Celebrating the Life of Jim Jordan

On Monday, May 24th, this world's loss was Heaven's gain. Jim Jordan lost his 21 month battle with cancer on that day. If Camp Deer Run has been a part of your life in the past 19 years, then Jim Jordan has had an impact on you. Today was his memorial at Camp Deer Run and it was a true celebration of his wonderful life. There were tears today, but there were more smiles and laughs because of the stories that were shared about Mr. Jordan. Eight men took the stage to talk about Mr. Jordan and share some stories about his life. I want to take the time to highlight some the comments so that you can understand what a wonderful, Godly person we lost this week. I didn't catch all of the names, so some names won't be given.

Son-in-law Steve:

Steve talked about the importance of family to Mr. Jordan. He mentioned how Mr. Jordan was one of those men who didn't speak very often, but when he did he had something important to say. He also mentioned how Mr. Jordan wanted his grandchildren to be golfers so he had each one a set of golf clubs made for them. Another important thing to Mr. Jordan was to instill a love of Deer Run into his grandchildren. Steve mentioned that the kids look forward all year to Camp, and that Mr. Jordan was responsible for that.

Preacher from Holly Lake Church of Christ:

Mr. Jordan was one of the men responsible for Holly Lake Church of Christ getting its start. And he was also the main catalyst to getting the church to start supporting Camp. Holly Lake Church of Christ does more to support Camp than just about any other church. The work that they do at Camp is second to none.

2 Golf Buddies:

These 2 guys were funny, and told many funny stories about Mr. Jordan. Mr. Jordan loved, loved, loved to play golf, and these guys played a lot of golf with him. One of them told a story about how Mr. Jordan would seem to always have a new golf club. They would ask him about it and he would try to kind of blow them off and try to change the subject. They asked him if his wife Margaret knew about it. He would say no and told them not to tell her. So the friends would wonder how he would get the new clubs shipped to him without Margaret finding out about it. We found out at the funeral that he would have them sent to his brother. This got a big laugh. They said that if you were a friend of Mr. Jordan's then he expected you to either work at Camp, or donate money to Camp, if not both. They also spent time talking about the integrity that Mr. Jordan lived his life. Even on the golf course. He wouldn't give his buddies any extra strokes, and if he did he would right it down. No cheating.

Dickie Rogers:

He talked about all of the great things Mr. Jordan did for Camp over the past 19 years. Mr. Jordan was the financial leader of Camp. He took over the finances of Camp when things were going pretty bad, and brought things up to where they are today. He got the Holly Lake church involved at Camp and oversaw the remodeling of the Mess Hall among many other activities. Mr. Jordan was the best fundraiser that Camp has ever seen. He was amazing at soliciting donations to Camp, and so many of the things we have now are a directly tied to the work that Mr. Jordan did for Camp.

Jay Spencer:

Mr. Jordan always talked about Camp. Jay asked if there were anyone in the audience who had spent time around Mr. Jordan and not heard him talk about Deer Run. Not a single hand went up. It was his passion. Mr. Jordan was a big supporter of mission work done to spread the gospel. He felt that Camp Deer Run was the most important mission work for him to do. The Jordans and the people of the Holly Lake church were the first group of people to open up their homes for the Camp Staff to spend a weekend and started the Staff Weekend tradition.

Steve Hemphill:

Mr. Jordan understood that material things didn't matter. He was more focused on how you lived your life, and how you can touch people in this life. Mr. Jordan also loved the singing out at Camp, and any time he could, he would be at Camp worshiping his Lord and singing with his family at Camp.

It was great to be able to listen to so many stories about this great man who lived a life that we would all be proud to live. There is no doubt that Mr. Jordan loved the Lord and worked as hard as he could to further His kingdom. Camp Deer Run is lucky to have had him be one of the leaders for the past 19 years, and any one who has come through the gates since 1991 is a better person because of him.

Please pray for the Jordan family during this time. Mr. Jordan is survived by his wife Margaret, his brother Jack, son James and wife Terri, daughter Jennifer and husband Steve, along with Jordan, Spencer, Zachary, and Carson.

At the end of the service, Mr. Jordan's son got up and said that the family has decided that they would like to raise money to build a new boys cabin in honor of Mr. Jordan. If you would like to give a donation in his honor then check out Camp Deer Run to see how to do this.

Thank you Mr. Jordan for the life you lived, and the love and time that you gave to Camp Deer Run to make it the place that it is today. You will be missed.