New rank fits the Bill for sports church leader
Bill Hunter’s mother putting on his new envoy epaulettes while Major Mark Campbell conducts the ceremony (Credit: Photo supplied by Bill Hunter).
Bill Hunter, who founded the God’s Sports Arena church in Brisbane five years ago, was recently accepted as a Divisional Envoy of The Salvation Army.
The church, which Bill pastors voluntarily, operates on a sporting theme and is aimed at people with little or no knowledge of Jesus.
“Church is right next to Suncorp Stadium; we’re basically overlooking the best footy ground in Australia,” says Bill, who admits to creating a quirky and fun atmosphere for churchgoers.
“It’s a church service with a bit of a difference. We have a kick-off, we halve oranges at half-time and then after half-time we come back in and swap sides to get people out of their comfort zones. We have an encouragement segment every service without fail and we have a sports prayer bar at the end.”
Bill says he tries to make people “feel very comfortable in church“, so he stresses that being accepted as a Divisional Envoy will not change the way the church works, but will give people someone “official” to go to.
“Really nothing has changed. I just have a title now,” Bill says. “We celebrated that fairly well about a month ago and made a bit of a deal about it – even though it’s not a big deal. We love celebrating in our church.”
A feature of the Gods Sports Arena church is a long, red carpet running down the middle of the building. When guest speakers arrive they walk down the carpet to cheers and clapping from the congregation. As Bill was being sworn in as the Divisional Envoy it was his turn.
“I have never walked down that red carpet before, so the church did it for me. I was playing it up, cheering, having a good time” Bill says. “The leader of The Salvation Army in South Queensland, Major Mark Campbell, conducted the formalities”.
Despite Bill pastoring the God’s Sports Arena church on a voluntary basis, the congregation has grown from a group of 30 three years ago to 80 who gather each week.
In addition to his church duties, Bill owns a first-aid training unit and has been the voluntary chaplain of the Brisbane Broncos rugby league team for the past 17 years.
“We have a lot of broken people, people coming out of addiction and out of jail. We don’t care what people have done in the past, we want to spend time in their future. It’s a kind and relaxed atmosphere,” Bill says.
The future for the God’s Sports Arena church looks bright under Bill Hunter's leadership. In October, a team is heading to Papua New Guinea on a mission trip, many who are recovering addicts. Later in October, a group of 10 regular attendees will also become adherants.
Comments
I would like to know the time and venue of Bill Hunter's service in Lang Park.
I was hoping to go there with a friend next Sunday 26/10/2014
Maybe you could give me Billie's contact number - we are friends from along time ago.
Greg Petrie
@Greg Petrie: Hi Greg. God's Sports Arena hold services each Sunday at 5:30pm. For more details, visit them on Facebook at facebook.com/gsasalvos