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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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! 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?
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! A week ago, Jake and I had the awesome privilege of getting to go to the Waseca Women's Prison to be part of a special Christmas worship night. I got to lead us in singing Christmas songs as we celebrated Jesus, the greatest gift of all. I wanted to share with you what Jake wrote about our time there:
"Coming into that room, you couldn't help but feel the excitement and joy these women had. I quickly realized that these women were hungry to worship the Lord and it was contagious. To me, this was seeing the Holy Spirit at work and it was such an amazing time to hear over 100 women praising, worshiping, and emotionally meeting our one true God. This kind of experience fills your soul for knowing how much our God loves us." Year-End Giving Opportunity: Thank you, thank you, thank you for supporting my work with Consumed Ministries. I have had a blast getting to share the Gospel through music in places like prisons, coffee shops, MN Adult & Teen Challenge, churches, outreach events, and student conferences with the help of partners like YOU. There is a lot more work to be done in 2015. Would you prayerfully consider giving a year-end gift by December 31st? Your tax deductible gift of any size will help us continue to impact people's lives for Jesus Christ! You can click here to donate! 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." MN Adult & Teen Challenge is a Christ-centered program for teens and adults who struggle with life-controlling problems, such as addictions. Every year, they sponsor a 5k Walk for Hope. This was the first year that my parents, Jake, and I participated and we're so glad we did! This year 1,300 people came out for the walk and $72,000 was raised! The MN Adult & Teen Challenge choir singing praise songs and sharing testimonies. So inspiring!
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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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