Ministry
Luter had begun his ministry in 1977 in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward after he suffered a motorcycle accident. He has credited his motorcycling misadventure as his "road to Damascus moment"—his analogy to the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. [2] [3] He began as a street preacher at the corner of Caffin and Galvez. During his streetpreaching days Luter observed a need to draw men, particularly fathers, into his evangelistic appeal by urging events which attract male interest, on one occasion, in 1981, hosting a gathering for a pay-per-view televised boxing match between Thomas Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard. [4] His first sermon in a churchbuilding was in 1983 at New Orleans' Law Street Missionary Baptist Church. He was a staff minister at the city's Greater Liberty Baptist Church when he learned of the opening at Franklin Avenue and sought the job. [5]
Franklin Avenue Baptist Church
In 1986, he became the senior pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, a church with 65 members. [6] [7] Before Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, the congregation had grown to over 7000 members, making it the largest congregation affiliated with SBC in Louisiana. Luter led the rebuilding of the membership after the diaspora from Katrina, [8] and as of his election to the Southern Baptist presidency the congregation had 5000 members. [9] Luter's strategy for congregational growth is rooted in his concept "FRANgelism"—the acronym "FRAN" standing for friends, relatives, associates, and neighbors in acts of networking people into the life of the congregation.
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is an association of Baptist Christian churches based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist organization and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian body in the United States. The SBC is a cooperation of fully autonomous, independent churches with commonly held essential beliefs that pool some resources for missions.
Adrian Pierce Rogers was an American Baptist pastor and conservative author. He served three terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Bellevue Baptist Church is a Baptist megachurch in the Cordova area of Memphis, Tennessee, United States. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Bellevue was once the largest church in the Memphis area. Bellevue's goals are to "Love God, Love People, Share Jesus, and Make Disciples." The church's head pastor has been Steve Gaines since 2005.
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS) is a Baptist theological institute in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Missions and evangelism are core focuses of the seminary.
L. Paige Patterson is an American Baptist former administrator. He served as president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, from 1992 to 2003, as president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) from 1998 to 2000, and as the eighth president of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, from 2003 until his firing in 2018 over mishandling of a rape allegation.
John Steven Gaines is an American Southern Baptist pastor who has served as the president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He resigned as senior pastor on September 22. 2024, to pursue an itinerant preaching ministry at Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, one of the largest congregations in the Southern Baptist Convention and has visited Israel 16 times. On Sunday, July 10, 2005, the Pastor Search Committee of Bellevue Baptist Church presented Dr. Steve Gaines to the church congregation. At the conclusion of the services the Bellevue family overwhelmingly voted to call Steve Gaines as the seventh Pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church. Gaines succeeds the longtime Bellevue pastor Adrian Rogers.
The Louisiana Baptist Convention (LBC) or Louisiana Baptists is a Baptist state convention affiliated with the Southern Baptists. Comprising approximately 1,600 affiliated churches and 620,000 members, the Louisiana Baptist Convention's offices are located in the city of Alexandria. The executive director of the Louisiana Baptists is Steve Horn.
Russell D. Moore is an American theologian, ethicist, and preacher. In June 2021, he became the director of the Public Theology Project at Christianity Today, and on August 4, 2022, was announced as the magazine's incoming Editor-in-Chief.
Beginning in 1979, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) experienced an intense struggle for control of the organization. Its initiators called it the conservative resurgence while its detractors labeled it the fundamentalist takeover. It was launched with the charge that the seminaries and denominational agencies were dominated by liberals. The movement was primarily aimed at reorienting the denomination away from a liberal trajectory.
Duke Kimbrough McCall was an American Christian religious leader who served as Chief Executive Officer of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Executive Committee, as president of two theological seminaries, as president of the Baptist World Alliance, and as a Baptist pastor.
Ronald Wayne Floyd is an American Baptist pastor, and a former Southern Baptist executive. Ronnie was the Senior Pastor of Cross Church, a Southern Baptist megachurch located in Northwest Arkansas, and served as the 61st president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 2014-2016. He resigned his post as Senior Pastor in 2019 to become the full-time CEO of the Southern Baptist Executive Committee and run the day-to-day operations of the denomination. His resignation on October 14, 2021 coincided with mounting pressure in the wake of the SBC sexual abuse scandal.
Bryant Wright is a Baptist pastor and author. He served as senior pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia from its founding in 1981 until 2019. He also served as elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) from June 2010 to June 2012. He succeeded Johnny Hunt, who had served two one-year terms. Wright was succeeded as SBC president by Fred Luter. After having retired as Senior Pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in 2019, Wright continues to work with Right From The Heart Ministries, and in 2020 was named President of Send Relief, a Christian humanitarian and charitable organization, by the International Mission Board and the North American Mission Board.
The National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., more commonly known as the National Baptist Convention, is an association of Baptist Christian churches headquartered at the Baptist World Center in Nashville, Tennessee and affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance. It is also the largest predominantly and traditionally African American church in the United States and the second largest Baptist denomination in the world.
Franklin Avenue Baptist Church is a Baptist multi-site megachurch based in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Its senior pastor is Fred Luter.
J. D. Grey, sometimes known by his adopted name as James David Grey, was a major figure in the Southern Baptist Convention and from 1937 to 1972 was the pastor of the large First Baptist Church of New Orleans, Louisiana.
Herman Paul Pressler III was an American politician and judge who was a justice of the Texas 14th Circuit Court of Appeals in his native Houston, Texas. Pressler was a key figure in the conservative resurgence of the Southern Baptist Convention, which he initiated in 1978. He was accused of sexual misconduct or assault by at least seven men, some of whom were underage at the time of the alleged activity.
Wilmer Clemont Fields was an American Southern Baptist minister, public relations executive, newspaper editor, and the (co-)author or editor of 30 books. He was a pastor in Louisiana, Kentucky and Mississippi. He was the editor of The Baptist Record and Baptist Program, a director of the Baptist Press, and the vice president for public relations for the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention. He was a defender of the freedom of the press.
Widespread sexual abuse cases in Southern Baptist churches were reported by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News on February 10, 2019. The report found roughly 380 clergy, lay leaders and volunteers had faced allegations of sexual misconduct, leaving behind over 700 victims since 1998. The extent of misconduct is further complicated by work within the Southern Baptist Convention to move sex offenders to other communities and resist attempts to address the culture of abuse.
Harry Edward (Ed) Litton Jr. is an American evangelical pastor who was the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, elected in June 2021. He also serves as the senior pastor of Redemption Church in Saraland, Alabama.
