50 Most Powerful 2018: Philanthropy & Community Voices

1. JOEL HUNTER

FAITH COMMUNITY ORGANIZER

Hunter left Northland last year, the church he built into one of the largest in Central Florida, to become a full-time volunteer helping homeless families in Central Florida. He told numerous publications it was time to leave the four walls of the church he grew from a couple of hundred congregants to 20,000 over a 32-year career. Since starting the Community Resource Network last fall, Hunter—who also is chairman of the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness—has recruited more than 100 faith-based and community organizations. His goal: “to knit together an entire community response to effectively help those who are needy and homeless.” When Hunter announced he was switching careers, well-known Orlando attorney John Morgan wrote a check for $1 million to the Community Resource Network, telling the Orlando Sentinel, “There is a sweetness and a gentleness in Joel Hunter that makes him more Christlike than some of the phony baloneys that I see on TV. I just believe that there’s people that talk the talk and there’s people who walk the walk, and Joel Hunter is the latter to me.”  - ORLANDO MAGAZINE (July 2018) - BY JIM LEUSNER, DAN TRACY, CHERI HENDERSON, MICHAEL MCLEOD AND BARRY GLENN