Fred Luter

Fred Luter, Jr., is the Senior Pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was born in New Orleans and grew up in the historic “Lower 9th Ward” of the city. Although his parents were divorced when he was only six years old, Fred was raised in the church by his mom.

In 1977 Pastor Luter dedicated his life to the Lord at his home church, Greater Mount Carmel Baptist Church. Excited about his new found love for God and his desire to share God’s love with others, Pastor Luter helped to form and became the team leader of Youth Witnessing for Christ Evangelistic Team. Every Saturday morning the team members would share their faith on different street corners of the lower 9th ward.

All of Pastor Luter’s education and training happened in the City of New Orleans. He attended Alfred Lawless Elementary, Alfred Lawless Junior High, Joseph S. Clark Senior High, the University of New Orleans, and the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Pastor Luter has also received honorary doctorate degrees from Lake Charles Bible College, Christian Bible College, and Southern California Seminary.

In 1986 Fred’s life was changed forever when he was elected as pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church. At the time Franklin Avenue was a small struggling mission church with about 65 members in attendance. By 2005 Franklin Avenue had grown to over 8,000 members, making FABC the largest Southern Baptist Church in the State of Louisiana and one of the largest churches in the Greater New Orleans area. Pastor Luter has a passion for preaching and teaching the Word of God and for reaching and developing men in the ministry. One of his favorite sayings is that “if you save the man, the man will save his family”!

In August 2005 Pastor Luter lost his home and church to the flooding waters of Hurricane Katrina. Because of his love for his members Pastor Luter traveled all across the country to minister to his displaced congregation while living in Birmingham, Alabama. As a result of so many displaced members Franklin Avenue started two other churches in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Houston, Texas. Pastor Luter was also asked to serve on the mayor’s “Bring Back New Orleans Commission”, to help rebuild the city from the destruction of Hurricane Katrina.

Pastor Luter is a popular speaker at various schools, colleges, conferences, seminars and revivals across the country. In 2001 Pastor Luter was the first African-American to preach the convention sermon at the Southern Baptist Convention.

Pastor Luter is married to “the love of his life, the apple of his eyes, his prime rib, and his good thing”, his wife Elizabeth, the most influential person in his life. They are the proud parents of Kimberly Ann Luter, and Fred “Chip” Luter, III.