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.