“ ” As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.
God’s Word proclaims what was seen and heard, the Gospel.
God’s people are seen and heard by the lost as we profess the Gospel and our own story.
As God’s people, we should proclaim what we have seen and heard Him do when we are faithful.
The Dixie Jackson Arkansas Missions Offering and Week of Prayer highlights and encourages Gospel work in our state.
During the week of prayer, Arkansas Baptists are asked to focus their prayers on these ministries. The suggested dates are September 14-21. Prayer guides will be sent to each church and are available at absc.org/dj. The offering taken during this season supplements the Cooperative Program and Arkansas CP gifts from Arkansas Baptists to provide additional funds for community missions, disaster relief, ministry to the next generation, equipping Arkansas Baptists for missions, and much more.
Dixie Farrior was born May 6, 1860, in Louisiana, to loving Christian parents. She married James Green Jackson in 1878, making their home in Dardanelle where they attended First Baptist Church.
Asked how she came to possess her apparent in-depth biblical insight as a busy mom of eight, Dixie responded that she was adept at churning butter, rocking the cradle, and reading her Bible all at the same time.
After moving to Little Rock in 1904, Dixie served as Chairwoman for the Executive Board of Arkansas Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU), and in 1914 became Executive Director.
Her greatest fulfillment came from traveling the state, training women, and spreading the message of Arkansas Baptist missions efforts. Her passion for missions led Dixie to ask the Arkansas WMU President to establish a week of prayer for Arkansas missions. First held in 1926, the effort was soon instituted as a yearly week of prayer.
An offering was later added to aid projects statewide. In 1935, six years after her death, the offering was named the Dixie Jackson Offering for State Missions.
Stories have the power to stir us in ways nothing else can. In His teachings, Jesus frequently referenced familiar stories from Scripture, recalling the lives of Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Jonah, and others. His daily interactions with people created stories that would burn in the hearts and minds of His followers for years to come.
In Acts 3-4, we find Peter and John in the temple where they encounter and heal a lame beggar in the name of Jesus. The priests and religious leaders arrest them for questioning, but struggle to know what to do with these uneducated, ordinary men whose only distinction is that they had been with Jesus. They release the men, instructing
them to stop speaking in the name of Jesus. Their response is adamant: “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to Him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
The simple distinction of being with Jesus, of hearing and living in His story, impacted Peter and John’s lives so greatly that they could not stop talking about it!
That is the focus of this year’s Dixie Jackson Arkansas Missions emphasis.
What have you seen and heard? How has the name of Jesus impacted your life? Take your place in the narrative. Don’t hold back from sharing all you have seen and heard God do in your life and the lives of those around you.
Story
“” It’s true. We can do a lot more together than we can individually.
JIM LAGRONE
Arkansas Baptists are missions people.
“We have it drilled into us from a young age,” said Owensville Baptist Church Pastor Jim Lagrone.
One of Lagrone’s favorite state missions opportunities is the One Day Acts 1:8 Missions Experience, an annual opportunity for Arkansas Baptists to impact lostness in a specific area within the state.
Partnering with the churches of a local association, Arkansas Baptists from across the state spend five hours on the first Saturday in October serving in various ministries. From community outreach and children’s ministries to block parties and more, Lagrone said One Day brings “a whole experience.” He has seen and heard first-hand the impact of the event.
“We were part of a One Day experience about two years ago in the Hot Springs area,” he said. “Our church had 12 pray to receive Christ that day.… The One Day experience was incredible for our church. If anybody has a chance to do one, they’re just crazy not to.”
Lagrone has also seen and heard the impact of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention Missions Team’s Medical + Dental Clinics, which serve as
an avenue for the local church to meet needs and share the Gospel.
“A church close to our house hosted an event and the people with needs showed up. Arkansas Baptists were able to meet some of those needs.
I was told there was a man from Fort Worth, Texas, and another from Tulsa, Oklahoma, which illustrates the needs people have,” he said.
Additionally, Lagrone touted Arkansas Baptist Disaster Relief.
“I had a tornado not far from our home when we lived in the Bryant area. DR teams were cutting and trimming trees. We lost 29 trees that day. Without disaster relief teams, it would probably still be a mess,” he said.
Lagrone said all these missions opportunities are made possible “through the generosity of Arkansas Baptists” giving to the Dixie Jackson Arkansas Missions Offering. They are also great examples of Arkansas Baptists working together.
“It’s true. We can do a lot more together than we can individually,” he said.
Jim Lagrone
One Day, funded by the Dixie Jackson Arkansas Missions Offering, brings Arkansas Baptists together to make an eternal difference in one targeted area of our state each year.
“ ”
I’ve watched as the Lord has stretched students and taken them out of their comfort zones while they share their faith or complete a missions project.
LAURA BRAMLETT
Laura Bramlett has had a front-row seat at Engage Camp for the past four years, witnessing firsthand the impact it has on students.
The missions camp combines biblical teaching, worship, evangelism, fun, and fellowship with hands-on ministry opportunities to help equip students to be engaged full-time in God’s mission.
“Every year, I’ve watched as the Lord has stretched students and taken them out of their comfort zones while they share their faith or complete a missions project,” she said. “Engage has most of the elements of a typical summer camp, but missions is the number one focus. Every aspect of camp has a purpose and meaning. Even the organized recreation times teach the students about the world and why it’s important that we share Jesus with others.”
Churches of all sizes are able to bring their students for a fun week of camp that focuses on making disciples who make disciples.
Bramlett’s first experience with state missions goes back to when she was a teenager in Florida and got involved one summer with Girls in Action (GA)/ Acteens Camp. It opened doors for
her to go overseas on short-term trips, from Haiti and Belgium to West Africa.
Bramlett also had the opportunity to serve through the International Mission Board Journeyman Program. While in New Orleans for seminary, she led GA and taught girls about state missions in Louisiana. When she eventually came to Arkansas, she got involved with the state convention as well as Arkansas Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU).
Over the years, she has had the opportunity to travel and be involved with several state mission opportunities such as Family Missions Day at the Zoo, a missions discipleship event that gives families the opportunity to meet missionaries and learn about missions in Arkansas and around the world. The event highlights how “missions can be a part of your everyday life.”
Through her involvement, Bramlett has seen and heard firsthand the impact of Dixie Jackson Arkansas Missions and the cooperative efforts of Arkansas Baptists.
“There are so many different ways to be involved that Dixie Jackson Arkansas Missions offers,” she said.
Laura Bramlett
Reaching Arkansas for Christ involves preparing the next generation to be missionsminded. Dixie Jackson funded ministries such as Engage Camp help ignite a passion for being on mission.
Like Mrs. Dixie Jackson herself, sometimes all it takes is one person to inspire an entire church to become actively involved in Arkansas Missions. You could be that one person! Start by talking to your pastor. Ask if you can take responsibility for educating your church family about Dixie Jackson Arkansas Missions. As more people learn about the opportunities available, ask for volunteers to help coordinate church-wide missions events. Many Arkansas Baptists know that there is an annual offering taken up for state missions, but they don’t know how that offering is used or why the offering is named after a woman named Dixie Jackson. You can help!
Next, educate yourself. How much do you know about Dixie Jackson and the state missions offering, week of prayer, and mission work that carry her name? Here are a few avenues to explore:
z Visit absc.org/dj to learn about Dixie Jackson, dive into this year’s theme, and explore the variety of resources available there.
z Sign up for the monthly electronic newsletter at absc.org/subscribe.
z Follow “Arkansas Baptists” on social media to see all that is happening around the state.
As you process through the various resources, you’ll probably notice that Arkansas missions efforts rely on more than just the annual offering. They also depend on Arkansas Baptists just like you! Your next step is learning how to get involved.
z Pray about your church’s involvement
z Talk to your pastor about how you can help
z Plan to participate with resources found at absc.org/dj
z Set a giving goal for your church
z Use the resources found at absc.org/dj to plan lessons for all ages
Discover a full range of promotional resources, including videos to share online and in your church, at ABSC.ORG/DJ +
z Put up posters that your church will receive in the mail along with any other display ideas you may have
z Distribute the prayer guides
z Make offering envelopes available
z Guide your church to pray daily from the prayer guide
z Watch the video available at absc.org/dj
z Share on social media from the resources found at absc.org/dj and tag us on Facebook, Instagram, and X
z Collect your church’s offering (see back cover for ways to give)
“ ” I told him ... ‘God loves you ... trust in Him, and He’ll see you through it.’
SANDRA VALDEZ
It was an amazing day.”
That’s how Sandra Valdez described her first time volunteering with the One Day Acts 1:8 Missions Experience in October 2024. She was excited to share what she had seen and heard
Valdez, a member at First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, was one of the more than 1,500 Arkansas Baptists from across the state who descended on north Pulaski County to serve as the hands and feet of Jesus. She said everybody came together as a community to serve the community.
For One Day, Valdez’s team provided food, haircuts, showers and more, as well as the opportunity to hear the Gospel. “We were just open to the community,” she said, sharing God’s love.
One person they served was a homeless individual who was having a rough time and was considering ending his life by jumping in front of a car. Valdez knew the man from having served food to the homeless in the Jacksonville area every Monday for more than two years.
“I talked with him, and I told him, ‘You know me, and I know you and, yes, times are hard, but you know God loves you, and
He doesn’t want this for you. We all have a path we have to take. You put your faith and trust in Him, and He’ll see you through it.’ A couple of the other ladies and men talked with him as well, and he ended up making his profession of faith,” Valdez said.
The homeless individual was one of 10 people Valdez’s team reported who gave their lives to Christ that day. “God just made it all work. It was really a rewarding day. The professions of faith were wonderful,” she said.
Valdez said her team was made up primarily of volunteers from Jonesboro—the location for One Day on October 4, 2025
“I recommend [One Day]. I would say to anybody that was thinking about it, do it. Because once you do it, you’ll want to stay doing it,” she said.
Sandra Valdez
An army of volunteers puts hands and feet to the Gospel during One Day, serving the physical and spiritual needs of Arkansans.
“
If you are reaching every college campus, you are reaching the nations. Why wouldn’t we be a part of that?
”
HANNAH ZIRBEL
Growing up, Hannah Zirbel was involved with Girls in Action (GA), One Day, and more. Missions was just part of life.
“I was fortunate to grow up in a scenario and circumstance where I had people around me who loved the Lord. It was how they lived, so it was how I lived. It was the culture,” she said. Now, as the director of college ministry for Woodland Heights Baptist Church in Conway, Zirbel is continuing that culture.
One thing she does each year is take a handful of college students from the church to the One Day Acts 1:8 Missions Experience. She urges them to participate in doorto-door evangelism with her. She recalled two girls who had been nervous at first, worried they would mess up, but once they did it, that nervousness turned to excitement. Eager to share what they had seen and heard, they asked Zirbel if they could do more evangelism at their church.
“Yeah, we can,” Zirbel said. Zirbel saw her students become more confident in their faith and sharing the Good News.
“If we are not living our lives in the community and sharing the Gospel, then we are completely
being disobedient to the Lord and His Word and what He commands of us,” Zirbel said. “It’s a form of discipleship and a form of helping people grow and spurring on to what the Lord calls them to do.”
Zirbel attended college in Conway, where she got involved with the Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM). Her experiences with BCM helped her grow in her faith and fueled her call to ministry.
“When I felt the call to ministry, a lot of it was because I had been given opportunities to lead through the BCM. That helped show me this is what I am passionate about,” she said. “It’s opened a lot of doors.”
By supporting Arkansas Baptists, Zirbel said people are helping to reach every college campus, “and if you are reaching every college campus, you are reaching the nations. Why wouldn’t we be a part of that?”
Hannah Zirbel
On more than 30 college campuses throughout Arkansas, Baptist Collegiate Ministries are making disciples and future leaders.
Seen and heard” is a frequent refrain throughout Scripture—Old and New Testaments alike. It’s a theme that reminds us that our invisible God is ever-present with us day by day in a very real way, working in us, for us, and through us for the whole world to witness.
The people believed, and when they heard that the Lord had paid attention to them and that He had seen their misery, they knelt low and worshiped.
—Exodus 4:31
You said, “Look, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and greatness, and we have heard His voice from the fire. Today we have seen that God speaks with a person, yet he still lives.”
—Deuteronomy 5:24
Just as we heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord of Armies, in the city of our God; God will establish it forever. Selah
—Psalm 48:8
Go and tell Hezekiah, “This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I am going to add fifteen years to your life.”
—Isaiah 38:5
The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told.
—Luke 2:20
What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have observed and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life.
—1 John 1:1
Since you will be a witness for Him to all people of what you have seen and heard.
—Acts 22:15
Do what you have learned and received and heard from Me, and seen in Me, and the God of peace will be with you.
—Philippians 4:9
“Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news”
—Luke 7:22
See, we count as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job’s endurance and have seen the outcome that the Lord brought about— the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
—James 5:11
What we have seen and heard we also declare to you, so that you may also have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.
—1 John 1:3
“
Spiritual lostness in Arkansas is a challenge before us. ... nearly half of residents are unchurched in our state. Can you imagine the challenge Dixie would issue to us today?
”
DR. REX HORNE
Nearly 100 years ago, Dixie Jackson encouraged the state to take the first offering for missions efforts in Arkansas in connection with a week of prayer. In 1926, $1,000 was given for missions efforts in Arkansas. The 1920s was a challenging time in Arkansas and America. There was the challenge of war, depression, and scarcity.
Dixie Jackson died in 1929, the year the stock market and America’s economy collapsed.
There are still challenges today. In that first year of the state missions offering, there were just over 1,000 churches in the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, and they reported over 9,700 baptisms. At that time, the population of Arkansas was 1.8 million, according to census data. Currently, our state population is more than 3 million. The ABSC has over 1,400 churches reporting 8,500+ baptisms in 2024.
Spiritual lostness in Arkansas is a challenge before us. According to the Association of Religious Data Archives, nearly half of residents are unchurched in our state. Can you imagine the challenge Dixie and her contemporaries would issue to us today? Although these are troubling days in our nation and world, we are blessed. We have endless opportunities.
Think of the opportunities for a moment. We have the opportunity to impact communities and families
through the One Day Acts 1:8 Missions Experience that provides multiple evangelism opportunities. Additionally, medical+ dental clinics provide opportunities to meet physical and spiritual needs. We have opportunities on college campuses across the state through the work of Baptist Collegiate Ministries that is seeing lives changed in next-gen students. We have opportunities to respond immediately to disasters that strike with trained and skilled Arkansas Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers who serve with their hands and heart to share the Gospel. We have opportunities to assist local churches through training events and church revitalization. All these opportunities and others are advanced through your giving that impacts Arkansas ministries. One hundred percent of the Dixie Jackson offering is used for missions efforts in our home state. From $1,000 in 1926 to the possibility of reaching $2,000,000 (yes, million!) in the next year, your giving through the Dixie Jackson Arkansas Missions Offering strengthens what we do together as Arkansas Baptists. Thank you, Arkansas Baptists, for all you have done. May we seize the opportunities we have today to share what we have seen and heard!
