Wayne Gordon was one of the founding staff members of Chicago FCA in 1975 and a former Chicago FCA board member. He continues to serve as an advocate, mentor and champion for the Chicago FCA urban ministry. Gordon served as an FCA Huddle Leader and coach at Farragut High School in the Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago from 1975 to 1982. The inner-city boys in that group wanted to start a church in their neighborhood with Gordon’s help, and today, 30 years later, the Lawndale Community Church on Chicago’s west side serves the community not only through the church, but also through a clinic with 30 doctors that serves 100,000 patients a year.

Raised in Fort Dodge, Iowa, Gordon came to faith in Jesus Christ through FCA in high school and graduated from Wheaton College in 1975. While at Wheaton, Gordon served as a leader in the Wheaton North High School FCA Huddle, formed and led by FCA Hall of Champions coach Jim Rexilius. Following a call by God to serve in the inner city after graduation, Gordon moved to North Lawndale, which, at that time, was the 15th poorest neighborhood in the U.S. While there, Gordon was a teacher, football and basketball coach and started the first inner-city FCA Huddle at Farragut High.

As an adjunct professor at several seminaries and graduate schools, Gordon heads up the Lawndale campus of Northern Baptist Theological Seminary. He authored the inspiring book, “Real Hope in Chicago,” which details the power of God working in a community in need and references the impact FCA had on his own life.