Family Spotlight: The Dixon Family

From left to right: Daniel, Shelly and Evelyn (15 months)... Baby on the way (15 weeks in the oven).

Hello! We are the Dixon Family: Daniel, Shelly and Evelyn… Oh and another little baby on the way, coming in August! Daniel and I grew up in Northern Virginia, but spent the first few years of our marriage in Kansas City, MO where our sweet Evelyn Grace was born. We returned to the Northern Virginia area in June 2020, answering the call we felt God placed on our lives to plant a church in the area. Introduced through the New City Network, we joined APCC in August of 2020 where Daniel has been serving as the Pastor of Discipleship and as a Church Planting Resident. It’s been a privilege and a joy to serve and to be a part of this church family during this season.

What a powerful passage and sermon preached this Sunday! Just like Pastor Kenji explained, in many ways, as followers of Jesus we too “live in Babylon” just like Daniel and his friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. We have to learn how to live, work, play, eat, compete, learn, build relationships, and serve others in a world that is SO different from the ethics, laws, norms, joys, and experiences of the Kingdom of God. The Book of Daniel has challenged us as a family to ask: Can we be faithful to God in such a world as this? Can we be fruitful for God in such a world as this? As Pastor Kenji emphatically explained, yes! We can! This passage reminds us that living faithfully to God in this world is not always easy and sometimes it will be downright uncomfortable and inconvenient, but it is what we are called to be as followers of Jesus. Pastor Kenji mentioned two tips for living faithfully to God in this world: 1) be in God’s presence, and 2) be in community.