Dr. Joel C. Hunter is senior pastor of Northland, A Church Distributed, a pioneering congregation of 15,000 focused on building an international community of worshipers. A nationally and internationally recognized bridge-builder among religious and mainstream leaders, his challenge to Christians is to be the church everywhere, every day. Read here as he comments on today’s issues, finding common ground so that issues of compassion can be addressed in ways that benefit all.
Over the years, America’s millions of physically, mentally, and emotionally disabled have made great strides in the workplace, but places of worship have lagged behind. See how Northland, along with many other churches and individuals, are working to change this.
The Rev. Joel Hunter of the 15,000-member Northland church, who is often referred to as President Barack Obama’s spiritual adviser, said he is disappointed with the president’s use of the “Golden Rule” to explain his endorsement of gay marriage.
“The Golden Rule is in the Bible but it cannot be used to contradict God’s marriage pattern reaffirmed by Jesus in Matthew 19:4-5,” Hunter shared in an interview with The Christian Post. “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and the two shall become one flesh?’”
FIND THIS ARTICLE AT THE CHRISTIAN POST: http://www.christianpost.com/news/obamas-spiritual-adviser-rebukes-president-on-golden-rule-same-sex-marriage-74745/
Obama affirmed his support for same-sex marriage in an interview with ABC News on Wednesday, which has sparked a great deal of debate in America among supporters of the traditional definition of marriage, and those who want to see gay marriage legalized. Read more…
Supporting the Seminole County Public Schools’ Families in Transition (FIT) program, the new Family Advocacy Office (FAO) at Northland, A Church Distributed will provide hope and help to homeless school children and their families.
“This is a grand milestone for our community, as we serve these families through volunteer advocacy,” says Gretchen Kerr, head of Northland’s Life Crossroads program.
Seminole County has trained more than 40 volunteers at Northland to walk alongside homeless families, connecting them to resources within the community and encouraging them as they move towards self sufficiency.
Joel Hunter, Northland’s senior pastor, explains: “We’re so excited to partner with a public agency in order to provide the best support for homeless families to become financially independent and to be able to become contributing members of our community.
“This is a unique effort, so we’re all still learning together. But as we keep the proper boundaries between what the faith communities can do and what public entities can do, we’ll be able to do much more together than we could have done separately.”
Learn more and get involved at www.bearesourcepoint.org.
In Seminole County, one in every 50 children are homeless and that’s growing. This CBN story documents hardship and the hope for changing their lives.
Terry Jones, minister of a 25-member congregation in Gainesville, Florida publicly burned a copy of the Qur’an today — as he had warned he would do — an act strenuously condemned by the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA). The WEA is the global association of evangelicals, representing some 600 million Evangelical Protestants around the world.
“The burning of a sacred text is wrong and unwarranted. The burning of the Qur’an is especially grievous to Muslims and does not reflect the biblical values nor the spirit of the Lord Jesus whom we serve,” said Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe, Secretary General of the WEA. “We appeal to Islamic leaders worldwide to understand that this self-proclaimed antagonist does not represent Christians. Indeed he violates the call of Jesus to love people everywhere. Such violence Read more…
Pastor Derrick Gay delivered the bad news. As the newest member of the Sanford Ministers Fellowship, Gay had been asked to talk with Trayvon Martin’s parents about the pastors’ desire to hold a community-wide memorial service for their son.
“The initial response was no,” Gay told the group of predominantly white pastors, explaining that the Martin family knew that a group of black pastors also was making plans. “They want all pastors to come together. If this area is to be reconciled, it has to be a united effort.”
FIND THIS ARTICLE AT: http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-04-24/news/os-trayvon-martin-sanford-ministers-20120424_1_pastors-holy-cross-episcopal-church-strang-communications
When asked why the Martin family rejected their overture to begin the healing process in a city sharply divided by race, Gay was blunt to his fellow pastors. Read more…
A conversation with the Rev. Dr. Joel C. Hunter of Florida about his civil rights testimony, defending President Barack Obama’s faith, and the local ministerial response to the Trayvon Martin case.
FIND THIS ARTICLE AT: http://www.urbanfaith.com/2012/04/the-pastor-the-president-and-civil-rights.html/
The Rev. Dr. Joel C. Hunter grew up in small town Ohio, the son of a widowed mother who loved black jazz musicians. Now he is a spiritual adviser to President Barack Obama and pastor of 15,000-member Northland, A Church Distributed, in Longwood, Florida. “Cooperation and partnership are hallmarks of Dr. Hunter’s ministry,” his church bio says. “Together, he believes, we can Read more…
Clergy from different faith traditions sit down as friends to talk together about important things from the perspectives of the different religions they represent. Listen in on the conversation between Dr. Joel Hunter and The Guys at: http://thethreewiseguys.com/listenftf/
Jesus’ famous line on paying taxes is “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Mark 12:17)What is less well remembered is the reason Jesus called out both the political and the religious leaders who asked him about whether you should pay your taxes: Jesus “knew their hypocrisy.” (Mark 12:15)
FIND THIS ARTICLE AT: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/guest-voices/post/a-tax-day-bible-lesson/2012/04/15/gIQAv3YCKT_blog.html
There’s nothing more hypocritical today than the kind of political gamesmanship we have about paying taxes. The most vivid example of this is, as Erza Klein so rightly says, the “dumb tax pledges that dominate Washington.” These dumb tax pledges, especially “Grover Norquist’s now-infamous pledge” that Republicans have taken never to raise taxes on anyone for any reason, effectively ended our capacity to have government function properly. Of course, now, as Klein points out, Democrats are being forced into tax pledges of their own, exempting those who Read more…