Southern Baptists Poised for Historic Election

The man expected to be in the running to become the first
African-American in the No. 2 position of the nation’s largest
Protestant denomination didn’t choose to become a Southern Baptist. By
Fred Luter Jr.’s account, it just sort of happened.

In 1986, Luter was hired as the head pastor at Franklin Avenue Baptist
Church in New Orleans, a Southern Baptist Convention affiliate. Ever
since, he has been breaking racial barriers in the predominantly white
denomination.

In 1992, he was the first African-American elected to the executive
board of the Louisiana Baptist Convention. In 2001, he was the first
African-American to preach the convention sermon at the SBC annual
meeting.

When the Southern Baptist Convention elects new officers at its annual
conference in Phoenix beginning Tuesday, the 54-year-old Luter will be
in the running for first vice-president. And some prominent Southern
Baptist leaders already have said they hope that position will lead to
his election as president next year when the 2012 convention is held in
Luter’s hometown.

Luter said he doesn’t want to speculate on that.

“I’m a street kid from the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans,” Luter said
in an interview on Friday. “It’s very humbling. It’s really an honor
just to be nominated.”

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