Hello everyone! I am writing with much excitement to share a personal update, as well as an update in returning to my ministry work. More milestones reached! I completed my last immunotherapy infusion a couple weeks ago, followed by having my port removed the following week. It's been so great to close that chapter and look ahead! And I am happy to say I'm approaching my 6 month milestone of being cancer free (May 7)! I posted more about this, as well as reflecting back on our past year if you'd like to read more on our Caring Bridge page: CARING BRIDGE Thank you all for your support to me and our family during my medical leave this past year. In so many ways, you were a big part of carrying our family through this time. Tomorrow, I am officially returning to my work with Consumed Ministries and I'm excited to share some up and coming things with you that are in store! Prison Fellowship Alumni Breakfast This Saturday, I'll get to be a part of leading worship for the monthly breakfasts we host for Prison Fellowship Alumni (PFA). The alumni include women who were in the Prison Fellowship program at the Shakopee Prison and are now on the outside. Also included at these breakfasts are our staff team, volunteers who teach classes through Prison Fellowship inside the prison, and mentors to the women. It's always such an encouragement for us to all gather together! Hope For Going Back In To Shakopee Prison When Covid began, the prisons closed their doors to all outside volunteers coming in. Since then, most programming has returned, but the large group gatherings that I was a part of leading worship for inside through Prison Fellowship never got picked back up due to budget cuts. BUT, some recent conversations have me hopeful about returning! Conversations are in motion right now about providing a large group opportunity again for women inside to come and worship together and have a Biblical teaching time, possibly twice a month. More will continue to unfold on this as we talk about more details with the prison staff and seek approval from the warden to begin a large group gathering again. Would love if you would join me in praying for more of these conversations to move forward in this process. So exciting! Raising Sisters Benefit Concert We are excited to inform you that we will be doing a benefit concert for Raising Sisters on May 9 featuring, The Brilliance. To share more about who this will benefit, I thought it would be best to hear directly from one of the women who is a part of Raising Sisters through Consumed Ministries: "Some of you may know or heard of my story..but I want to tell you about this amazing community of women I have been a part of for the last 5 plus years. It is called "Raising Sisters", we are about hope, love, belonging, unconditional love, forgiveness and walking this life with Jesus. We are having a benefit on May 9th, 100% of the proceeds go to Raising Sisters, this will help women coming from incarceration, walking in recovery and starting a new life in practical ways. This event is open to men and women. If you can come we would absolutely love to see you, if you can't come we would be honored if you would donate to this amazing cause." JOIN US FOR A RAISING SISTER'S BENEFIT CONCERT featuring The Brilliance and an opening by Legend Ozora & Anna Wilson Jones! Thursday, May 9 - 7:00 PM at Prairie Community Church (Eden Prairie, MN) Ticket sales & all information can be found at the link below. 100% of all ticket sales will go directly towards the work of Raising Sisters. If you can't make it, but would still like to donate, you are free to do that by using the link as well. Thank you! https://givebutter.com/thebrilliance
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Dear family, friends, & ministry partners:
I am writing with some harder news to share. My family and I would love your prayers as we journey through this. A couple weeks ago, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was a shock and has been an overwhelming process for our family. We have started a Caring Bridge page where you can read more about our journey thus far, through the updates that have been posted. That website is here: www.caringbridge.org/visit/jackiedixon2 The doctors have told me that this will be about a one year process. I'll first be starting with 6 months of chemo in the near future, then surgery, and possibly radiation after. My and my family's goal during this time is to be able to completely focus on my treatment and healing during this process. This has led to the decision for me to take a one year medical leave from my role with Consumed Ministries. I am grateful to our ministry director and our board for their support to focus on my treatment and recovery during this time. Much love to you all and we thank you in advance for your prayers. "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." -Hebrews 6:19 Jackie and family I am so excited to share with you the ways I've seen God at work! Women's Retreat Last month, I had the joy of leading worship with a friend at our church's women's retreat. It has been 17 years since the women's ministry went away for a weekend like this, and God did great things in our time of gathering together! --> Over 80 women attended and Intergenerational: ranging from teenagers to 70+ --> We got to meet with God as we worshiped, heard teaching, shared testimonies, had discussion, and spent time with friends both new and old. --> I was especially touched by the way the Holy Spirit filled our time of worship together as we sang our prayers and praises to Him. My heart was so full from getting to be a part of leading and serving in this way. Prison Fellowship Alumni Breakfast Last month's breakfast was a sweet time of testimony, prayer, and sharing updates with each other about what has been happening inside the Shakopee women's prison. We heard from the volunteers who have been going in to teach and spent time in prayer together for the women inside. Such a beautiful thing for the alumni at the breakfast (those who were also involved with Prison Fellowship when they were inside) to pray for their sisters who are now in the program and on the same journey that they once were. Shakopee Prison Letter Writing A high school friend of mine recently reached out to me to ask about opportunities for her church to be a part of prison ministry with Consumed Ministries. I told her about our need for more volunteers to write letters back and forth to the women inside and was able to get her connected to Gretchen and Jeannine, fellow Consumed staff, to talk more about that process. This friend rallied some other women from her church to join her and they are now a part of the letter writing team for those inside the Shakopee prison. I know this new group of volunteers would love your prayers as they make new connections and build relationships through their letter writing. It will be such a valuable opportunity to minister and encourage. Upcoming I've been invited to lead worship at MN Adult & Teen Challenge for an event there in May. Would love your prayers as I form the team to lead with and plan for our time there. Thank you for reading. I feel so blessed to do this work, having a team of people who support and pray for what God is doing through this ministry. Appreciate you! Jackie Jake and I had an unexpected opportunity to go to Asbury University this past Saturday. Months ago, we booked a trip to Kentucky to celebrate our upcoming 10yr wedding anniversary. In the week leading up to this trip, I started hearing about an outpouring of God's love happening on this campus, some calling it revival. I started to see videos of what was happening there and hearing testimonies of the ways the Holy Spirit was moving. I knew we had to go. So Jake and I rearranged some of our plans and drove down from our hotel on Saturday. The President of Asbury University writes on the school's website about what has taken place: "On February 8, 2023, Asbury University’s regularly scheduled chapel service never ended. What we have experienced since that Wednesday morning has been a current of immeasurable goodness flooding our community and quickly moving into other regions of the world. Words fail any effort to communicate the abundance of experiences and stories that will leave us forever changed." Words really can't describe all that was taking place there, but some that come to mind are Spirit-filled, spoken word of Scripture, STUDENT-LED, humility from the staff and student leaders, simple, not flashy, confession, worship, repentance, healing, not chaotic, testimonies, prayer, and a sending out. I was so encouraged by the overwhelming presence of high school and college age students drawing near to God! So many of them, that they filled most of Hughes Auditorium by themselves (seating capacity of 1,500)! I was thankful that the university was prioritizing this age group to be inside worshipping by having them go in first. So the 25+ crowd like myself worshipped with them from the outside in the courtyard. A Psalm that was shared at the beginning of one of these worship times from this past week--I think this captures the heart of what we've seen taking place: Psalm 63: 1-5 You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. The gatherings in the Chapel are now closed to the general public, but you can view a livestream here: www.asbury.edu/outpouring An extra special personal blessing was that while we were worshipping out in the courtyard, a group of men came to stand in front of us from Adult & Teen Challenge in Missouri. Many of you know of my love for getting to partner with this ministry here in MN. It was a sweet moment for my soul to worship alongside each other. This is a picture of them praying together. God is stirring in this younger generation. Let's keep praying that this would go forth from Asbury and out into the world! My heart is very full tonight. Tonight as my son was trying to sleep, he was very tired but couldn't sleep because of fearful thoughts of a movie character (thank you Disney). He was really scared, so I went into his room. I told him about how when we get fearful, we can choose to fix our eyes on God instead of staying focused on the fear. We talked about how one thing he could do is sing worship songs to God, because fear and God can't exist together at the same time (Perfect love casts out fear- 1 John 4:18). So we laid together in his bed and I started singing worship songs to him. He instantly became calm as we laid with my arm around him singing...and then he fell asleep. After awhile, I got up and he woke up from me moving. But he wasn't scared to see me go, he just said "Goodnight mom" and went back to sleep.
There's power when we worship. God inhabits our praises (Psalm 22:3) and He is so near when we praise Him. Our praises have the power to drive out fear! 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 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 I recently recorded a video update with one of my ministry partners, Sammy Gondola from Pleasant Valley Church. In it, I share about "why music?", how I got involved with Consumed Ministries, my personal faith journey, the first time I led worship in a prison, and reminisce about times in Winona. It is about 13 mins. long. We will be hosting our monthly Prison Fellowship Alumni breakfast this coming Saturday, April 9. I always look forward to these breakfasts and having the opportunity to gather together. A friend of mine, Legend Rutledge, will be joining me again to help lead worship for it. Lastly, I wanted to share a special encouragement from our weekly group that meets with Prison Fellowship alumni on Thursday nights. I wasn't able to attend this particular week- This is from something that one of our other staff who was leading that night, Gretchen Miller, wrote: "Last night on our Thursday check-in one of the women shared a beautiful word of challenge and encouragement with us. She was talking about the difference between staying sober and living in recovery. She said for her staying sober was like white-knuckling it, trying to not partake of a substance. It was based on fear of returning to what once was. But, in contrast for her, living in recovery was choosing each day to look forward and make choices to receive the life of fullness and freedom right in front of her. I asked her if I could use this precious wisdom I believe was poured into her by the Holy Spirit." A pic with a few of the gals in our group from when we met last month. I continue to be encouraged by these women and their wisdom, and count it a joy to be in each other's lives.
Thank you for your partnership! Our staff team has grown! So great to be together with our team last night to celebrate all that God has done in 2021!
Left to right: Noah Goblirsch, Jackie Dixon, Jamie Miller, Gretchen Miller, Jeannine Hale So fun to have this talented friend join me in singing at the Prison Fellowship breakfast this morning. It was such a wonderful morning of celebrating this season of Advent together and as always, I came away from our time together with this awesome group of women having received way more than I came to give.
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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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