Jessica in Thailand

If you want to spark an instant smile on the face of any one of the orphaned Thai children living at the ZOE Children's Home, all you have to do is mention the name 'Jessica Dodd'.  Her dynamic personality and hilarious sense of humor, coupled with her genuine love and care, speaks volumes to those she has come to serve on the mission field in Chiang Mai.

Raised in a Christian family, Jessica has loved the Lord her whole life.  Hearing the call of God at the age of 12, she knew that she would, one day, become a Children's Minister.  It has been her continual commitment to this call that led her to faithfully serve pastors, leaders and the Church with great zeal and passion for reaching and teaching children.  She has held positions such as Children’s Ministry Assistant Director, Nursery Director, Preschool Director, and Children’s Ministry Administrator.  Through over 7 years of teaching experience, a certificate in Children's Ministries and 14 years of Children's Ministry leadership; God prepared her for the plans He had for her future.   

For the preschool where she had been passionately teaching, it was a tremendous loss when Jessica made the decision it was time to leave the comforts of her job and home to become a career missionary in Thailand, but for the ZOE Children's Home, it has been an enormous blessing and privilege to have her serve as their full time Children's Ministry Director.   

Jessica is always prepared and eager to train leaders, evangelize and coordinate all Children’s Ministry programming in the U.S. and abroad.  She pioneered ZOE Children’s Camp, ZOE’s Carnival Crusade, and the Children’s Ministry Teacher Seminar in the ZOE Ministry School (ZMS).  Her expertise in Child Evangelism has brought the village outreaches to a new level, and she has been able to begin duplicating herself through the instruction she provides in ZMS.  

As the ZOE Children's Ministry Director she oversees both staff and volunteers, conducts weekly services, creates programs and evangelistic outreaches to children, and coordinates special events such as camps and short term mission’s teams. 

She also teaches at the ZOE Ministry School and conducts a variety of Children's Ministry seminars that educate and empower others to effectively inspire and teach children the Word of God.  The ZOE CM team is developing and collaborating on various curriculum packages that can be translated into any language and adapted into any culture.  This curriculum can be used for children’s weekly services, devotionals, conferences, seminars, evangelistic outreaches and camps.

Jessica’s passion is to assist the Church and parents with raising their children. She is devoted to leading children into an intimate and authentic relationship with God that produces an extraordinary love for Him which will result in consistent obedience to Him in their present and future life and dreams.  Her desire is that every child experiences God’s presence and His passionate love for them. 

Using her immense talent of communication, she sets clear objectives in order to train children to know the Gospel and develop a passion to share it unashamedly. 

Jessica shares one of her goals as being, "that every child understands and actively participates in the great commission and world missions".  She explains that "this will enlarge their hearts for the world around them – both at home, in their own neighborhoods and globally". 

After all these years, she has remained energized and empowered by an extensive vision of the work still to do, Jessica Dodd has given more of herself than many people contribute in their whole lifetime.  Her astounding testimony to God's faithfulness, guidance and provision is reflected in everything that she does.