Old Line Elephant Maryland Conservative Blog

Fred Luter – First Black SBC President?

Pastor Fred Luter has announced that he is running for President of the Southern Baptist Convention. If elected, he will be the first African-American President of the entire Convention. He currently serves as First Vice President, elected in 2011 to a one year term. The Southern Baptist Convention was founded on support of slavery, so to see the church come this far on racial issues is a blessing in and of itself.  But above and beyond that, Luter's a powerful church builder. When he took over at Franklin Avenue Baptist Church their membership was down to 65 members - they currently see 7,000 weekly. This is a no small feat and one that can be attributed in no small part to Luter. Here's more from the Word and Way piece on his candidacy:

No other candidates have announced so far. Other potential candidates were judging their chances on whether Luter decided to run, Akin said.

"I'd be very surprised if there were any other substantial candidates," said Russell Moore of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

Akin, Moore and others say they are eager to elect Luter, both for his leadership gifts and to demonstrate Southern Baptist acceptance of the changing face of their work.

Luter's church once was a predominantly white Southern Baptist congregation dying on the vine after its neighborhood became increasingly black in the 1970s. Luter, a black street-corner preacher with no previous pastoral experience, became pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans in 1986. The church kept its Southern Baptist affiliation while Luter built it into a major success as a predominantly African-American congregation, and then he led his church in rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina.

Several Baptist congregations around the country tried to recruit Luter as a pastor or co-pastor, Akin said, believing he might be available after Katrina. "He was like Peyton Manning as a free agent."

Luter's stature grew in his decision to remain in New Orleans, Akin added. "You have to have unbelievable respect for a man who made that kind of commitment," he said. "Look at what he did."

Growth in traditional white congregations in the 16-million-member Southern Baptist Convention has plateaued. In recent years the denomination has actively sought to reach out to nonwhites, typically Hispanics, African-Americans and Asians. In 1990, 95 percent of Southern Baptist congregations were white; now the figure is 80 percent, said Scott McConnell of LifeWay Research, a church-related institute.

The last figure from Lifeway is fascinating to me. The church in the past 20 or so years has went from 95% white to 80% white. This is a good thing. An overall church body can not survive forever if it only appeals to one segment of the population. That's the beauty of Christianity - it does appeal to people of all walks of life. On paper, Luter is a great choice for President - his color makes no difference in that point, but it does make his selection historic. I look forward to seeing what he can do...also, I'd love to find audio of him preaching.