Pastor’s compassion inspires.
Most of us have heard the phrase WWJD — What Would Jesus Do? Christians have used this popular expression to remind them of their obligation to demonstrate their love for Jesus through a life of actions that reflects character, convictions and compassion.
When I heard that the Rev. Joel Hunter was trading his pulpit to help the homeless, I was reminded of the WWJD motto, my observations of Hunter’s ministry over the years and a meeting with Hunter in 2000 that would change my life and our community for good.
At the time, I was a young pastor of Destiny Church in Winter Park that had just launched a new nonprofit called Destiny Foundation that would serve the homeless and working poor in Orlando. My heart was torn between the duties of pastoring a local church and the vision to serve the poor of our community.
During this critical time in my life, I reached out to Hunter for advice. After a few minutes of my lamenting my situation, he leaned in with conviction, and with compassion in his eyes said to me, “Scott, there are over 2,000 churches in this community. We don’t need another church. We need you to go and build this new ministry to help the poor.”
Those words spoken to me 17 years ago were the fire and fuel I needed to make a tough decision and take a leap of faith in order to serve children and families in need. United Against Poverty is still fulfilling that mission today, more than 16 years later, in the same location and with the same heart, in part because of Hunter’s living the WWJD motto.
For the past 32 years, Hunter has been a beacon of hope — not only to me, but to hundreds of thousands of people in our community throuth the ministry of his church, Northland, A Church Distributed. He has been a voice of compassion to the hurting and helpless. He has been a compass for those who have lost their way and are unsure of the future. He has been a shining light in our city’s darkest days. He has been a pillar that has provided stability and strength to people living in stressful days.
Over the years, Hunter has proved to be one of those leaders that our community has looked to for insight, direction and inspiration. He’s not perfect. There is only one who is, but Hunter is the closest to living the WWJD motto than anyone I’ve seen after living in this community for 45 years.
With Hunter now free to use his gifts, talent and passion for the greater good of our community, I am confident that he will continue to be a leader who will guide, direct and lead us to do what Jesus would do.