Joel Hunter
Encyclopedia
Joel Carl Hunter is the senior pastor of Northland, A Church Distributed, a congregation of 15,000 that worships at four sites in Central Florida and at more than 1,000 sites worldwide via interactive webcast, iPhone, and Facebook. He is the author of numerous books, including A New Kind of Conservative (Regal 2008), Church Distributed (Distributed Press 2008) and Inner State 80: Your Journey on the High Way (Higher Life 2009). A leading evangelical
voice for compassion issues, Hunter accepted the presidency of the Christian Coalition in 2006, and then resigned before formally acting in that role because the CC board felt that a broadening of agenda to include topics like poverty, justice and other compassion issues would alienate its base. He delivered the closing benediction on the final day of the 2008 Democratic National Convention
, prayed with Senator Obama on the day of the 2008 presidential election and offered a blessing for President-elect Obama at the Pre-Inaugural Worship Service at St. John's Church on January 22, 2009. On February 5, 2009, he was appointed to the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, which is purposed to advise Obama on substantive policy issues.
. His parents were Wilbur Hunter, a decorated World War II
veteran
, and Jean Hunter, a homemaker. When his father died in 1952 from bronchogenic carcinoma of the lung
s, Jean went to school to become a beautician and then opened a salon in a room built onto the back of the house. From there she was able to work and keep a close eye on her two children, Joel and older sister Michele. For the next several years as his mother developed alcoholism
that would later claim her life, Hunter spent much of his time with his maternal grandparents, Lena and Carl Bashore. It was from his grandmother that he was introduced to Christian life as she made him attend church each Sunday where he first heard from pastor Stanley Shoemaker, "Nothing will ever come right in the world until you take care of the sin in your own heart." In 1954, Jean married Herb Ovens, a factory worker in a carbon paper
mill. For the remainder of his youth, Hunter had a stable home life, doing well in school and excelling in sports. He graduated from Shelby High School
in 1966 the president of his class and captain of the football team.
After high school, he attended Ohio University
and majored in history
and government
. While there, he became involved in many of the movements on campus. More substantially, he put much of his energy into the civil rights movement
after he was impassioned for the cause by the words and actions of Martin Luther King, Jr.
. In April 1968, after the assassination of King, he had a crisis of faith and wandered into Galbraith Chapel on campus. He knelt at the altar
and dedicated his life to Jesus, remembering the words of his childhood pastor. From that point onward, he felt called into ministry. He graduated from Ohio University with a Bachelor of Science
degree in education.
From college, he pursued his calling in the ministry by going to Christian Theological Seminary
in Indianapolis, Indiana
in 1970. He chose the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
seminary
because his childhood friend Mike Armstrong was planning to study there. Hunter received his Master of Divinity
in 1973. After starting towards his Doctor of Ministry
degree, he took his first church appointment as a youth minister at Bradley United Methodist Church
in Greenfield, Indiana
. There he met his wife, Becky. He stayed at Bradley for one year, but was let go after the church board could find room in the budget only for new carpet or a youth minister and opted for the former. Hunter then became a minister at Southport United Methodist and remained there until obtaining his Doctor of Ministry degree in 1974. His thesis, in the field of culture and personality, was about equipping people for ministry. After graduation he moved to Mount Auburn United Methodist Church in Greenwood, Indiana to serve as the pastor.
was calling him to move into a new phase of ministry. Not knowing what action he was supposed to take with new idea, he sought the counsel of a venerable nearby church pastor, saying that he was aware God wanted him to move, but he had never taken a job in a church that was not appointed for him by a bishop
. He found out, through a letter sent to several church overseers across the United States
, that there was a church called Northland Community Church in Orlando, Florida
, that was looking for a senior pastor. He flew to Orlando to interview at Northland.
Several days after he accepted the role of Northland's senior pastor, Hunter's wife, Becky, had a conversation with a wife of one of the church elders who told her that the elders' wives had consistently prayed that God would "disturb the heart of the pastor who was supposed to be here." Becky was taken aback and explained to her that it was during that time period that Hunter had awakened night after night due to "a heart disturbed."
Northland Community Church had been started in 1972 by 11 people in the "north land" of Orlando. As it grew, Northland began to meet in local elementary school
s. It bought a dilapidated roller skating
rink in Longwood, Florida
, the year before Hunter became the senior pastor. By 1985, the church had a weekly attendance of 200 people. Over the next two decades the church grew to an average weekly attendance of more than 10,000 people. Eventually transformed from a “community church” into to a “church distributed”, Northland has been consistently named among Outreach magazine's 100 Largest and Fastest-Growing U.S. Churches. Ministry Today magazine listed Northland's facilities as one of "The Seven Most Innovative Church Buildings in America."
service with the larger church body.
Hunter felt that to allow local manifestations of the church to flourish, it would require a weekly concurrent worship service. This requirement was met years later by an overcrowding at the increasingly cramped renovated roller skating rink in which Northland met. It was the increasing numbers of worshipers shortly after September 11, 2001, that forced Northland to create its first fully interactive multisite location at Lyman High School down the road. Through fiber-optic cable, Northland was able to have a worship service at both the main site and at the high school. Duets were sung between singers half a mile apart, and Scripture read by either congregation was able to be heard in real time at both sites.
Northland replicated the multisite worship service in several different locations to meet the needs of different locations across Central Florida and now holds concurrent worship services with more than a thousand congregants in Mount Dora
, West Oaks, and Oviedo
, Florida. The same technology has allowed the church to hold concurrent interactive services with partner churches in Windhoek
, Namibia
; Kiev
, Ukraine
; and Cairo
, Egypt
.
In order to more fully realize the potential of a truly distributed church, Northland opened its new facility in August 2007. The $43 million, 3,100-seat building features technology that enables it to be a hub capable of transmitting enormous amounts of data each weekend to sites around the world. Today, a growing segment of Northland’s congregation has never even set foot inside the church building. Approximately 2,000 people worldwide now participate in Northland’s worship services online via InSite, a fully interactive online church application. Online worshipers participate in services via live webcast and have many ways to interact with the church and with one another, including instant access to an online pastor and the ability to chat with other worshipers. In 2009 this live worship tool also became accessible via iPhone and 2010 Northland worship services went live on Facebook.
, a document recognizing global warming
based on the findings of the Nobel Prize
-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC). Fellow signatories included Rick Warren
, the presidents of 39 Christian colleges, and the president of the Salvation Army
. In the spring of 2006, he was asked to host a TV advertisement by the group . In the summer of 2006 and 2008, Hunter was invited to symposium
s on creation care at Windsor Castle
where he heard from, among others: theologian N. T. Wright; former chairman of the IPCC, Sir John Houghton; and Prince Charles. He has since been named by Grist magazine as one of the top 15 religious leaders in creation care, along with Pope Benedict XVI
and the Dalai Lama
.
into creation care and the alleviation of poverty
.
"Please stand. We are all here to devote ourselves to the improvement of this country we love. In one of the best traditions of our country, would those of you who are people of faith join me in asking for God’s help?
Almighty God, let Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us a reverence for all life. Give us a compassion for the most vulnerable among us: the babies, the children, the poor, the sick, the enslaved, the persecuted … for all of those who have been left out of the advantaged world. Give us a zeal to clean the environment we have polluted while we create an economy where everyone who can work can have a job.
Help us to honor those who defend our country by working harder and smarter for peace. Help us to counter those who incite fear and hatred by becoming people who are informed and respectful, and are known for principles and projects that aim higher than our own group’s benefit.
Guide Barack Obama and all of our leaders to be agents of Your will and recipients of Your wisdom. And grant that all of us citizens will continually do our part to contribute to the common good by loving our neighbor as we love ourselves.
Now, I interrupt this prayer for a closing instruction: Because we are gathered in a country that continues to welcome people of all faiths, let us personalize this prayer by closing according to our own tradition. On the count of three, end your prayer as you would usually do … one, two, three __________ (”in Jesus’ name”) AMEN!
Let’s go out and change the world for good!"
just across from the White House
. The service is a tradition for those about to become President. Speakers included the church’s rector
, Luis Leon, as well as prominent evangelical pastor T.D. Jakes.
At the service at St. John’s, Hunter prayed the following blessing over our nation’s 44th President.
“Mr. President-elect, we are gathered in this historic church to convey God’s special blessing to you, your family, and your administration. (In the ancient tradition of laying on of hands, would those of you sitting directly beside and behind the President-elect lean toward him and put your hands on his arms or shoulders as a physical means of communicating a spiritual grace.) These blessings come from scripture*, because as God says to Jeremiah, “I am watching over my word to perform it.” (Jeremiah 1:12)
Barack Hussein Obama, we now commission you with an iteration of God’s blessing to our father Abraham. God said, “I will make [through] you a great nation and I will bless you … so you shall be a blessing … and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Genesis 12:2-3)
Next, by faith we call forth the personal qualities of the Holy Spirit that your family and country will need in you: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23)
Finally, we remind you of some of the blessings of your Lord and Savior: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven … blessed are those that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied … blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God … blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me, rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great … ” (Matthew 5:3, 6, 9, 11-12)
Through your leadership, Mr. President-elect, may God bless the United States of America in a way that makes us a blessing to the whole world. Amen."
The advisory council was introduced February 5, 2009, to coincide with the National Prayer Breakfast and the appointment of Pastor Joshua DuBois as head of the council.
teacher. She served as the president of the Global Pastors' Wives Network (2006–2008) and is the author of Being Good to Your Husband on Purpose. The Hunters have three sons: Joshua (1975), Isaac (1977), and Joel (1981). Josh is married to Lisa and they have two children, Noah and the late Ava. Isaac and his wife, Rhonda, have three children: Jada, Ella and Lincoln. Joel is married to Elizabeth and they have one son, Luke.
. She died on September 4, 2010, only 10 weeks after the diagnosis.
A memorial service was held on September 9, 2010 at Northland. The Hunters remain confident that Ava was put on Earth as a way to bring more people to Christ as Josh was quoted saying that "Ava's life is a call to worship" during the memorial service. Many have posted on Josh's blog that they did not have any belief in God before reading his posts about Ava.
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
voice for compassion issues, Hunter accepted the presidency of the Christian Coalition in 2006, and then resigned before formally acting in that role because the CC board felt that a broadening of agenda to include topics like poverty, justice and other compassion issues would alienate its base. He delivered the closing benediction on the final day of the 2008 Democratic National Convention
2008 Democratic National Convention
The United States 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform and officially nominated its candidates for President and Vice President of the United States. The convention was held in Denver,...
, prayed with Senator Obama on the day of the 2008 presidential election and offered a blessing for President-elect Obama at the Pre-Inaugural Worship Service at St. John's Church on January 22, 2009. On February 5, 2009, he was appointed to the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, which is purposed to advise Obama on substantive policy issues.
Background
Joel Carl Hunter was born April 18, 1948 in the town of Shelby, OhioShelby, Ohio
Shelby is a city in Richland County in the U.S. state of Ohio, northwest of the city of Mansfield. It is part of the Mansfield, Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 9,821 at the 2000 census.-History:...
. His parents were Wilbur Hunter, a decorated World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
veteran
Veteran
A veteran is a person who has had long service or experience in a particular occupation or field; " A veteran of ..."...
, and Jean Hunter, a homemaker. When his father died in 1952 from bronchogenic carcinoma of the lung
Lung
The lung is the essential respiration organ in many air-breathing animals, including most tetrapods, a few fish and a few snails. In mammals and the more complex life forms, the two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of the heart...
s, Jean went to school to become a beautician and then opened a salon in a room built onto the back of the house. From there she was able to work and keep a close eye on her two children, Joel and older sister Michele. For the next several years as his mother developed alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
that would later claim her life, Hunter spent much of his time with his maternal grandparents, Lena and Carl Bashore. It was from his grandmother that he was introduced to Christian life as she made him attend church each Sunday where he first heard from pastor Stanley Shoemaker, "Nothing will ever come right in the world until you take care of the sin in your own heart." In 1954, Jean married Herb Ovens, a factory worker in a carbon paper
Carbon paper
Carbon paper is paper coated on one side with a layer of a loosely bound dry ink or pigmented coating, usually bound with wax. It is used for making one or more copies simultaneous with the creation of an original document...
mill. For the remainder of his youth, Hunter had a stable home life, doing well in school and excelling in sports. He graduated from Shelby High School
Shelby High School (Ohio)
Shelby High School is located in Shelby, Ohio, USA. The school serves students in grades 9-12 and is part of the Shelby City School District.-Ohio High School Athletic Association State Championships:* Boys Track and Field – 2003, 2004...
in 1966 the president of his class and captain of the football team.
After high school, he attended Ohio University
Ohio University
Ohio University is a public university located in the Midwestern United States in Athens, Ohio, situated on an campus...
and majored in history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
. While there, he became involved in many of the movements on campus. More substantially, he put much of his energy into the civil rights movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
after he was impassioned for the cause by the words and actions of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
. In April 1968, after the assassination of King, he had a crisis of faith and wandered into Galbraith Chapel on campus. He knelt at the altar
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
and dedicated his life to Jesus, remembering the words of his childhood pastor. From that point onward, he felt called into ministry. He graduated from Ohio University with a Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree in education.
From college, he pursued his calling in the ministry by going to Christian Theological Seminary
Christian Theological Seminary
Christian Theological Seminary is an ecumenical seminary related to the Christian Church . It is located in Indianapolis, Indiana, and provides eight degree-level education courses...
in Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
in 1970. He chose the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
The Christian Church is a Mainline Protestant denomination in North America. It is often referred to as The Christian Church, The Disciples of Christ, or more simply as The Disciples...
seminary
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
because his childhood friend Mike Armstrong was planning to study there. Hunter received his Master of Divinity
Master of Divinity
In the academic study of theology, the Master of Divinity is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America...
in 1973. After starting towards his Doctor of Ministry
Doctor of Ministry
The Doctor of Ministry degree is, according to The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada , a doctoral level degree oriented toward ministerial leadership often in an area of applied theology, such as missions, evangelism, church leadership, pastoral psychology or the...
degree, he took his first church appointment as a youth minister at Bradley United Methodist Church
United Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination which is both mainline Protestant and evangelical. Founded in 1968 by the union of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley...
in Greenfield, Indiana
Greenfield, Indiana
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 14,600 people, 5,917 households, and 4,017 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,818.0 people per square mile . There were 6,449 housing units at an average density of 803.0 per square mile...
. There he met his wife, Becky. He stayed at Bradley for one year, but was let go after the church board could find room in the budget only for new carpet or a youth minister and opted for the former. Hunter then became a minister at Southport United Methodist and remained there until obtaining his Doctor of Ministry degree in 1974. His thesis, in the field of culture and personality, was about equipping people for ministry. After graduation he moved to Mount Auburn United Methodist Church in Greenwood, Indiana to serve as the pastor.
Hunter and Northland Church
In 1985, Hunter awoke several nights in a row feeling "My heart is just all disturbed" and the notion that GodGod
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
was calling him to move into a new phase of ministry. Not knowing what action he was supposed to take with new idea, he sought the counsel of a venerable nearby church pastor, saying that he was aware God wanted him to move, but he had never taken a job in a church that was not appointed for him by a bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
. He found out, through a letter sent to several church overseers across the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, that there was a church called Northland Community Church in Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
, that was looking for a senior pastor. He flew to Orlando to interview at Northland.
Several days after he accepted the role of Northland's senior pastor, Hunter's wife, Becky, had a conversation with a wife of one of the church elders who told her that the elders' wives had consistently prayed that God would "disturb the heart of the pastor who was supposed to be here." Becky was taken aback and explained to her that it was during that time period that Hunter had awakened night after night due to "a heart disturbed."
Northland Community Church had been started in 1972 by 11 people in the "north land" of Orlando. As it grew, Northland began to meet in local elementary school
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
s. It bought a dilapidated roller skating
Roller skating
Roller skating is the traveling on smooth surfaces with roller skates. It is a form of recreation as well as a sport, and can also be a form of transportation. Skates generally come in two basic varieties: quad roller skates and inline skates or blades, though some have experimented with a...
rink in Longwood, Florida
Longwood, Florida
Longwood is a city in Seminole County, Florida, USA. The population was 13,745 at the 2000 census. As of 2006, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 13,491. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee-Sanford Metropolitan Statistical Area....
, the year before Hunter became the senior pastor. By 1985, the church had a weekly attendance of 200 people. Over the next two decades the church grew to an average weekly attendance of more than 10,000 people. Eventually transformed from a “community church” into to a “church distributed”, Northland has been consistently named among Outreach magazine's 100 Largest and Fastest-Growing U.S. Churches. Ministry Today magazine listed Northland's facilities as one of "The Seven Most Innovative Church Buildings in America."
The Distributed Church
In 1996, Hunter began to pursue the idea of a church that could reach many more people than those who gathered inside its walls. He started discussing the idea with the elders of the church and soon Neighborhood Networks of the church began to meet. These were intended to be groups of 30 to 300 Northland churchgoers who would meet during the week in their own neighborhoods to study together, encourage each other and serve the neighborhoods' needs in practical ways. The idea seemed promising at first, but ultimately failed. Hunter later attributed the failure to a disconnectedness of these groups resulting from a lack of a concurrent worshipWorship
Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. The word is derived from the Old English worthscipe, meaning worthiness or worth-ship — to give, at its simplest, worth to something, for example, Christian worship.Evelyn Underhill defines worship thus: "The absolute...
service with the larger church body.
Hunter felt that to allow local manifestations of the church to flourish, it would require a weekly concurrent worship service. This requirement was met years later by an overcrowding at the increasingly cramped renovated roller skating rink in which Northland met. It was the increasing numbers of worshipers shortly after September 11, 2001, that forced Northland to create its first fully interactive multisite location at Lyman High School down the road. Through fiber-optic cable, Northland was able to have a worship service at both the main site and at the high school. Duets were sung between singers half a mile apart, and Scripture read by either congregation was able to be heard in real time at both sites.
Northland replicated the multisite worship service in several different locations to meet the needs of different locations across Central Florida and now holds concurrent worship services with more than a thousand congregants in Mount Dora
Mount Dora, Florida
Mount Dora is a U.S. city in Lake County, Florida. As of July 1, 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates the Mount Dora population at 11,564. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
, West Oaks, and Oviedo
Oviedo, Florida
Oviedo is a city in Seminole County, Florida, United States. The population was 26,316 as of the 2000 census. As of 2009, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 32,961...
, Florida. The same technology has allowed the church to hold concurrent interactive services with partner churches in Windhoek
Windhoek
Windhoek is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level. The 2001 census determined Windhoek's population was 233,529...
, Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
; Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
; and Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
.
In order to more fully realize the potential of a truly distributed church, Northland opened its new facility in August 2007. The $43 million, 3,100-seat building features technology that enables it to be a hub capable of transmitting enormous amounts of data each weekend to sites around the world. Today, a growing segment of Northland’s congregation has never even set foot inside the church building. Approximately 2,000 people worldwide now participate in Northland’s worship services online via InSite, a fully interactive online church application. Online worshipers participate in services via live webcast and have many ways to interact with the church and with one another, including instant access to an online pastor and the ability to chat with other worshipers. In 2009 this live worship tool also became accessible via iPhone and 2010 Northland worship services went live on Facebook.
Creation Care
Hunter was asked in February 2006 to sign the Evangelical Climate InitiativeEvangelical Climate Initiative
The Evangelical Climate Initiative is an initiative by some American evangelical leaders and organizations to mitigate global warming. ECI's first statement, calling for reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, was initially signed by 86 evangelical leaders. Signatories included Rick Warren, the...
, a document recognizing global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
based on the findings of the Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a scientific intergovernmental body which provides comprehensive assessments of current scientific, technical and socio-economic information worldwide about the risk of climate change caused by human activity, its potential environmental and...
(IPCC). Fellow signatories included Rick Warren
Rick Warren
Richard Duane "Rick" Warren is an American evangelical Christian minister and author. He is the founder and senior pastor of Saddleback Church, an evangelical megachurch located in Lake Forest, California, currently the eighth-largest church in the United States...
, the presidents of 39 Christian colleges, and the president of the Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
. In the spring of 2006, he was asked to host a TV advertisement by the group . In the summer of 2006 and 2008, Hunter was invited to symposium
Symposium
In ancient Greece, the symposium was a drinking party. Literary works that describe or take place at a symposium include two Socratic dialogues, Plato's Symposium and Xenophon's Symposium, as well as a number of Greek poems such as the elegies of Theognis of Megara...
s on creation care at Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...
where he heard from, among others: theologian N. T. Wright; former chairman of the IPCC, Sir John Houghton; and Prince Charles. He has since been named by Grist magazine as one of the top 15 religious leaders in creation care, along with Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
and the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
.
Hunter and the Christian Coalition
Hunter was asked in July 2006 to become the next president of the Christian Coalition. The group was started in 1988 by Pat Robertson and grew in influence throughout the early 1990s to a base of 1.2 million members and a revenue of $26.5 million in 1996. Hunter accepted the position of president-elect and set to work seeking to broaden the agenda of the group beyond gay marriage and abortionAbortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
into creation care and the alleviation of poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
.
Democratic National Convention 2008, Closing Benediction
Hunter provided the closing benediction to the Democratic National Convention in 2008. The transcription of this prayer is as follows:"Please stand. We are all here to devote ourselves to the improvement of this country we love. In one of the best traditions of our country, would those of you who are people of faith join me in asking for God’s help?
Almighty God, let Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us a reverence for all life. Give us a compassion for the most vulnerable among us: the babies, the children, the poor, the sick, the enslaved, the persecuted … for all of those who have been left out of the advantaged world. Give us a zeal to clean the environment we have polluted while we create an economy where everyone who can work can have a job.
Help us to honor those who defend our country by working harder and smarter for peace. Help us to counter those who incite fear and hatred by becoming people who are informed and respectful, and are known for principles and projects that aim higher than our own group’s benefit.
Guide Barack Obama and all of our leaders to be agents of Your will and recipients of Your wisdom. And grant that all of us citizens will continually do our part to contribute to the common good by loving our neighbor as we love ourselves.
Now, I interrupt this prayer for a closing instruction: Because we are gathered in a country that continues to welcome people of all faiths, let us personalize this prayer by closing according to our own tradition. On the count of three, end your prayer as you would usually do … one, two, three __________ (”in Jesus’ name”) AMEN!
Let’s go out and change the world for good!"
Pre-Inaugural Worship Service, Blessing for President-elect Barack Obama
On January 20, 2009, Hunter offered a blessing over President-Elect Obama during an intimate, pre-inauguration service held at St. John's Episcopal Church, located on Lafayette SquareLafayette Square
Lafayette Square may refer to a place in the United States:*Lafayette Square, Los Angeles, California, a neighborhood in the mid-city section of L.A.*Lafayette Square, New Orleans, Louisiana, in the Central Business District*Lafayette Square, St...
just across from the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
. The service is a tradition for those about to become President. Speakers included the church’s rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
, Luis Leon, as well as prominent evangelical pastor T.D. Jakes.
At the service at St. John’s, Hunter prayed the following blessing over our nation’s 44th President.
“Mr. President-elect, we are gathered in this historic church to convey God’s special blessing to you, your family, and your administration. (In the ancient tradition of laying on of hands, would those of you sitting directly beside and behind the President-elect lean toward him and put your hands on his arms or shoulders as a physical means of communicating a spiritual grace.) These blessings come from scripture*, because as God says to Jeremiah, “I am watching over my word to perform it.” (Jeremiah 1:12)
Barack Hussein Obama, we now commission you with an iteration of God’s blessing to our father Abraham. God said, “I will make [through] you a great nation and I will bless you … so you shall be a blessing … and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Genesis 12:2-3)
Next, by faith we call forth the personal qualities of the Holy Spirit that your family and country will need in you: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23)
Finally, we remind you of some of the blessings of your Lord and Savior: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven … blessed are those that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied … blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God … blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me, rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great … ” (Matthew 5:3, 6, 9, 11-12)
Through your leadership, Mr. President-elect, may God bless the United States of America in a way that makes us a blessing to the whole world. Amen."
- New American Standard Version
President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
Dr. Hunter served in the inaugural year on the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, which advises President Barack Obama on substantive policy issues, including interfaith relations, strengthening the role of fathers in society and reducing the number of abortions. He continues as a spiritual advisor to the President.The advisory council was introduced February 5, 2009, to coincide with the National Prayer Breakfast and the appointment of Pastor Joshua DuBois as head of the council.
Family life
Joel Hunter met his wife, Becky, at his first church appointment in seminary, Bradley United Methodist Church in Greenfield, Indiana. They were married July 2, 1972. Becky is a former biologyBiology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
teacher. She served as the president of the Global Pastors' Wives Network (2006–2008) and is the author of Being Good to Your Husband on Purpose. The Hunters have three sons: Joshua (1975), Isaac (1977), and Joel (1981). Josh is married to Lisa and they have two children, Noah and the late Ava. Isaac and his wife, Rhonda, have three children: Jada, Ella and Lincoln. Joel is married to Elizabeth and they have one son, Luke.
Ava Belle Hunter
Ava Belle Hunter was Josh and Lisa's daughter (Joel's granddaughter), born on November 1, 2004. On June 26, 2010, she was diagnosed with a extremely aggressive and rare Glioblastoma multiformeGlioblastoma multiforme
Glioblastoma multiforme is the most common and most aggressive malignant primary brain tumor in humans, involving glial cells and accounting for 52% of all functional tissue brain tumor cases and 20% of all intracranial tumors. Despite being the most prevalent form of primary brain tumor, GBMs...
. She died on September 4, 2010, only 10 weeks after the diagnosis.
A memorial service was held on September 9, 2010 at Northland. The Hunters remain confident that Ava was put on Earth as a way to bring more people to Christ as Josh was quoted saying that "Ava's life is a call to worship" during the memorial service. Many have posted on Josh's blog that they did not have any belief in God before reading his posts about Ava.
Advisory Councils
- Florida's Faith-Based and Community-Based Advisory Council (2008–2012)
- White House Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships (2009–2010)
Advisory Boards
- Belhaven College
- The BioLogos Foundation
- Christian Help
- Man in the Mirror Ministries
- U.S. Center for Citizens Diplomacy
- Vernon C Grounds Institute of Public Ethics (Denver Seminary)
- Vision Orlando
Boards of Directors
- World Evangelical AllianceWorld Evangelical Alliance- Introduction :' is a global ministry working with local churches around the world to join in common concern to live and proclaim the "Good News of Jesus" in their communities...
- National Association of EvangelicalsNational Association of EvangelicalsThe National Association of Evangelicals is a fellowship of member denominations, churches, organizations, and individuals. Its goal is to honor God by connecting and representing evangelicals in the United States. Today it works in four main areas: Church & Faith Partners, Government Relations,...
- Global Pastors’ Network
- Children's Environmental Health Network
- Central Florida Commission on Homelessness
- Christian Peacemaking Resources, Inc.
- First Green Bank
Commissions
Education
- Bachelor of Science in History, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, 1970
- Master of Divinity, Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1973
- Doctor of Ministry, Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1974
- Doctor of Humanities, Belhaven University, Jackson, Mississippi, 2006
- Doctor of Divinity, Nyack College and Alliance Theological Seminary, Nyack, New York, 2011
International Forums
- Participant in the Alliance of CivilizationsAlliance of CivilizationsThe Alliance of Civilizations is an initiative proposed by the Prime Minister of the Government of Spain, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, at the 59th General Assembly of the United Nations in 2005. It was co-sponsored by the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan...
(United Nations) - Participant in the Global Christian Forum
- Participant in the U.S./Islamic World Forum
- Participant in the Parliament of of the World's Religions
White House Appointments
- President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships (2009–2010)
External links
- http://www.pastorjoelhunter.com