who attended the ceremony "God did not change or fix my life at Teen Challenge. He gave me one I never knew existed." -Graduate "I pray to God every day that he would break me so He can heal me." -Graduate "Now instead of picking out a casket, we're picking out wedding dresses." -Family member of graduate "I've traded in a spirit of grief for a spirit of gratefulness." -Graduate "The family of the person's life I took while drunk driving showed forgiveness to me. It showed me I was worth something." -Graduate "I'm no longer defined by my past. I know the truth and I have a God who is on my side." -Graduate AMEN! Such an honor to hear about the life transformation that Jesus has brought about in the lives of these 11 people. This is the Good News of the Gospel! **These monthly graduations are open to the public and are on the 4th Friday of each month from 1-3pm. The next one will be Friday, May 29. If you'd like to join me, check out the Upcoming Events link for more details! Thank you for praying last week for our time at MN Adult & Teen Challenge. I am so excited to share with you about all that God did! We joined about 100 women who are currently in their drug and alcohol rehab program to lead a night of worship and prayer. Within the first few minutes of leading worship, I started to get choked up as I looked out and saw the hearts of these women expressing their desire to meet with God as they worshiped. There were many times where I pulled away from the mic just to hear their chorus of voices lifted up in praise to God--what a beautiful sound!
One of the people who we had singing with us in the band was a girl who graduated from MN Adult & Teen Challenge just this past year. She also shared her testimony with the women about her past meth addiction and felonies for burglary before coming to be in the program and devoting her life to Christ. She encouraged them to be transparent with their lives while in the program, which was an important part in what God was about to do next... Toward the end of the night, Jamie who is our director of Consumed Ministries, talked about forgiveness. He touched on God's forgiveness of us through Christ and our need to forgive those who trespass against us. After Jamie's talk, I really felt God leading us to move into a time of prayer ministry. So we had Jamie, Gretchen, and Jake (so cool that Jake & I got to minister together on this night!) line up along the side of the room and I encouraged the women to go over and pray with one of them if they were needing to forgive someone who had offended them. Within minutes, there was a line of women waiting to pray! Many things were prayed for: things like forgiving their fathers for leaving, forgiving the fathers of their own children, forgiving the men who raped them. These were vulnerable things for them to share, some had not told very many people about these deep hurts. HEALING. Transparency. While this was taking place, our worship team was praying for freedom and healing over the room as we continued to worship through song. God was powerfully at work! I want to share with you about someone who Jamie got to pray with. He writes, "The highlight of the evening for me was the chance to pray with a young lady that asked God to come into her life for the very first time. She has been at Teen Challenge for about three weeks. When she approached me she said she was a little scared but knows she needs God in her life so she can forgive those she's harbored bitterness towards. It was a sweet moment! The joy on this young believer's face following her prayer was precious. Please pray she continues to trust God throughout this transformation process and that she receives healing and deliverance from her chemical dependency. She now has the Spirit of God residing inside of her to make this happen!" AMEN and HALLELUJAH!! This is why I love getting to share the Gospel through music-- God can meet us in such a unique and special way through times of worship like these! Rejoicing in NEW LIFE for this young woman and healing prayers! Thank you for being such an important part of this night along with us--we were standing on your prayers! I came across this blog post today, and it's inspired some thoughts and questions in me. Here is an excerpt: "If our worship leadership conveys that worship starts when we start it and ends when we end it...then we are creating worship dependents." -->Read the full article here (It is brief, a 2 min. read) This was a great reality check for me and something I think we should all consider as worship leaders. As a worship leader, I desire to empower others to engage in continuous worship throughout the week, not just for the hour we're gathered together on Sunday mornings. I desire for this to be true of my church as written in the blog post: "What occurs on Sunday is an overflow of what has already been occurring during the week with the added benefit of getting to share it with others. The weekly gathering is then the culmination of our daily occurrences." But if I were to be honest, I don't think I'm at this point as a leader yet. Would love to hear your ideas on how to become this kind of leader in terms of practical ways to lead toward this end during a service. Worship leaders: Through your leading, are you creating dependents or are you empowering others to engage with God throughout the week? It also begs the question of me: Is MY worship on Sunday an overflow of how I've engaged with God throughout my week? What about you? Last year, I met a college student named, Sonia. At the time I met Sonia, she was searching for answers to her questions about faith and God. One night, I invited her and a friend over for dinner and we talked about some of those questions. I also gave her the book, Letters From a Skeptic. Sonia and I have stayed in contact since then, and I have gotten the privilege of watching her grow in her faith over this past year. Yesterday, I received this email from her: Hey Jackie! So, it was probably about a year ago that you gave me the book Letters From a Skeptic. I always meant to read it, but never quite got the motivation to start. It sat on my book shelf for a while, and at one point I decided I wasn't really a skeptic anymore and I probably didn't need to read it. Well, this week I had a change of heart. I picked it up. And I couldn't even put it down, I read it all in a single day. Highlighted a bunch of parts to come back and continue to reflect on. I even told my boyfriend I was reading it, who then found a copy online and read along with me and finished the next day. We've been discussing parts of it, and it really opened up a discussion of faith between us. And then today at church, I was talking with the new guy who had just started coming. He's came out and told me he still had a lot of questions about Christianity. I decided to pass off the book to him. Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks, and let you know how you've impacted not just me, but a couple others. And it hasn't even been a week! I'm sure I'll continue passing this book on to several others. This was such an encouragement to me and was a great reminder that our lives affect one another, whether positively or negatively. Who has God placed in your sphere of influence to impact for Christ- friends, neighbors, coworkers? What is one bold step you could take to share the Good News with that person?
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Jackie Dixon
I love Jesus. I love my husband & family. I like dark chocolate. And hats. Traveling. Slippers. Hand written notes. And thrifting. These are a few of my favorite things! Categories
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April 2023
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