She made history at a 198-year-old church. Now, she is leading this FAMU student ministry

As members of the Wesley Foundation at Florida A&M University opened their weekly Bible study on a recent Wednesday evening, newly appointed Executive Director and Pastor Juana Jordan expressed gratitude for their new building near the southern edge of the campus of Florida A&M University.

“Thank you, God, that you have put me in this place because I just think the sky is open, not only for this ministry but it’s open for me and everybody who I’m going to engage with,” Jordan said in a prayer.

The brick house at 2023 S. Martin Luther King Blvd. opened to students in January. The renovated home includes smart technology features such as energy-saving lighting and built-in surround sound, two office rooms, two bathrooms and a full kitchen. Next door is a two-story apartment building currently under renovation to house eight students in the fall semester.

The Wesley Foundation is an extension of the United Methodist Church designed for outreach on college campuses, 10 of which are in the Florida. Two are in Tallahassee, on FAMU’s campus and on Florida State University’s campus that also serves students attending Tallahassee Community College.

Jordan, a former news reporter at the Tallahassee Democrat and marketing representative called to the ministry 12 years ago, was appointed to lead the United Methodist Church’s outreach in December.

Since re-emerging in Tallahassee, Jordan has immersed herself in promoting the outreach ministry, initiated fundraising and overseeing the enhancements at the complex, known as IMPACT House, the name given to the building.

“As our mission statement says, we are inspiring, motivating, preparing, and conscientiously transforming FAMU and the community with the love and teachings of Christ, and that is our goal,” Jordan told the Tallahassee Democrat.

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A welcomed spiritual homecoming

Jordan is a native of Jacksonville, Florida, but she credits her growth in the ministry to her previous time in Tallahassee.

“I came out of New Life and that is where my call happened. My faith developed here,” Jordan said of her membership at New Life UMC, 2821 S. Monroe St., in Tallahassee.

She arrived in Tallahassee in 2000 and worked as a business reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat until 2006, when she took a job at Moore Agency in Tallahassee. She also later served as interim advisor to the FAMUAN student newspaper.

“My dream was to leave the Tallahassee Democrat and wind up at the Washington Post,” Jordan said, sitting at a table at the IMPACT house.  “But somewhere along the journey I got restless.”

Jordan, who earned an undergraduate degree in broadcast journalism from Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina, enrolled at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in 2008. She earned her Master of Divinity degree in 2011.

That same year, she was appointed senior pastor at Harris Chapel UMC in Fort Lauderdale, and in 2016, she became associate pastor at Southside UMC in Jacksonville. In 2017, she was appointed spiritual leader and organizer of a multi-ethnic church for the Florida Conference of the UMC in Jacksonville.

In 2018, she was appointed pastor at First United Methodist Church of St. Augustine, making history as the first African American and woman to pastor the 198-year-old church.

She remained there until 2021, and in 2022, she stepped away from the active ministry.

“I really felt God was calling me to leave for a little and take a break,” Jordan said. “So, I stepped away from ministry for a whole year.”

While on her hiatus from ministry, she received a call from the Rev. Latricia Scriven, former executive director of IMPACT, about returning to Tallahassee and heading up the Wesley Foundation operation at FAMU.

Scriven says Jordan was the first person she thought of to step into the position.

“She has great ministry expertise and I thought she could form deep and beneficial relationships with students,” Scriven said of Jordan’s qualifications.

Jordan, however, thought otherwise.

“I told her, I am not the person but I’m going to help you find somebody,” Jordan said of her initial reaction to Scriven’s request.

Eventually, after scrolling on the UMC job board, Jordan says she heard God’s voice guiding her to apply for position.

“This is my first time in student ministry. I’ve always felt as though I’ve resonated with young adults,” Jordan said. “This particular opportunity was truly God driven and divine.”

Accepting the challenge of student ministry

Despite its United Methodist Church affiliation, the IMPACT ministry is open to all students. The challenge, Jordan said, is reaching them and presenting the opportunity.

“I don’t fully know where they all are, and they’re in their rooms,” Jordan said. “Trying to connect when that is the norm is very challenging.”

Jordan and the current handful of engaged students do outreach on Mondays at the Quad on FAMU’s campus, hold Bible study at 6 p.m. on Wednesdays and sometimes do mission work on Saturdays with other local UMC congregations. They also collaborate with the Wesley Foundation at FSU and with the Baptist Collegiate Ministry at FAMU.

Jordan says regular Sunday services won’t be offered until she sees an increase in participants.

Wayne Wiatt, superintendent for the Northwest Florida district of the United Methodist Church, said Jordan was the obvious choice.

“She is dynamic and exciting, and to listen to her calls you closer into a relationship with Christ,” Waitt said.

Rebekah Hill, president of IMPACT, said she is comforted by Jordan’s presence.

“She’s been a very nice fit here at Impact with everyone,” said Hill, a 24-year-old food science student from Polk County.

Contact Democrat writer Alaijah Brown at ABrown1@gannett.com and on Twitter at @BrownAlaijah.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Wesley Foundation at FAMU welcomes Pastor Juana Jordan