After his 1982 ordination in the Association of Reformed Churches, Jordan served for five years alongside Ray Sutton as associate pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church, in Tyler, Texas. He was also the director of Geneva Ministries and Geneva Divinity School.
After the work in Tyler unravelled into discord and internal dissension, Jordan developed his own platform for writing, Biblical Horizons, a Niceville, Florida-based research and publishing ministry. Biblical Horizons emphasizes the Trinity and biblical absolutism with a covenant-historical approach to interpretation and a focus on biblical theocracy, eschatology and worship.[2]
Jordan has also served since 2000 as head of the Department of Biblical Studies at the Biblical Theological Seminary, St. Petersburg, Russia, where he teaches Old Testament and Eschatology.[3]
In 2015, Jordan moved to Birmingham, AL to join Peter Leithart in the work of Theopolis Institute. Following a stroke in 2017, he announced in 2019 the closing down of Biblical Horizons and his endorsement of Theopolis Institute as continuing his work.[4]
Jordan has written many articles and books, including:
James B. Jordan and Gary North, eds. (1982). Symposium on the Failure of the American Baptist Culture. Geneva Divinity School. ISBN 0-939404-04-4. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
James B. Jordan (1984). The Law of the Covenant: An Exposition of Exodus 21–23. Institute for Christian Economics. ISBN 978-0-930464-02-8.
James B. Jordan (1999) [1985]. Judges: A Practical and Theological Commentary. a reissuing of Judges: God’s War Against Humanism. Wipf & Stock Publishers. ISBN 978-1-57910-249-4. Retrieved April 2, 2007.
James B. Jordan, ed. (1985). The Reconstruction of the Church. Geneva Ministries. ISBN 0939404117. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
James B. Jordan (1999) [1986]. The Sociology of the Church: Essays in Reconstruction. Wipf & Stock. ISBN 978-1-57910-248-7. Retrieved April 2, 2007.
Gary North and James B. Jordan (1987). Healer of the Nations: Biblical Blueprints for International Relations. Dominion Press. ISBN 978-0-930462-21-5. Retrieved October 13, 2008.
James B. Jordan (2000) [1988]. Through New Eyes. Wipf & Stock. p. 360. ISBN 978-1-57910-259-3. Retrieved April 2, 2007.
James B. Jordan (1989). Covenant Sequence in Leviticus and Deuteronomy: Literary Order or Chaos?. Institute for Christian Economics. ISBN 0-930464-22-2.
John Calvin (James B. Jordan, ed.) (1990) [1583]. Covenant Enforced: Sermons on Deuteronomy 27 and 28. Institute for Christian Economics. ISBN 0-930464-33-8.
James B. Jordan (1994). The liturgy trap: The Bible versus mere tradition in worship. Transfiguration Press. p. 98. ISBN 978-1-883690-04-5.
James B. Jordan (1998) [1994]. Theses on Worship: Notes Toward the Reformation of Worship. Transfiguration Press. p. 113. ISBN 1-883690-09-9.
^DeJong, Bill (2011). "On Earth as It Is in Heaven: The Pastoral Typology of James B. Jordan". In Leithart, Peter (ed.). The Glory of Kings: A Festschrift in Honor of James B. Jordan. p. 145.