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Orlando businessman and philanthropist Alan Ginsburg and Joel Hunter, chairman of The Central Florida Pledge, pose for a portrait together at The Alfond Inn in Winter Park on Tuesday, March 31, 2026. Both longtime community leaders are finalists for the Orlando Sentinel Central Floridian of the Year for their creation and stewardship of The Central Florida Pledge campaign. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
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Orlando Voyager - September 30, 2025 (Click the title for full article including photos)
Today we’d like to introduce you to Joel C. Hunter.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was involved in the Civil Rights movement as a college student in the 1960’s. From that experience, I went into church ministry, always having a heart for those who were being left out (like Jesus did). Since I had more of an interest in living out my faith outside the traditional church than inside, paradoxically, my congregations grew…
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Orlando Magazine’s 2025 Best of ORL is a greater success than ever before! Our readers voted (overwhelmingly) in 116 categories—13 of them new—and the results are in. Read about 35 of your first-place winners in our editor’s-choice spotlights, then continue on for lists of all the winners, by category.
Rev. David Uth—First Orlando
Archbishop Allen T.D. Wiggins—The Hope Church
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According to its website, Central Florida Pledge asks residents to “commit to treating all people with empathy and understanding.”
It goes on to say by taking the Pledge, you become part of a “first-of-its-kind team of ‘community first responders.’” The Pledge defines this as “people who stand ready to act when hate or discrimination threatens our neighbors.”Dr. Joel Hunter, chairman of Central Florida Pledge, was there Sunday morning. “It’s a gut punch because you just hate to see anybody interrupted in their worship,” Hunter said. “It’s against the law, but it’s also just rude and persecutory.”…
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Alan Ginsburg and Pastor Joel Hunter are the driving forces behind the Central Florida Pledge, a community network initiative that empowers the public to stifle hate and discrimination before it begins.
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Notable signatories include Russell Moore, former head of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission; Revs. Galen Carey and Walter Kim of the National Association of Evangelicals; Justin Giboney of the And Campaign; progressive Christian author Shane Claiborne of the advocacy group Red Letter Christians, Christian rapper Lecrae and megachurch Pastor Joel C. Hunter.
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Click Title Above To See Article and Watch Video
August 16, 2024
In the summer of 2008, as Barack Obama stood on the brink of making history as the first Black candidate nominated by a major party, the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Denver buzzed with the energy of a nation on the cusp of change. Amid this historic moment, Joel Hunter, a prominent evangelical pastor from Central Florida, received an unexpected invitation to deliver the closing prayer at the convention—a decision that would reshape the role of prayer in the most political of settings...
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April 16, 2024
From the start, Stetson has been an integral part of the Central Florida Pledge. On the morning of Feb. 29, several Stetson leaders along with five students attended an event in downtown Orlando to launch the Central Florida Pledge. The event, in essence, was a community celebration. Also, it was emblematic of our university.
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March 5, 2024
You can sign the pledge or just learn more about it and see who else has signed at centralfloridapledge.com
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Orlando Sentinel - February 29, 2024
Leaders across Central Florida representing city and county governments, law enforcement agencies, business, religious groups and college campuses gathered Thursday in downtown Orlando to sign the Central Florida Pledge, a document denouncing Islamophobia, antisemitism and other forms of hate.
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 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. To learn more: https://www.centralfloridapledge.com/
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, Dr. Hunter is neither partisan nor politically oriented, but 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.
Married in 1972 to his wife, Becky, he is the father of three sons, grandfather of seven, and great-grandfather of two.
