Hunt commences Spring Convocation

By Michael McEwen

Born in Lumberton, North Carolina, Hunt received his Master of Divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1981. While attending Southeastern, Hunt pastored Falls Baptist Church in Wake Forest.

In December of 1986, Hunt became the pastor of First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Georgia, where he has served faithfully for all of these years.

After Dr. Daniel Akin’s welcoming of the students to a new semester at Southeastern and an arranged time of worship, Hunt addressed the teeming chapel with the question, “What are God’s plans for you?” Stating that he tried to completely understand the ways of God in his seminary career at Southeastern, Hunt responded after a pause, “You don’t fully know God’s plans for you!

“Fortunately, God calls us to do his will, not our own. We’ve been called to start and finish well,” said Hunt, “and in all our supplications and intercessions we have to humbly ask, ‘What is your will, Oh God?’” 

He began with the assertion, “Be careful in attempting to estimate what God is doing with you and your ministry, because every once in a while, God reminds us that he uses us in spite of our problems and downfalls. In all honesty, I am not a pastor,” Hunt described, “because this is all I can do; rather, I am a pastor because this is all I desire to do.”

Hunt then transitioned his message from perceiving and doing the will of God to four particular thoughts from the pastoral wisdom that he has acquired over his years of ministry. 

“Everybody needs somebody to love him or her. Just like it’s complicated and hard to stay in a relationship when you’re not loved, ministry works similarly.

“Secondly,” noted Hunt, “If you’re going to make it, you must have people that pray for you. The longer you’re in the journey of faith, especially ministry, the more you realize how intense spiritual warfare really is.” Continuing his points he said, “Also, we all need someone who believes in us. There are a lot of things that we can’t be, there are some things we can definitely be and we need encouraging people at our side.”

In the conclusion of his message, Hunt stated that we all need a person or persons of influence. In light of a story in the early years of his ministry, he was given the wisdom by a retired professor, “You will not be used to light people’s fires, but only to fan their flames. God is the one in the business of lighting fires.”