BIO of FRED LUTER JR Fred Luter, Jr. is the Senior Pastor of the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, Louisiana. When he was elected as pastor of this congregation in 1986, Franklin Avenue was a small Southern Baptist mission church with 65 members on roll. By 2005 the church had grown to over 7,000 members, making Franklin Avenue the largest Southern Baptist Church in the state of Louisiana. In August of 2005 Pastor Luter lost his home to five feet of water and his church was extensively damaged with eight feet of water during Hurricane Katrina. In spite of the setbacks and destruction wrought by Katrina, Pastor Luter continues to minister with passion, faith, and zeal even with his congregation scattered across the country. Starting in January 2006, Pastor Luter was holding worship services in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Houston to minister to his displaced members. On Sunday, April 6, 2008, because of God’s grace and mercy, we had our Reentry Celebration at Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, 2515 Franklin Avenue. Pastor Luter was once again able to preach at our home, Praise God! Fred has preached all across the country for various revivals, evangelism conferences, associational meetings, and state conventions. He was honored and humbled to be chosen as the first African American to preach the convention sermon at the Southern Baptist Convention. In 2011, he became the first African American to be elected as First Vice President of the Southern Baptist Convention. He has been married to his “prime rib” Elizabeth for over 25 years. Fred says that Elizabeth is the most influential person in his life! He is the father of Kimberly and Fred “Chip” Luter III. .