CNN: Pastor Hunter Discusses President Obama's First 100 Days

Dr. Hunter's Testimony on Immigration to the Senate

On April 30, 2009, Northland's senior pastor, Dr. Joel C. Hunter, was a witness at a hearing on "Comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2009, Can We Do It and How?", scheduled by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Refugees. Sen. Charles Schumer, who presided over the hearing, personally extended the invitation to participate to Dr. Hunter, who is a member of President Obama's Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Following is the testimony offered by Dr. Hunter.

Thank you, Chairman Schumer, distinguished members of the subcommittee, esteemed colleagues on this panel, and other guests, for providing me an opportunity to speak on the moral and religious reasons for immigration reform.

I am a one of hundreds of thousands of local religious leaders in this country. I have been a pastor for almost 40 years and that is what I want to be in all my years remaining. Even though I am also in leadership positions of national and international groups that are dealing with immigration, it is at the local level that I am continually reminded that policy truly does hurt or help people.

In my faith tradition we all start as strangers and aliens, outsiders to the commonwealth of God. But because we have a God who was willing to do what it took to include us (at great personal cost), we "are no longer strangers and aliens, but [we] are fellow citizens..." (Ephesians 2:18-19a)

So I find it a high honor to speak to those in power as an advocate for those who have no power. In a verse that would be echoed in many religions, Proverbs 31:8 commands us to "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves."

"You will make known to me the path of life..." (Psalm 16:11) The hope of any religion is that those who have been on the wrong path can be set upon the right path. The need for Comprehensive Immigration Reform is to create a path that will help people do the right thing. A broken system produces a dysfunctional society, fractured families, and it increases the vulnerability of both legal and illegal residents. It helps criminals who thrive in the shadows and it harms decent people, consigning them to a life of insecurity, hiding, and minimal contribution to the general welfare.

A broken system produces both broken and crooked people. The cost to our nation in terms of productivity, national unity, and national security is depressing. But it does not compare to the damage being done to individuals and families.

A broken system tempts many to predatory practices. I cannot count the stories I have heard about attorneys taking the entire life savings of undocumented workers, producing no results, then abandoning those workers when the money was gone. Is that typical of the profession? We would not believe so. But "lead me not into temptation." It is a mighty temptation to de-prioritize those who are desperate and too intimidated to raise their voices to complain. And what about employers that take advantage of the powerless because there is no system of accountability? Or the bureaucrats that have no incentive to produce results (or even to keep track of the paperwork) because, who will know? Or the talk show hosts that increase their fame and fortune by picturing those without the proper papers only as conniving and dangerous parasites instead of persons made in the image of God, deserving both respect and help to do the right thing?

We are producing cottage industries of exploitation. We are also hearing millions of stories that are the opposite of the American dream.

My friend Rev. Silas Pintos tells of a family in his Hispanic congregation that came from England. Both the husband and wife were successful business people, and they hoped that in the U.S. their children would be immersed in a better environment for family values. So they came to start an alternative energy company.

After a two-year ordeal with the immigration system and absurd legal fees, the immigration department could not even clearly explain to them why their residency application had not gone through. They returned to England emotionally and financially devastated.

My friend Imam Mohammed Musri told me the wife of a 60 year old man in his congregation was very sick. The man had papers but when the attorney handling his case took a judgeship, the man was not told he needed to re-register. He was deported even though his wife was too sick to go with him. She was hospitalized and died without him because he could not get back into the country to be by her side.

Pastor Augustine Davies is on the staff at my church. He and his wife are from Sierra Leone and have just completed the long and arduous task of becoming citizens, but they have special relationships with many of the Africans inside and outside our congregation who are caught in the system. One of them is George.

George is from Liberia, West Africa. He is married and has four adult children who live in poverty back in his home country. When George arrived, INS approved the refugee for TPS. George completed a nursing program and got a job. He was turned down for TPS renewal, but now George feels the almost crushing pressure of providing for his family and other countrymen who need the money he can send them because of his job. He stays in the shadows for now. I do not agree with what he is doing, but I know his present life is because he loves his family, not because he is out for himself.

Our immigration system can also intimidate congregations as well as individuals and families. My friend Rabbi Steven Engel told me that his congregation had sponsored a family from Argentina to come to the U.S. The INS lost the paperwork many times, and they made regular visits to the synagogue, suspicious that the congregation might be doing something wrong. The whole process was so stressful and unwelcoming that when Sergio died from a heart attack at the age of 43 the remaining family returned to Argentina.

These stories and many others don't live up to the ideals of our country. We can do better, and we know it. Everyone is frustrated with the present system. Our immigration system in many cases has us echoing the words of the despairing saint who proclaimed, "I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate." (Romans 7:15)

The urgency for immigration reform that yields efficiency and compassion cannot be overstated because it is so overdue.

The moral principles for a better system Some of the central principles that comprise most major religions are also woven into our country's history and can be used as a standard for immigration reform:

These principles deem each person as valuable, "endowed by their Creator" with a dignity that transcends earthly circumstance. Therefore, our system must treat each person respectfully.

They acknowledge the family as the bedrock of personal and social development, and the support of the family as the foundation of a strong society. Therefore, our system should prioritize the family.

They see law as not only necessary for restraining evil, but as needed for structuring healthy relationships. It is right that wrongdoers are restrained and/or punished, but it is a better justice when the laws yield correction and the redemption of bad circumstances. Therefore, our system should have ways to choose to live upright lives after the penalties for wrong decisions.

So most people of faith are hoping for policies that will prioritize family togetherness, respect for the law, personal productivity, and compassion for those who are most helpless.

Conclusion We do not envy you your charge. Immigration reform is a morally complex as well as a politically explosive challenge. But many of us are praying earnestly for you and for God's wisdom in this matter.

Including the stranger is not just a matter of compassion but a necessity for greatness. Loving your neighbor as you love yourself is not only a moral commandment but a path to national nobility, if we can build a nation of families and support networks that not only help the marginalized to be successful, but help the successful to be helpful, then we can better live up to our potential as a people.

In the end, I believe our nation will be not be judged by the productivity of our budgets, or the genius of our laws, or even the earnestness of our faith communities. We will be judged, both by history and by God, by the way we treated people, especially those who needed our help.

Orlando Sentinel Profile on Dr. Joel C. Hunter

The Pastor of a Longwood Church Speaks for a New Style of Evangelicals

By Jay Hamburg Sentinel Staff Writer April 12, 2009

He doesn't thunder from the pulpit in righteous rage. He'd rather relay stories that make a moral point.

He has no catchphrases, fussy handlers or televised religious talk shows.

What the soft-spoken Rev. Joel Hunter of Longwood does have is an evangelical church of 12,000, a talent for building diverse coalitions and a prominent spiritual advisory role in the administration of President Barack Obama, a Democrat.

Not bad for a registered Republican who came to Central Florida in 1985 to take charge of a small flock that grew into one of the region's largest megachurches.

As Hunter delivers his three Easter sermons today at Northland, a Church Distributed, he holds a place in the national spotlight unmatched by any other faith leader in Central Florida.

But it wasn't something that seemed destined from the start.

The man who prayed with Obama on Inauguration Day lost his first preaching job when a United Methodist church in Indiana faced a crucial decision nearly 40 years ago: Should they buy new carpet or keep their youth minister, the motorcycle-riding evangelical called Pastor Joel?

New carpet won by a landslide.

"I wasn't that great a shakes," Hunter said.

But in the decades that followed, the hard-working pastor proved to be a formidable leader.

He has become a much-sought-after spokesman for a new brand of evangelicals who hope to tone down the rhetoric of culture wars while engaging in good works. Along the way, the 60-year-old pastor has sought alliances with Catholics, Jews and Muslims and irritated some traditional evangelicals, who worry that too much emphasis on social issues would nudge the Gospels to the sidelines.

While studying government and history at Ohio University, Hunter felt inspired by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., whose sermons and civil-rights marches were changing the nation.

"He was my idol," Hunter said.

When King was killed in 1968, it left the 19-year-old reeling. Desperate for answers, he went into a campus chapel, knelt in prayer and gave his life to Christ. Upon rising, he had found his calling as a minister.

Four decades later, when the nation's first black president asked Hunter to join the White House's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Hunter felt a particular pride.

The invitation to the Oval Office was thrilling, yet Hunter said he doesn't have time to be distracted by the honor. He has a big flock to tend and a vow to keep his $42 million state-of-the-art church the kind of place where his mother would have felt comfortable.

An alcoholic, she had great pride in her son, the captain of the high-school football team and president of the senior class. He in turn tried to save her by pouring out her liquor and lecturing her about her drinking. His father, a factory worker, had died of cancer when Hunter was 4.

It made for a complicated life.

His grandparents, coaches and neighbors in the small northern Ohio town of Shelby made sure that Hunter had a stable place to turn when times got rough. But in the 1950s, treatment options for alcoholism were few, and nobody knew how to help his mom. She died in 1971, while Hunter was in seminary training.

"My mother had a beautiful singing voice," Hunter recalled. "Soft and resonant like Nat King Cole's. She could have been a gift to a church. The church didn't reach out to her. But Northland would. My mother would have loved Northland."

Those memories still shape his ministry.

"It's almost like redeeming that [past]," Hunter said. "I'm sensitive to those people who aren't the 'religious type,' but who have incredible God-given gifts and could be a gift to a church."

Tried to broaden agendas

In 2006, the Christian Coalition - the conservative lobby founded by Pat Robertson - invited Hunter to take the reins.

Hunter hoped to expand the group's agenda beyond fighting abortion and gay marriage. His idea was to embrace environmentalism as an act of caring for God's creation and to redefine "pro-life" to include poverty and hunger.

But it turned out to be a bad fit, and Hunter withdrew before actually taking office.

Two years later, the pastor was giving the closing benediction at the Democratic convention in Denver. He concluded his prayer in an innovative way, asking spectators to speak the blessing they would use in their own faith traditions.

D. Michael Lindsay, author of a study of evangelicals called "Faith in the Halls of Power," said the benediction was a case where a sincere effort to include many views led to "intentional ambiguity."

The sociologist at Rice University credits Hunter with "great pastoral gifts" and a style that resonates with many who want to look past endless brawls over religious hot-button issues.

"It seems he has been scratching an itch that others hadn't noticed," Lindsay said.

But some evangelicals did notice his unorthodox, all-inclusive prayer.

Bob Parker, pastor of First Baptist Church Markham Woods in Lake Mary, said Hunter missed a chance to tell the Democratic convention that "Christ is the only savior."

Parker, who headed the Moral Majority in Kentucky before coming to Central Florida, said he worries about attempts to broaden the agenda of evangelicals.

"Jesus said the way is narrow," Parker said.

At boundary of politics

Although Hunter is far from invisible in Central Florida, he has kept his distance from local elections.

"I don't think he aspires to [political prominence]," said Aubrey Jewett, associate professor of political science at University of Central Florida.

Still, Jewett notes the pastor is currently walking along the edges of political territory. "You don't accept the position of a national office unless you have an idea of influencing policy on a broader basis," he said.

Hunter said he has no plans to pursue politics but looks forward to working with Catholic, Jewish and Muslim leaders on a national level to address social ills, as he has done locally.

Imam Muhammad Musri, president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida, speaks glowingly of Hunter and his wife. The imam sees little difference between the relatively unknown pastor who reached out to him about 15 years ago and the man who recently made the front page of The New York Times.

"I've seen him increase in humbleness and generosity," Musri said. "Even after September 11, when it wasn't very popular to talk to Muslims, he stood by us and spoke kindly about us from the pulpit."

Dealing with critics

Hunter rarely seems vexed by critics, but he did vent some frustration at both liberal and conservative commentators "who profit on polarization."

Speaking at an interfaith forum on torture a few months ago in Orlando, Hunter was troubled about the long-term effects of people listening to the "cottage industry of hostility" and "people who are literally paid to make people angry. People who are literally paid to create enemies, so we can feel good about ourselves."

He added: "I don't know how much the rest of the religious leaders up here have to face this, but I tell you, I get nasty, nasty, letters every time I stand up for the poor, the immigrant, the torture victims - all these compassion issues - from my own people."

Generally, though, the criticisms sting his family more.

Becky Hunter gets irked by blogs that question the Christian character of the man she knew she would marry the first time she saw him in church in 1970. One theme that troubles her: Obama uses her husband to score points with conservatives.

Both Hunters warmly praise Obama for his intellect and personality. But to those who fear the liberal and charismatic president will transform the church leader from Longwood, the pastor's wife notes firmly: "What makes you think that if Joel Hunter and Barack Obama were in a room that Joel Hunter would be the one to change his mind?"

Copyright © 2009, Orlando Sentinel

Find this article at: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-asecbigpastor12041209apr12,0,3873674.story

Joel C. Hunter on CNN's Campbell Brown: No Bias, No Bull (Roland Martin Guest Host)

Dr. Hunter and Roland discuss what it means to be a new kind of conservative.

Without a Pastor of His Own, Obama Turns to Five

From The New York Times, By LAURIE GOODSTEINPresident Obama has been without a pastor or a home church ever since he cut his ties to the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. in the heat of the presidential campaign. But he has quietly cultivated a handful of evangelical pastors for private prayer sessions on the telephone and for discussions on the role of religion in politics.

All are men, two of them white and three black - including the Rev. Otis Moss Jr., a graying lion of the civil rights movement. Two, the entrepreneurial dynamos Bishop T. D. Jakes and the Rev. Kirbyjon H. Caldwell, also served as occasional spiritual advisers to President George W. Bush. Another, the Rev. Jim Wallis, leans left on some issues, like military intervention and poverty programs, but opposes abortion.

None of these pastors are affiliated with the religious right, though several are quite conservative theologically. One of them, the Rev. Joel C. Hunter, the pastor of a conservative megachurch in Florida, was branded a turncoat by some leaders of the Christian right when he began to speak out on the need to stop global warming.

But as a group they can hardly be characterized as part of the religious left either. Most, like Mr. Wallis, do not take traditionally liberal positions on abortion or homosexuality. What most say they share with the president is the conviction that faith is the foundation in the fight against economic inequality and social injustice.

"These are all centrist, social justice guys," said the Rev. Eugene F. Rivers, a politically active pastor of Azusa Community Church in Boston, who knows all of them but is not part of the president's prayer caucus. "Obama genuinely comes out of the social justice wing of the church. That's real. The community organizing stuff is real."

The pastors say Mr. Obama appears to rely on his faith for intellectual and spiritual succor.

"While he may not put ‘Honk if You Love Jesus' bumper stickers on the back of his car, he is the kind of guy who practices what he preaches," said Mr. Caldwell, the senior pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston. "He has a desire to keep in touch with folk outside the Beltway, and to stay in touch with God. He seems to see those as necessary conditions for maintaining his internal compass."

Bishop Jakes said he had been tapped for several prayer phone calls - the most recent being when Mr. Obama's grandmother died in November, two days before the election. "You take turns praying," said Bishop Jakes, who like the other ministers did not want to divulge details of the calls. "It's really more about contacting God than each other."

Mr. Hunter said of the phone calls: "The times I have prayed with him, he's always initiated it."

The Obama administration has reached out to hundreds of religious leaders across the country to mobilize support and to seek advice on policy. These five pastors, however, have been brought into a more intimate inner circle. Their names were gleaned from interviews with people who know the president and religious leaders who work in Washington. Their role could change if Mr. Obama joins a church in Washington, but that could take some time because of the logistical challenges in finding a church that can accommodate the kind of crowd the Obamas would attract.

The White House refused to comment for this article.

The pastor in the circle who has known Mr. Obama the longest is Mr. Wallis, president and chief executive of Sojourners, a liberal magazine and movement based in Washington. In contrast to the other four, his contact with the president has been focused more on policy than prayer. Mr. Wallis has recently joined conservatives in pressing the president's office of faith-based initiatives to continue to allow government financing for religious social service groups that hire only employees of their own faith.

Mr. Wallis said he got to know Mr. Obama in the late 1990s when they participated in a traveling seminar that took bus trips to community programs across the country. Mr. Wallis said they "hit it off" because they were both Christians serious about their faith, fathers of young children the same age and believers in "transcending left and right" to find solutions to social problems.

"He and I were what we called back then ‘progressive Christians,' as opposed to the dominant religious-right era we were in then," Mr. Wallis said. "We didn't think Jesus' top priorities would be capital gains tax cuts and supporting the next war."

Presidents through the ages have leaned on pastors for spiritual support, policy advice and political cover. The Rev. Billy Graham was a counselor to at least five (Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George Bush), and tapes from the Nixon White House reveal that their talks veered beyond religion to political and social topics that later proved regretful.

Some presidents, like Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, regularly attended a local church. George W. Bush never joined a local church, but courted ministers on the religious right, which gained him favor with a major constituency for most of his two terms.

Pinning down Mr. Obama's theological leanings is not easy, the ministers said in interviews. They said he is well read in the Bible, but has not articulated views consistent with the racially inflected interpretation of his former pastor, Mr. Wright.

Mr. Moss, who once worked alongside the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and who only recently retired from his pulpit at Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland, said of the president, "I would simply say that he is a person of great faith, and I think that faith has sustained him."

Mr. Moss's son is the Rev. Otis Moss III, who succeeded Mr. Wright as pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Mr. Obama's former church. Mr. Wright and the president are no longer in contact, said several people who know both men.

Bishop Jakes said he sought out Mr. Obama in Chicago because of their common interest in Kenya and because he was impressed with the speech Mr. Obama delivered at the Democratic National Convention in 2004.

Bishop Jakes is himself a nationally known preaching powerhouse who fills sports stadiums and draws 30,000 worshipers to his church in Dallas, the Potter's House. He also produces movies, writes books and runs antipoverty programs in Dallas and Kenya, where Mr. Obama has ties through his Kenyan father.

Three of the ministers said their introduction to the president was through Joshua DuBois, who led religious outreach for the Obama presidential campaign and now heads the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Mr. DuBois, who declined to comment, is himself a Pentecostal pastor.

Mr. Hunter, who leads a church in Longwood, Fla., said he was approached by Mr. DuBois in 2007 - a few months after he left his new post as head of the Christian Coalition, the conservative advocacy group, because the board did not want to enlarge its agenda to include environmental issues like global warming.

He has since written a book, "A New Kind of Conservative: Cooperation Without Compromise," and gave an invocation at the Democratic National Convention in Denver last year.

Bishop Jakes, Mr. Wallis and Mr. Hunter said they were political independents. Mr. Moss and Mr. Caldwell publicly endorsed Mr. Obama, and Mr. Caldwell donated money to his campaign.

On the morning of the inauguration, Bishop Jakes delivered the sermon at a private service at St. John's Episcopal Church. He likened Mr. Obama to the boys in the Book of Daniel who are thrown into a fiery furnace that is seven times hotter than it should be - and survive. "God is with you in the furnace," Bishop Jakes preached to Mr. Obama.

Find this article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/us/politics/15pastor.html?hp

Faith in Action

From Central Florida Lifestyle Publications, By Michele G. Hudson Longwood pastor Joel C. Hunter leads a global ministry that serves our local community.

"Let's go out and change the world for good." These passionate words, delivered by Longwood pastor Joel C. Hunter in the closing prayer at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, reflect this evangelical leader's perpetual mission.

As senior pastor at Northland, A Church Distributed headquartered in Longwood, Hunter's reputation for championing compassion issues drew worldwide attention. Then, being invited to pray a blessing over our 44th president in a private, pre- inauguration service in Washington, D.C., sparked further notoriety.

"It was amazing," Hunter says of his time with President Obama and the inauguration events. "There was a buoyancy and optimism- a new era of history-which was very encouraging."

How did President Obama become acquainted with a pastor in Longwood? Hunter says his leadership in organizations like The World Evangelical Alliance, The National Association of Evangelicals, along with shepherding an innovative church like Northland, "put him on the radar screen" and positioned him "as a religious leader who may be good to access."

In 1985, Hunter moved from a Methodist church in Indiana with his wife, Becky, and their three sons to Central Florida. Under his leadership, Northland grew from a congregation of 200 to more than 12,000, embodying the "Church Distributed" philosophy. Today, worshippers participate in interactive services each weekend from five sites throughout Central Florida, as well as hundreds of virtual sites around the globe.

Named one of America's 50 Most Influential Churches by Church Growth Today, Hunter speaks humbly of the church's success: "We have never tried to grow ... just tried to love and serve people, and follow God. You can get surprised along the way."

Northland's state-of-the art 160,000-square-foot facilities at their Dog Track Road location (which opened in August 2007) is a hub for more than just worship services. In their new sanctuary, they hosted several Nutcracker ballet performances, which drew a wide audience. "We want to be a facility that offers experiences in the arts as a service to the community," says Hunter. In addition to numerous Christian music acts, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and country star Wynonna Judd are scheduled for future events.

"There are very few organizations in Seminole County that make as dramatic an impact in the community as Northland," says Longwood City Commissioner Joe Durso. "The way they are organized, the types of community programs and family- based activities are a testament to how powerful a leader Joel is."

Hunter wants Northland to be viewed as a resource to the entire community, "not just to our own constituency," he says. "We want to be seen as servants in the community of Longwood."

According to Durso, "Joel is a humble guy, and he downplays his role and influence a bit. The size of the church is unbelievable, and the amount of outreach they are able to generate is impressive." Regarding his priorities for the future, Hunter says, "We are a church that has three things to do: worship together, provide service all over the community and try to equip people for those tasks."

Miami Herald: "Pastor Forges Common Ground Instead of Fighting Culture Wars"

From the Miami Herald, by Beth Reinhard

Joel Hunter—Christian evangelical, pastor of a Central Florida megachurch and lifelong Republican—gave the benediction at the Democratic National Convention. He prayed with Barack Obama on Election Day, and rode to the inauguration with Oprah.

At the swearing in, he sat in the 12th row, next to boxing icon Muhammad Ali.

"I'm like, 'What am I doing here?''' said Hunter, who recounted his experience before leading his fifth service in three days. "It's surreal.''

The Midwestern transplant who voted twice for George W. Bush and backed religious conservative Mike Huckabee in last year's GOP primary isn't accustomed to overtures from Democratic politicos and the celebrities who come with them. But in keeping with Obama's unprecedented outreach to the religious right during the campaign, the White House plucked Hunter to serve on a 25-member advisory council that also includes a reform rabbi, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention and the first female bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

The Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships is an extension of Bush's office directing tax dollars to faith-based social service agencies. The difference: Obama's group will actually weigh in on policy matters.

''President Obama's vision is so much broader. How do you engage churchgoers and people of faith to be part of the solution?'' Hunter asked during a recent interview in his office at Northland Church. "That's something we never talked about in the Bush era. I think we're at a moment in time when people really want to be inspired and re-engaged.''

The mixing of religion and politics has drawn fire from the left and the right. Groups like Americans United for Separation of Church and State accuse Obama of going back on his word by refusing to scrap a Bush policy allowing federally funded religious groups to discriminate against job candidates who don't share their beliefs.

On the other end of the spectrum, some Christian leaders and members of Hunter's church cringe over his relationship with an administration that favors abortion rights and other liberal causes.

''It's important for spiritual leaders to stand firm on matters of principle,'' said Dennis Baxley, executive director of the Christian Coalition of Florida and a former state legislator. "He's basically being used by the administration.''

Hunter, 60, is part of a new breed of evangelicals seeking to forge common ground instead of fighting culture wars. He's focused on what he terms ''compassion issues''—the environment, poverty, immigration reform and peace—instead of on wedge issues like abortion and gay marriage. His broader agenda prompted his resignation as the incoming president of the Christian Coalition of America in 2006, just two months after the socially conservative organization offered him the job.

Still, Hunter says he hasn't ignored abortion altogether. Just last month, he spoke out before Obama was poised to lift a ban on federal aid to international family planning organizations. Knowing that Democratic presidents have used the Jan. 22 anniversary of Roe v. Wade to make sweeping statements on abortion rights, Hunter helped persuade Obama to wait until one day later to soften the blow to the religious right.

''He has always offered honest advice and guidance to the president, and we know we can always count on him for an independent opinion on the issues that confront our nation, today,'' said a statement from Joshua DuBois, Obama's right-hand man on religious affairs.

Hunter and Obama share more than a desire to transcend partisan politics. Just like Obama's campaign used the Internet to cultivate a massive donor and volunteer network, Hunter's nondenominational church embraces technology to reach as many as 12,000 people every week.

Northland claims to be the only church in the country offering interactive services for on-line worshipers in real time. Internet users can tell who else is participating—even in other states and countries—and communicate with them, as well as with an on-line minister. These e-worshipers are even addressed from the pulpit. ''If you're in Starbucks, stand up!'' Hunter implored during a recent service.

Hunter was so intent on emphasizing the church's reach that he changed its name in 1998 from ''a community church'' to "a church distributed.''

''A church ought to be engaging people where they are and getting resources to them, instead of gathering them all in one place,'' he said. "The church is basically a communication device, with a sanctuary attached. Most of our growth will depend on people who never will never step foot in here.''

Here's what they miss in person: a colorful light show, 12-member troupe of singers and musicians belting out Christian rock and ballads, and three giant television screens magnifying the five-foot-six pastor.

What Hunter lacks in height he makes up for in body language. He uses his elbows, knees and back in broad gestures to tell stories from the Bible and impart moral lessons. He squints and purses his lips for comic effect. He resembles George W. Bush—in a black shirt and silvery tie that look like they came from Tony Soprano's closet.

Grabbing the attention of churchgoers prone to fidgeting, Hunter cries, ''Don't freak out!'' when he brings up the subversive, bestselling book, The Shack, which portrays God as a full-figured black woman. Later in the service, after a handful of parishioners accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior for the first time, he declares, "Happy Birthday! You just got born again.''

When Hunter arrived at Northland in 1985, he found about 200 members praying in an old roller skating rink. Two years ago, the church opened a $43 million campus featuring a bookstore, a cafe that serves wraps and paninis, and a 3,100-seat sanctuary that doubles as a concert venue.

Hunter seems to live modestly for the leader of an out-sized church, with a two-door Hyundai and home in middle-class Casselberry. The husband and father of three grown sons often goes by ''Pastor Joel,'' or simply, "Joel.''

Hunter's political and spiritual awakening occurred when he was a student in the late 1960s at Ohio University. He joined student protests and hitchhiked to civil rights battlegrounds like Selma and Birmingham in a neatly trimmed beard and suit. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, was what led him to Jesus at the age of 20.

Four decades later, Hunter is widely beloved at his church, even among some parishioners who disagree with his politics and don't care for Obama.

''It's better to have his ear than not,'' said Anders Lindberg, a 47-year-old business development manager who came to pray on a recent evening. "Even if you don't agree with someone, that doesn't mean you ignore them. Jesus didn't just talk to believers.''

Not every churchgoer could abide Hunter's ties to the administration. Weary of Hunter's occasional preaching about global warming and immigration reform, and disgusted by his role at the Democratic National Convention, John Mitchell quit the church after 13 years.

''These things became distractions for me,'' said Mitchell, a 53-year-old lawyer and father of five. "I go to church to worship God.''

Mitchell added that he has a ''tremendous amount of respect'' for his longtime pastor but felt that his appearance at a political party convention amounted to an inappropriate endorsement, even though Hunter never made it official.

''I'm going to continue to pray for him,'' he said. "I hope this experience doesn't change him too much, but I don't think you can help being influenced at those higher levels.''

Find this article at: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/917372.html

PBS' Religion and Ethics Profiles Dr. Joel C. Hunter

Find this story at: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/february-20-2009/joel-hunter/2279/

CBN: How to Pray for President Obama

By Robin Mazyck and David Brody, CBN News, February 13, 2009 CBNNews.com - In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul's First Timothy tells us that we must pray for our leaders. But some Christians are finding it difficult to pray for newly elected President Barack Obama.

Millions of people across the country have been praying for President Barack Obama. From Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California who gave the inaugural prayer saying "we now commit our new President and his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha into Your loving care."

To Rev. Andy Stanley of North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Ga. at the 56th Presidential Inaugural Prayer Service who prayed "grant to Barack Obama, President of the United States and to all in authority, Your grace and good will."

Some know exactly what to say in their prayers. But others, especially those who may not have voted for him, are not so sure. They know they should pray for the President, but they're not sure what to pray.

Prominent conservative evangelical Pastor Joel Hunter of Northland Church in California says Christians should pray for two things.

"The one he always requests is pray for his family," Hunter explained. "For a dad and a husband that's always what you cover. Secondly, pray for his relationship with the Lord. He's very serious about his relationship with the Lord."

And many other religious leaders agree.

"I pray for security for his security for he and his family," Bishop George Brooks of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Greensboro, N. Carolina said. "I pray for wisdom. I pray for our congress. I pray for our senate. I pray that he always remembers why he's there, who he serves and who he has to report to."

And some say with everything going on -- especially the worsening economy - God's hand is going to have to be present.

"Heaven is going to have to help the white house," Pastor Tony Evans of Urban Alternative said. "Heaven is going to have to direct him."

Find this article at: http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/540544.aspx

Pastor Hunter Visits the Oval Office

Working with Faith from White House on Vimeo.

This video from the White House shows scenes of the President with members of the newly created Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Headed by Joshua DuBois, the council's 25 members includes our pastor, Dr. Joel C. Hunter. He, along with the other members, will advise the President on policy issues—both foreign and domestic—and help to steer government money to religious and neighborhood groups doing social service.

Visit the White House blog to learn more.