Balancing faith, family and his profession has always been a part of Dr. Jared Dixon’s life. With a little — OK, a lot — of help from his wife, Emberlee, he embraces what comes his way. His life is even more of a balancing act now that he has been called to serve as president over The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Little Rock Stake.
Dixon, a partner with Family Practice Associates in Benton, will preside over the 3,700-member stake as the ecclesiastical leader. A stake is a large geographic unit (comparable to a Catholic diocese) comprising a number of congregations, called wards or branches, with each congregation presided over by a bishop or branch president, according to an LDS news release. Dixon was previously bishop of the Benton Ward.
In addition to his general practice, Dixon is a primary-care sports physician and the team physician for the Benton Panthers, for which he was team quarterback in high school. After high school, he went on to play football at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, but he soon realized that traditional path wasn’t for him.
“In college, you have all sorts of experiences, and you’re around all sorts of people, and you have to find out who you are and what you believe,” Dixon said. “During my first semester, I was deciding on a fraternity, whether to continue playing football, and I hadn’t been to church in two or three years, at least consistently.”
Something different clicked in him one day, he said, as he questioned God’s existence.
“I always was taught the answer to that question is through studying Scripture and prayer. I took those things on as an experiment, read The Book of Mormon and prayed. I began feeling reassurance and confirmation that there is a God in heaven and began realizing he had work for me to do.”
Dixon didn’t return to college after his first year and opted for missionary work in Thailand instead. It was during this time that he realized he was destined for a career in medicine, he said.
“We were teaching a man who was sick, very poor and lived in a hut. As the months wore on, there wasn’t much more anyone could do for him, and that got me thinking more about the medical field and being able to have that tool kit to be able to care for people.
“There’s a great need for health care in the world, and down the road, after our children are raised, my wife and I hope to leave and serve two to three months at a time doing medical missions as we get older.”
Dixon’s day starts before 5 a.m. so he can squeeze in some exercise and Scripture study before work. His workday lasts until 5:30 or 5:45 p.m.; then children’s activities fill his evenings. He noted that he couldn’t do “half of what he does” without his wife. “All accolades need to go to her,” Dixon said. “She keeps the family going and takes care of all of us.”
Following medical school at the University
of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, Dixon practiced family medicine during his residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Tyler, where he also completed a fellowship in primary care sports medicine.
“I originally went to college for physical therapy, so this was a great opportunity for me to learn more and give me options to serve athletes in my family practice,” he said.
His favorite job perk is the opportunity to meet all kinds of people, he said.
“I get to know so many wonderful people and help make their lives better,” Dixon said.
In doing so, it’s a challenge as well, he added.
“There are such a wide variety of illnesses,” he said. “It’s easy to be humble as a family physician — we know a little about a lot of things but not a lot about little things, and we always need to learn more.”
Dixon is the first in his family to serve in such a church leadership role. In the LSD church, “it’s not something we aspire to do to, but we are honored to serve,” he said.
In his new church capacity, Dixon is taking on more of a training role and will oversee various congregations and bishops. He’ll travel quite a bit and extend “callings” to many members of the wards and branches and invite them to serve in the church, and he will also coordinate and organize trainings, he said.
The former stake president, Dr. Michael Beheshti, chief of diagnostic and therapeutic imaging at Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System in Little Rock, was released from his ecclesiastical duties in order to fulfill his new responsibilities as an Area Seventy for the Latter-day Saints, the press release states. The Seventy is an internationally composed board of the LDS Church and is organized into groups called “quorums.” Beheshti will serve in the Sixth Quorum of the Seventy that is responsible for the Eastern United States and Canada.
The church is administered through lay leadership, Dixon said, with no compensation paid for church service. Members also serve in various capacities within the church, including speaking on Gospel topics during worship service, teaching, operating family history centers for genealogy research and engaging in community service.
Dixon was chosen for his new role after two general authorities of the church visited Little Rock to reorganize the stake presidency. Members of the LDS high council were interviewed, and church leaders were asked for recommendations, but the ultimate decision is placed on the visiting general authorities, Dixon said.
“They asked my wife if she would be able to support me, and she said, ‘yes,’” Dixon said, noting that her support sealed his fate.
“I didn’t see it coming and didn’t expect it, but we all have duties in the church, and with our willingness to serve, we don’t say ‘no.’ Through our faith, we believe the Lord will prepare us for what we are called to do,” Dixon said. “I don’t strive to be in a position of authority and serve knowing that I rely heavily on my faith, and I’m honored to serve in that capacity.”