Wayne Gordon

Wayne L. Gordon (DMin, Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary) is founding Pastor and current Co-Pastor of Lawndale Community Church.  In 1975, Wayne moved to North Lawndale located on Chicago’s westside.  At that time, North Lawndale was the 15th poorest neighborhood in the U.S.  He was a teacher and coach at Farragut High School, also located in North Lawndale. Wayne and his wife, Anne, have raised their three adult children: Angela, Andrew and Austin. Wayne and Anne, along with some local high school students, founded the Lawndale Community Church. In nearly 50 years of ministry, “Coach,” as he is affectionately known, has played a key role in numerous community development initiatives. He and Lawndale Community Church founded Lawndale Christian Health Center (1984),  Lawndale Christian Development Corporation (1987), LCC Hope house (1995), Lou Malnati’s (1995) and Lawndale Christian Legal Center (2010) each of which he chaired the board for the first 10 years. Wayne  helped to formulate the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) with John Perkins and served as President for 25 years.

Coach heads up a Lawndale campus of Northern Seminary and directs the Masters and Doctoral program in Christian Community Development  

Lawndale Community Church was given a “Point of Light” award by President George Bush in 1989 and Chicago Magazine named Wayne one of the Chicagoans of the year in 1995 for his commitment and creativity.  Wayne was Wheaton College’s Alumnus of the Year in 2010 and received the William Wilberforce Award from Prison Fellowship in 2011.