| June Hunt | |
| Birth Name: | Ruth June Hunt |
| Birth Place: | Dallas, Texas, United States |
| Occupation: | Founder of Hope for the Heart (1986), founder of the Hope Center (2009) |
| Website: | http://www.hopefortheheart.org |
June Hunt (born Ruth June Hunt,[1] December 31, 1944) is the founder and CSO (Chief Servant Officer) of Hope for the Heart, a US-based nonprofit Christian ministry which she founded in 1986.
Hunt is the author of the Biblical Counseling Library,[2] a 100-volume collection of Biblical counseling manuals. They serve as the foundation for HftH's international broadcasts, training, publishing, teaching and biblical counseling ministry. Hunt has two radio broadcasts - Hope in the Night, a live 2-hour call-in counseling program, and Hope for the Heart, a half-hour teaching program.[3]
Hunt was born as daughter of oil tycoon H. L. Hunt and Ruth Ray.[4] She was one of 14 children. She has spoken of her complicated family life and her mother’s example of being a devout Christian.[5]
She attended the Hockaday School in Dallas[6] and became a committed Christian at age 15.[7] She then graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1966[8] [9] with a Bachelor of Music degree, and later earned a Master of Arts degree in Counseling from Criswell College.
At this time she was singing full-time. She toured overseas with the USO and was a guest soloist with the Billy Graham Crusades.[10] [11]
Hunt initially worked as Junior High Division Director, and later as College & Career Director, at First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, overseeing the spiritual formation of 1,200 members combined. As a part of this role, she created a curriculum for a multi-year Bible survey course.
At this time she realized how limited the selection of Christian resources was on subjects like childhood sexual abuse and domestic violence. She started a radio show to discuss these subjects with ‘biblical hope and practical help’.[12] She went on to create Hope for the Heart in 1986.[13]
Between 1989 and 1992, she developed and taught Counseling Through The Bible, a scripturally-based counseling course, which addressed 100 topics in categories such as marriage and family, rocky relationships, emotional entrapments, Christian apologetics, as well as addictions and abuse. Since then, the coursework has been refined to form the basis for the Biblical Counseling Library, composed of 100 topical training manuals, each called Biblical Counseling Keys.
During this time, Hunt also appeared as a guest on numerous national TV and radio programs, including NBC's Today Show.
Hope for the Hearts Biblical Counseling Library provides a foundation for Hunt's two daily radio programs, Hope for the Heart and Hope in the Night. Together, the programs air worldwide on nearly 900 radio outlets. The Counseling Library has also served to create the Hope Biblical Counseling Institute (BCI) in 2002. Initiated by Criswell College in Dallas, the Institute equips spiritual leaders, counselors, and other caring people to find solutions for emotional, relational and spiritual problems.
The Biblical Counseling Keys have been published in more than 30 languages in more than 60 countries.
HftH sponsors walk-in counseling centers in several countries. In Canada, the ministry aired a Chinese language version of HOPE's radio briefs, Moment of Hope, and sponsors a call center through which Chinese-speaking listeners receive biblical counsel.
In 2008, Hope for the Heart created a new Chair of Biblical Counseling at Criswell College. The Biblical Counseling Library is required curriculum for counseling students enrolled in this program.
Hunt is the founder and CEO of The Hope Center in Plano, Texas, a permanent home for nearly 50 nonprofit Christian ministries that share space under one roof. Hope for the Heart is the Center's anchor tenant and offers walk-in counseling by appointment at the Center.[14]
Hunt has been a regular guest professor at colleges and seminaries. She trains peers annually at the American Association of Christian Counselors conference and speaks at numerous other national and international conferences, as well as religious and broadcasting events each year on topics such as forgiveness, anger, fear, childhood sexual abuse, and domestic violence.
In 2011, her article "Beyond Cancer: A Survivor’s Story”, appeared in the Vol. 18 No. 1 issue of the American Association of Christian Counseling magazine Christian Counseling Today.