Beside a creek running through 940 acres of the East Tennessee Valley, Wilma Jordan celebrated when a young formerly Buddhist student from Sri Lanka stepped into the water. On this land where he first found faith in Jesus, he would come out of that creek a baptized follower of Christ. It’s a scene Wilma never imagined she’d witness.
“I wanted to dedicate my life to honoring God through all he’d given to me,” Wilma says. “I knew this land would be part of that legacy. I just didn’t know what kind of legacy it would become.”
Seeds of generosity
As followers of Jesus, Wilma’s parents modeled this kind of God-honoring way for Wilma and her siblings. From both, she learned the value of a generous life.
“My father was a faithful Christian. He’d leave baskets of groceries for our neighbors in need or share his faith with others in the community. He was an amazingly generous man.”
In her mother, Wilma saw an example of a different kind of faithful stewardship.
“My mother was an inspiration in caring for the land God had given us,” Wilma says. “For her, taking care of our land was a part of her faith.”
The metaphorical seed planted in her heart as she watched generosity at work in her parents grew into a generous lifestyle of her own, defined by the same values. “I don’t think I knew how much their example seeped into me until I had the chance to do the same things in my own life.”
Building with faith
After graduating from the University of Tennessee, Wilma moved to New York City and steadily built a career in finance before founding her own financial advisory firm in 1987.
“I started the firm because I wanted to pilot my own ship,” she says. But in an incredibly competitive field, the work of actually getting that ship off the ground wasn’t easy.
“Start-ups face so many unexpected challenges,” Wilma says. Being a female in a male-dominated industry is one of the biggest. “In those early days, prayer played a huge part in helping me learn to work through whatever came my way.”
And, in addition to her knowledge, experience, and prayers, it was the generosity of others in the field that spurred Wilma on to grow the business she has today.
“I took so many executives to lunch just to learn from their experiences,” Wilma says. “Their generosity with their time made such a mark on me, not just as a leader but as a person too.”
Today, her firm has completed more than 900 transactions for global corporations, private companies, entrepreneurs, and private equity and venture capital firms. She serves the recently merged JEGI-Leonis as chairwoman and now uses her position to pour into employees, coworkers, and interns.
“In our profession, we sometimes have to tip-toe around our faith. I’m thankful for the many divine moments God’s given me to do things like invite my coworkers to church and share a little bit of my faith with them.”
A devoted steward
With the growth of her business came the expansion of opportunities to give to causes close to her heart. For Wilma, this generosity isn’t an obligation; it’s a privilege.
“All our resources on this earth belong to God, and we have the good fortune to be stewards of them,” Wilma says. “It’s my honor to give to others what God has graciously given to me.”
Following her parents’ example of both generosity and service, she regularly gives of her time and resources to support the city’s unhoused community.
“I got connected with Bowery Mission through my church, Central Presbyterian, here in New York. The mission does such a great job serving the homeless, and it’s been a joy to work with them.”
In addition to serving with The Bowery Mission, Wilma also sits on the board of Guideposts, gives to the ministry at her church, and supports Emerald Youth Foundation in her hometown of Knoxville.
For Wilma, these are more than randomly chosen causes. They’re what she calls “heart causes” that support efforts that matter most to her. And having the National Christian Foundation (NCF) come alongside her giving allows her the chance to give confidently to those “heart causes” when the need arises.
“When I was introduced to NCF, I was so thankful to find an organization operating from the same foundation of faith,” she says. “It makes prayerfully figuring out how to give that much easier. Because I know that if an organization is vetted by NCF, they’re an organization I can trust.”
Realizing a dream
Yet the biggest expression of generosity in Wilma’s life has come from the land that first inspired her decades ago. Valley Dream Farm is a commercially viable farm operating on the 60 acres of land she inherited from her parents, along with additional acres purchased over the last 20 years.
“Owning and caring for this land and serving people through what we can produce and provide with it is truly my dream,” Wilma says.
In an effort to maintain the integrity of the land, she also put the property into a conservation easement with Foothills Land Conservancy to preserve its ecological nature and prevent future development.
Valley Dream Farm employs sustainable practices that enhance the farming ecosystem rather than exhaust it. Practically, that means growing produce and other crops on the land and in two greenhouses.
“Whatever we can produce, we pour back into the community. And we’re doing it in a way that cares for both the land that grows it and the people who receive it. It’s a way to live Christ’s promise to bring flourishing to his creation and to the hearts of those he loves.”
Caring for the soul and the soil
After learning about a similar program in Florida, Wilma launched Empower School at Valley Dream Farm three years ago on 53 acres of the property not included in the conservation. Dedicated to teaching students the practice of sustainable farming, the farm also teaches them Christian discipleship and generous service through outreach.
“We’re nurturing both the soul and the soil,” Wilma says. “We pour into them spiritually, teach them the work to do with their hands, show them what it means to care for God’s creation, and allow them to give generously to the communities they serve.”
The students work in four greenhouses to produce a harvest that supplies some of Knoxville’s most well-known restaurants and markets. The school also donates 30 percent of its produce to local food banks and charities that help feed the hungry in the city.
So far, Empower School has welcomed students from India, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Peru, Madagascar, and here in the United States. The discipleship program in the school, in particular, has changed not just their lives but the lives of their families and loved ones back home too.
That Buddhist student from Sri Lanka who was recently baptized was part of the inaugural class at Empower School, and one of many students Wilma hopes will continue to develop not just the farming practices they’ve learned but the faith they’ve found as well.
“Right there in the creek, he declared his faith in Christ. And now, he’s taking that faith home to share with his family,” she says.
As Wilma considers the next phase of her career, farm, and ministry, she does so with a continued prayer for the divine inspiration that started it all.
“Everything I’ve been able to do through this land and the work of generosity in me is only because of God,” she says. “I never want to miss a chance to give it to his people for his glory.”
