Willie L. Jordan, Pioneering Skid Row Missionary and Chairman of the Board of Fred Jordan Missions, Dies at 93

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Willie L. Jordan, the trailblazing missionary, broadcaster, and former president of Fred Jordan Missions, passed away peacefully Saturday morning, June 13, 2026, at her home in Glendora, California. She was 93. For more than 75 years, Willie Jordan brought help and hope to lost, hurting, and impoverished children, men, and women across the world, becoming one of the most recognized voices in inner-city ministry in the United States.

Willie L. Jordan was a trailblazing missionary, broadcaster, and former president of Fred Jordan Missions, who brought help and hope to lost, hurting, and impoverished children, men, and women across the world.

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“My mom went to sleep in her home and woke up to Jesus saying, ‘Well done, thy good and faithful servant,’” said her son, Joe Jordan, President of Fred Jordan Missions. “After 93 years of life, an amazing marriage to my father Fred, seven children, and serving millions all over the world with the love of Jesus, she finished her race and now walks on streets of gold with Jesus.”

A LIFE OF SERVICE

Willie Jordan felt called by God to share His love with a hurting world at the age of 13, and by 15 she was speaking and teaching personal “soul winning” in churches throughout Southern California. After high school, she traveled across the nation, challenging young people to give their lives in service to others.

Her commitment soon carried her around the globe. While in Korea shortly after the war, she encountered a baby who had fallen into an open fire while his mother searched nearby hillsides for roots to boil for nourishment. Willie rushed the child to a makeshift hospital but watched helplessly as he died. The experience changed the course of her life. She returned to the United States, raised the needed funds, and went back to Korea seven months later to oversee the construction of an orphanage — a facility that has since grown into one of the largest in Korea, caring for more than 500 children with mental and physical disabilities.

It was a shared commitment to feeding hungry hearts and hungry bodies that drew Willie to her future husband, Fred Jordan, who founded the American Soul Clinic on Skid Row in 1944. Willie joined the vision in 1949, attending the Soul Clinic School and beginning a lifelong commitment to the Mission. Together, she and Fred carried God’s love from the streets of Los Angeles to the far corners of the earth, building orphanages, schools, mission stations, and churches in Japan, Liberia, Hong Kong, Argentina, Taiwan, Mexico, and Ghana.

In 1951, the ministry launched its weekly television program, “Church in the Home” — now the longest-running show of its kind. Hosted by Fred, with Willie appearing alongside him, the broadcast carried the needs of a hurting world into living rooms across the country. Willie was also well known to radio audiences as the host of “Take Three,” a daily short-format biblical teaching program airing on KWVE 107.9 FM (K-Wave), the Southern California Christian radio station. Through the airwaves, she challenged listeners to follow the example of Jesus, “who was moved with compassion” when He saw the needy multitudes.

Following Fred’s death in 1988, Willie continued the work they had shared, becoming the only female president of a Skid Row-based mission — one of the most dynamic inner-city ministries in the nation — and renaming it Fred Jordan Missions in honor of his legacy. The following year, in 1989, she expanded the Mission’s vision to reach women and children, partnering with Footlocker to launch its first Back-to-School event. Under her leadership, the Mission provided daily meals for nearly 1,000 poor and hungry children, mothers, and men, alongside back-to-school clothing for thousands of children, baby necessities, inner-city camps, discipleship programs, emergency blankets and clothing, and daily Bible studies and chapel services.

The Mission’s legendary Holiday Celebrations in the Streets grew to serve as many as 20,000 needy families in a single day, drawing partnership from major corporations, schools, universities, churches, politicians, and celebrities, and coverage from television networks around the world.

A LASTING LEGACY

The mother of seven children, Willie often said her greatest joy came from the gratitude she saw in the eyes of those who knew she cared. “We took our children to Skid Row from the time they were four weeks old, and it certainly didn’t hurt them,” she once said. “Taking our children with us throughout their childhood brought the results Fred and I always prayed for: that our children would love God, and have compassion for people in need.”

In 2018, Willie entrusted the leadership of Fred Jordan Missions to her son, Joe. “What a blessing and honor it is to carry on the work that started in 1944,” Joe said. “Over 82 years later, the vision and legacy continues. We declare and demonstrate the love of Jesus to those in need and those who are hopeless, hurting, and helpless. Thank you, Mom, for teaching me and everyone else about the amazing love of Jesus and our Heavenly Father, and for teaching us to have compassion for the lost and needy. I will miss you every day, but I know I will see you again soon.”

Willie Jordan is survived by her seven children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and a worldwide ministry that continues her life’s work. Fred Jordan Missions remains committed to serving the poor, the hungry, the homeless, and the helpless on the streets of Skid Row and beyond.

SERVICES

A private memorial service will be held for family and close friends. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that gifts be made to Fred Jordan Missions to continue the ministry Willie helped pioneer and loved. Donations can be made online at FJM.org or by mail to Fred Jordan Mission, P.O. Box 12345, Covina, CA 91722.

ABOUT FRED JORDAN MISSIONS

Founded in 1944 by Fred Jordan, Fred Jordan Missions is a faith-based ministry located in downtown Los Angeles that is dedicated to declaring and demonstrating the love of Jesus to those in need. For more than 80 years, the Mission has provided hot meals, clothing, emergency supplies, children’s programs, discipleship, and daily spiritual care to the poor, hungry, homeless, and hurting. To learn more or to support the ministry, visit fjm.org.