Implementing Biblical Principles For Effective Church Life In New Orleans From An African American Context -- By: Fred Luter, Jr.

Journal: Journal for Baptist Theology & Ministry
Volume: JBTM 18:2 (Fall 2021)
Article: Implementing Biblical Principles For Effective Church Life In New Orleans From An African American Context
Author: Fred Luter, Jr.


Implementing Biblical Principles For Effective Church Life In New Orleans From An African American Context

Fred Luter, Jr.

Fred Luter Jr. has served as Senior Pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, New Orleans, Louisiana, for 35 years and was the first African American President of the Southern Baptist Convention (2012–2014).

I have had the honor and privilege of being pastor of the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans for the past 34 years. I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ in October 1977. Because of my zeal for God and my desire to see unsaved friends I grew up with have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, I started preaching on the street corners of the neighborhood I was raised in called “the Lower Ninth Ward” every Saturday at 12:00 noon.

My wife, Elizabeth, and I were members of Law Street Baptist Church, a National Baptist Church, where I served as an associate minister and taught Sunday school. Occasionally I would get an invitation to preach at various churches around the city. In the summer of 1986, I was preaching at Greater Liberty Baptist Church. After the service, a member of the church told me that Franklin Avenue was looking for a pastor. That evening I mentioned it to Elizabeth. We prayed about it, and later that week, I submitted my resume to the pulpit committee of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church. I was contacted a week later and was given a date to teach a combined Sunday school class and preach for the 11:00 am Sunday worship service. After the service, there was a meet-and-greet reception held in the fellowship hall where about 45–50 members met me, Elizabeth, and our two children, Kimberly and Chip, who were 4 and 2 years old at the time. After the fellowship reception, I was invited back to the sanctuary to be interviewed by the pulpit committee and members of the church. At the end of the hour-and-a-half interview, I was told that someone from the pulpit committee would contact me later that night. At about 6:30 pm on that Sunday night, I was informed that I was unanimously

elected as the new pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church. As the saying goes, the rest is history!

The following article outlines some biblical principles I implemented as a young preacher, pastoring my first church that grew Franklin Avenue from a small Southern Baptist Mission Church with 65 members to one of the largest churches in the city of New Orleans.

The Challenge to the Members of Franklin Avenue

In sermons and Bible studies, on a regular basis, I challenged the members of our congregation that if our church was going to grow, we had to be faithful in four areas. B...

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