Rev. J. Mark Jordan

On September 9, 1948, J. Mark Jordan was born to Theodora and Victor Jordan in Indianapolis, Indiana. His was a family with Apostolic preachers on both sides of the family tree, numbering more than one hundred, including extended family. When Mark was eight years old, his dad, Victor Jordan, left his church plant on the west side of Indianapolis to pastor Christian Temple in Jackson, Michigan, where his uncle and aunt, Gus and Helen Anderson, had formerly pastored.

Raised in Jackson, Mark specialized in speech and debate in high school. He was captain of the varsity debate team and won several city and regional speech contests. He went to Texas Bible College in 1967, and earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Toledo in 1983. After attending Texas Bible College, he traveled for a year and a half as a single evangelist; then, in 1970, he married Sandy Kinzie, the only child of Fred and Vera Kinzie. Mark and Sandy evangelized until August 1973, then joined her parents in Toledo, Ohio, as assistant pastor at the First Apostolic Church, following Robert and Diane Stroup in that position.

Fred Kinzie retired in 1983, and the church elected Mark as senior pastor. He served in that role for thirty years. During his pastorate, the church built a one-thousand-seat sanctuary and a Family Life Center and started five daughter works, two of which merged to form a dynamic, autonomous church in Archbold, Ohio, in 2012. Fourteen ministers entered the field under the ministry of Brother Jordan. In the strong tradition of a missions-minded church, the Jordans traveled and preached extensively in Europe, South America, and Asia, as well as many venues in North America. On the home front, in the 1980s Brother and Sister Jordan adopted three children, Ryan, Ross, and René. All three are now married and attend UPCI churches with their spouses. The Jordans also have four grandchildren and five “grand-dogs.”

J. Mark Jordan served the Ohio District as sectional youth director, district youth secretary, and district youth president. The Ohio ministers elected him to be district superintendent in 1995, an office he held for twenty-two years. During that time he also served as a member of the Executive Board for five years, the Board of Directors of Urshan Graduate School of Theology and Urshan College for fifteen years, the Board of Publication for twenty-eight years, and as a member of several general ad hoc committees. He now serves as an honorary member of both the Ohio District Board and the General Board.

In more than fifty years of ministry, Brother Jordan has contributed many articles to various district and general publications, and has written and published twenty books, most of which are handled by Pentecostal Publishing House. He recently finished his autobiography. He retired in 2013, turning the pastorate over to Kris and Jenn Dillingham. The church named Brother Jordan as bishop of the First Apostolic Church, and he and Sandy still live in the area and remain members. He continues to write and travel at home and overseas, preaching and teaching leadership, family seminars, and ministers’ retreats.