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The Story of Mrs. Dixie Jackson

August 10, 2016
The Story of Mrs. Dixie Jackson

Dixie Jackson, the woman for whom the annual Arkansas Missions Offering was named, was a beautiful example of living the Gospel.

Access to formal biblical training was limited in the town of Dardanelle, Arkansas, where Dixie and her husband James lived and raised their family. But she was passionate to learn and wasted no opportunity to study Scripture on her own. For Mrs. Jackson, living the Gospel meant firmly grounding herself in the Word of God as she raised eight children and served in her church.

In 1914, two years after the death of her husband, Mrs. Jackson accepted a full-time position with the Arkansas chapter of the Women’s Missionary Union. She passionately applied herself to the work, but her greatest fulfillment came from traveling the state, training women, and spreading the word about Arkansas Baptist missions efforts.

Mrs. Jackson’s passion for missions urged her to enlist the help of the state WMU president to establish a Week of Prayer for Arkansas state missions. Held in 1926, this first Week of Prayer was so successful that it was repeated the next year. Before Dixie Jackson passed away from an illness in early 1929, she had the privilege of seeing an offering added to the third annual Week of Prayer, with more than $1,000 being collected to aid mission projects statewide.

Dixie Jackson’s investment in Arkansas Baptist women and missions lit a passion that has remained vibrant through the years. In 1935, the annual offering was named the Dixie Jackson Offering for State Missions in memory of this incredible woman.