Joy Ridderhof

Who was Joy Ridderhof?

Joy Fanny Ridderhof was an American missionary.

The youngest child of Dutch and Swedish immigrants, Ridderhof was one of the first graduates of Columbia International University in 1923. In 1930, she traveled to Honduras, establishing her ministry in Marcala and neighboring villages. Forced to return to the United States to recover from malaria, she began make Spanish evangelizing recordings that she distributed to places in Latin America, including Marcala. She was then contacted and asked to produce some Navajo recordings, Navajo speakers would they provide. She accepted, and then she got more jobs. This led her to form Gospel Recordings in 1939.

Gospel Recordings delivers the Gospel to illiterate people in Africa, South America, Asia, Australia, and Central America via hand-operated record players. As of 2008, the company has produced recordings in 5,705 languages.

Ridderhof and Gospel Recordings are the subjects of the 2006 P.O.V. documentary The Tailenders.