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Regular Session, 2011
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 123
BY SENATOR WILLARD-LEWIS
COMMENDATIONS. Commends Reverend Fred Luter Jr., Senior Pastor of Franklin
Baptist Church in New Orleans, on being elected first vice president of the Southern Baptist
Convention.
A RESOLUTION1
To commend Reverend Fred Luter Jr., Senior Pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in2
New Orleans, on being elected first vice president of the Southern Baptist3
Convention.4
WHEREAS, on Tuesday, June 14, 2011, Reverend Fred Luter Jr., the Senior Pastor5
of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, was elected as first vice president of the6
predominantly white Southern Baptist Convention at the national convention held in7
Phoenix, Arizona, marking the first time that an African American has been part of the8
church's top-level leaders; and 9
WHEREAS, the Southern Baptist Convention is a sixteen million member10
denomination, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States; and11
WHEREAS, Pastor Fred Luter Jr., who was a commodities clerk, not even formally12
ordained when he began his ministry in 1983 gaining experience as a street preacher in the13
Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans; and14
WHEREAS, he took to the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church pulpit in 1986, where15
the formerly white church congregation had left for the suburbs, and the church having only16
about sixty members and near extinction; and17
WHEREAS, in 1997, Pastor Luter was ordained and installed as pastor on the same18 SR NO. 123
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day; and1
WHEREAS, the congregation grew, and although it became predominantly black,2
like its changing neighborhood, it maintained its Southern Baptist Convention affiliation;3
and4
WHEREAS, Pastor Luter was the first preacher of color to address the annual5
convention when he was the keynote speaker at the 2001 national convention in New6
Orleans, and in 1992, became the first African American elected to the executive board of7
the Louisiana Baptist Convention; and8
WHEREAS, the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church congregation is one of an estimated9
3,400 predominantly black congregations among the more than 45,700 churches affiliated10
with the Southern Baptist Convention; and11
WHEREAS, under Pastor Fred Luter's vision and leadership, the Franklin Avenue12
Baptist Church grew from a membership of sixty five members to a membership of seven13
thousand plus worshipers; and14
WHEREAS, the church was destroyed by floods after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and15
in the following months and years, under the leadership of Pastor Luter and with the16
invaluable assistance and efforts of many volunteers, the congregation has grown to about17
5,000, one of the largest Southern Baptist churches in Louisiana; and18
WHEREAS, the church congregation is in the midst of a major capital campaign to19
build a new church, its third generation, in eastern New Orleans; and20
WHEREAS, the 2012 annual convention will again be held in New Orleans and it21
is hoped that Pastor Luter will be elected president of the organization at that time.22
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana23
does hereby commend Reverend Fred Luter Jr., Senior Pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist24
Church in New Orleans, on being elected first vice president of the Southern Baptist25
Convention.26
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to27
Pastor Fred Luter Jr.28 SR NO. 123
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The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Jerry J. Guillot.
DIGEST
Willard-Lewis SR No.
Commends Reverend Fred Luter, Jr., Senior Pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in
New Orleans, on being elected first vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention.