Bio

Dr. Joel C. Hunter

Dr. Joel C. Hunter is the Pastor of Community Benefit at Action Church, a multi-site congregation based in Winter Park and his one-minute “Let’s Go Help Somebody” daily devotionals can be heard worldwide on Z88 radio. He is the Chairman of the Central Florida Pledge campaign; a call to action for residents of Central Florida who are tired of hateful discourse and want to create a safe and inclusive community for all. The pledge asks residents to commit to treating all people with kindness and respect, especially those with whom they disagree. Take a moment to sign the Central Florida Pledge!

He is a nationally and internationally known advocate for the poor, the marginalized, and those dealing with disabilities. He served a three-year term as the Chairman of Central Florida’s Commission on Homelessness. And, after 32 years as the senior pastor of Longwood, Florida’s Northland Church’s congregation of 20,000, he spent five years leading a non-profit in networking with churches and local charities to locate available resources and benefit the struggling in our community. Orlando Magazine highlighted his efforts naming him as the #1 most powerful voice for philanthropy and community engagement and listed him among “Orlando’s 50 Most Powerful” six years in a row.

Approaching today’s challenges in a biblical and balanced manner, he is neither partisan nor politically oriented, but he often relates to public officials in a pastoral role; he served as a spiritual advisor to President Obama during his eight years in office.

Dr. Hunter has served in leadership roles of the World Evangelical Alliance, serving more than 600 million evangelicals, and the National Association of Evangelicals, serving more than 40 denominations and thousands of churches.

Born and raised in Shelby, Ohio, by a mother who taught him to “always love people who were different than I was” as a young adult he became involved in the Civil Rights Movement at Ohio University. When Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated he came to a crisis of faith. But he remembered the admonishment of his childhood pastor who said, “Nothing will ever come right in the world unless you take care of the sin in your own heart” and he knelt down and gave his life completely to Christ at Galbreath Chapel in the middle of the campus. A short time later he felt called into ministry.

As a pastor, he focused on the church being active outside its walls, in various kinds of compassion efforts. “As believers involved in compassion efforts, we have our motivation from God via His Holy Scriptures,” he says.

Dr. Hunter married Becky, his partner in life and ministry, in 1972. They raised three sons, have seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren.