Leading Worship at Lino Lakes Prison, July 15 I am excited to return to the Lino Lakes Prison to worship with 300+ men inside! I am able to bring a few people with me, so if you would have an interest in coming to observe and join us, please let me know by June 30. Would love for you to experience what God does through these worship nights inside! Date: Friday, July 15 Time: Meet at 5:30pm at the prison facility, event will be done by 8:00pm. MN Adult & Teen Challenge Graduation, July 29 If you would like to find out more about the ministry of MN Adult & Teen Challenge, this is a great opportunity! This graduation ceremony is for current clients who have completed their 13-month, Christ-centered chemical dependency rehab program and is open to the public. It's a powerful time of hearing testimonies and celebrating with the graduates. If you'd like to come along, please let me know. Date & Time: Friday, July 29 1-3:00pm Location: Christ Church International, 3015 13th Ave. S. in Minneapolis Getting Ready for Baby Dixon! Baby D at my 21 week ultrasound. Boy or girl? It's going to be a surprise! Jake and I are getting eager to welcome our little one, due to arrive on Sept. 6! We are grateful for all of those who have been supporting us through prayer. Thank you!
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I think someone has been praying for God to send people my way to encourage me this week. Feeling blessed by the kind words that have come by surprise from others these past few days. It's been a great reminder to me that words are powerful and can really make an impact when said with sincerity and kindness. Going to pass on the blessing right now by encouraging someone who's not expecting it... How can you be a blessing to someone else today in your words? Who can you encourage?
October was an action-packed, fun-filled, adventurous month for Jake and me. From Fargo, ND to Dallas, TX to Alexandria & Waseca, MN-- it was a month filled with many memories and some wonderful ministry opportunities! Fargo with Friends Our adventures started out with a road trip to Fargo, ND where we got to spend some time with dear friends of ours, Robbie & Jenn Lukens. We always love getting to see these guys because of the ways we all sharpen each other in our faith and relate to journeying through the same stages of life together. Dallas, TX Thank you for those that prayed for Jake and I as we traveled to Dallas, TX to attend the Gateway Conference. It was a wonderful experience to attend a conference with Jake. Although we found we didn't agree in totality with the teachings at the conference, our beliefs in the Gospel are stronger now as a result. We were challenged to think critically about some aspects of truth that were presented and it was good to do that together with Jake. We also got to spend some time with my cousin and his wife, which was such a treat! Here we are all riding the trolley together. InterVarsity Conference in Alexandria, MN Next was a weekend conference in Alexandria for InterVarsity's Cross Training fall conference. I had the privilege of helping to lead worship for the weekend. Over 400 college students attended and several students made first-time decisions to follow Christ! Here are a couple videos from our times worshiping together at the main sessions: One of the students there led us in this Hmong song. It's called "Tswv Yexus Lub Npe", which means "The Lord Jesus' Name". Be sure to listen to her explanation of why the lyrics to this song are so significant, coming from the Hmong culture. Translation: Verse 1: The Lord Jesus' name is very good Chorus: Hallelujah, the Lord Jesus' name is very good Verse 2: Jesus has helped us defeat the enemy Verse 3: Jesus has defeated death This is one of the songs I led. Love hearing the voices at the end singing acapella.
Women's Prison in Waseca, MN And I just returned from a visit to the Women's Federal Prison in Waseca, MN, where I got to celebrate with 30 female inmates who graduated from their Christ-centered recovery program called, Celebrate Recovery. I had the joy of leading them in praise & worship at the ceremony. This graduation was such a milestone for these women and it was such an honor to be able to celebrate with them! I also got to personally deliver a special donation: 10 copies of the book, "Retold", written by my friend Sarah Stadler. It is such a treat when the prison receives a donation like this. Thank you to the person who purchased these 10 books to donate and thank you Sarah for writing! Reading this in my personal time in the Word has really struck a chord in me. In John 6, Jesus has just finished teaching some pretty hard truths. The people who were listening didn't like what He was teaching and many decided to turn away and leave. At this point, Jesus asks his disciples, "Are you also going to leave?" To which Peter replies, "Lord, to whom would we go?"
It got me thinking and I asked myself the same question- Without Jesus in my life, what would I be clinging to? Where would I go? Who would I be following? Where would I find my hope? My purpose? I got emotional just thinking about it. I can't imagine how different my life would look without Jesus in it. He's the reason I have hope, and purpose in my life, the reason I'm able to give joyfully, the One who connects me to the Father through prayer, keeps my marriage centered, offers continual forgiveness, corrects me through His Word when I get off track or need guidance, the reason I can sing with purpose, the One who's near to the brokenhearted, empowers me to love those who are hardest to love, the One who will welcome me into eternity when I've breathed my last breath on earth. "Lord to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life." Reflecting and journaling about these questions today after listening to Pastor Chad's sermon at The Urban Refuge on Sunday. Good stuff to think about.
This song started playing on Pandora this afternoon. In the busyness of catching up on emails and getting things done, I put myself on pause and just stopped to listen and soak in these words. I've sung this song many times before but today it spoke to my heart in a new way. Enjoy taking a listen and soaking in his Truth for you today :)
Thank you for your support in how you pray, give, and encourage. You are such a blessing to me! Here's what's been happening... Networking I've had the privilege of getting to meet with a couple different worship pastors in the area who are connected to Consumed Ministries. It's been great to hear their stories of how they got involved in leading worship music and of their involvement in the Twin Cities. Both people I met with were able to suggest young college students to me who are part of their churches and who they think would benefit from being mentored musically as worship leaders. I am excited to connect with these students and see where God leads! I've also been invited by both worship pastors to come as a guest to their church and sing on their worship teams. This will be a great way for me to meet these students to develop relationships with them. Waseca Prison On Monday, I got to go back to Waseca to visit my girls. I hadn't gone to visit since May so it was great to be back and to hear about all that God has been doing in their lives! If you remember from my last update, I asked for prayers that a staff worker would be hired to replace the one who was overseeing Celebrate Recovery and who recently retired. Without someone else to fill his position, Celebrate Recovery was again at risk for being discontinued, which would have forced the girls to stop meeting together as part of this Christ-centered recovery program. I am happy to report that that position will be filled in the next couple weeks! God is faithful!!! During this visit, we had a great time of worshiping together. Joy immediately filled my heart as I walked into this room filled with about 80 inmates, each one as precious to me as a dear sister. The room erupted in applause and cheers as we got to come together to be reunited again. We started our time by listening to the Spanish choir sing a worship song that they had worked hard to prepare, followed by a woman named Pauline who shared her testimony. Pauline was caught years ago for running a meth lab and was sent to a federal prison in California. It was there that she met Jesus and learned about this abundant life she could have in him. She later got transferred to this prison in Waseca, MN where she is now one of the small group leaders for Celebrate Recovery and helping other women inside learn about how to follow Jesus. Praise God for such an awesome testimony of a life transformed! After Pauline's testimony, I led us in a time of worship. I learned that the girls were currently working through step 4 of the 12 recovery steps, which involves doing a personal inventory of everyone that they've hurt and who they've been hurt by. Forgiveness. It is the most time consuming and hardest step of the recovery process. So knowing this, I felt led to guide us through a time of prayer ministry, where I asked for 5 volunteers to come up front and pray with others who wanted prayer to help forgive those they needed to make amends with. We spent the next 25 mins. in a time of prayer, where I continued to lead us in worship while woman after woman came forward to receive prayer. The Holy Spirit was on the move as He began healing hearts and filling women with courage to forgive. I think my favorite story, though, out of my time there, was an inmate named Sonja who is a strong believer and leader among this CR group. She was one of the women who volunteered to pray for others. During this time, God directed her attention to a fellow inmate who she had never met before and heard Him say to her, "Tell her to 'Just Believe'. " So Sonja without hesitation went up to her and said those words, "Just Believe". The woman looked at her with shock in her eyes and couldn't believe the words that came out of her mouth. She then told her about how she's been struggling with believing in God and been on the fence with all things related to faith. And how she knew Sonja's words were a direct word from God to her! Can you see why I love getting to visit these girls so much?!!!!!! Urbana This weekend I will be flying to Chicago to record our worship album with the Urbana worship team. This will be the CD that will be available to all 18,000 Urbana participants at the global conference in December. Only 4 1/2 months away!! On a personal note... I am so thankful for the man that God has brought into my life, Jake Dixon. On July 12, Jake proposed to me and I said YES!!! Can't wait to be the future Mrs. Dixon :) Planning to get married in March and we're so excited!!! For a glimpse of some pics, check out the ones attached or view the full album and the story of our engagement on my Facebook page: Engagement pics. Excited to continue to share about what God is doing. Thank you for helping to make it all possible! |
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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