Florida's Summit Megachurch Sells $1.5 Million Property
Summit Church in Orlando, Fla., whose founder and former pastor Isaac Hunter died in an apparent suicide earlier this month, recently sold a $1.5 million property next to its main church facilities, local media reported.
The church, east of downtown Orlando, sold a retail center, one of the two properties it acquired in distress sales in 2012, according to Orlando Sentinel.
The retail center, which includes about 11,723 square feet on 1.4 acres, was 100 percent leased at the time of the sale, the newspaper quoted Jeff Porter, facilities director of Summit, as saying.
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Porter said the megachurch's ability to find the buyer, a limited liability company, was a "blessing."
Apart from the church in Orange County, Fla., Summit also owns a 43,072 square feet Fashion Village there.
The news of the sale comes less than two weeks after Pastor Hunter's apparent suicide.
On Dec. 10, Darling Murray, a coordinator at Summit, sent an email to church members, saying, "We found out today that Isaac took his life." Hunter is survived by his wife, Rhonda, and three children.
"By now you may have heard that our former Senior Pastor, Isaac Hunter, died today," Pastor Jeff Kern wrote on Summit's website. "As I write these words, it is hard to express the deep sorrow we as a staff team are feeling for this tragic loss... As we look back on Isaac's ministry here at Summit, we are profoundly grateful for the impact he had in all of our lives. We know that Isaac is deeply loved by Jesus, even in a time of brokenness," he wrote.
Pastor Hunter is the son of Joel C. Hunter, senior pastor at Northland, A Church Distributed in Longwood, Fla., and a former member of President Barack Obama's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
During Hunter's tenure at Summit Church, which began in 2002, the church became one of the fastest-growing churches in Central Florida. However, he resigned as pastor last December after admitting to an affair.
