Through an acquaintance, I learned today that Allen Hunt, an Atlanta area Methodist minister has recently been received into the Catholic Church.  Hunt has been serving as pastor at an Atlanta Methodist church, and has also been steadily growing his Allen Hunt Show radio ministry, which currently is syndicated on 13 stations with eyes on growing to 75 stations by the end of the year.  The show airs on mainstream stations, out of a desire to be, well, mainstream and therefore reach a larger audience.

I emailed Hunt to find out if what I had heard was indeed true, and he responded in the affirmative.  So, to Allen Hunt, we say, “Welcome Home!”  I asked him for a summary of his reasons for coming into the Church, and he gave me permission to publish the following:

this transition reflects my personal journey over the past 15 years. When on vacation, I have usually worshipped at Catholic churches because I felt most at home there. Since stepping aside from my role at Mount Pisgah, I have had the freedom to consider why I felt most at home in the Catholic Church.

To make a long story short, I do believe in the real presence of Christ in communion. That doctrine is very important to me as is the notion that Christ birthed one Church. I have struggled with both of these issues internally for a number of years. The fact that there are 30,000 branches of Christianity in America alone grieves my heart. I believe that continuing division and debate over essentials provides a poor witness to the lost about our Christian unity in the one Lord. My ministry in radio has only served to reinforce that conviction. Finally, I have always struggled with the idea I call “doctrine by democracy.” I simply have not been able to get my arms around the concept that we vote on certain things to decide what is true.

A concise, well-written explanation to be sure.  You can find out more about Allen Hunt at http://allenhuntshow.com.