By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer
NEW ORLEANS (LBM) – Fred Luter was in his 35th year of pastoring Franklin Avenue Baptist Church when he called his son to talk about the future of both men and the church.
“Chip was pastoring in Florida, and he said ‘Dad, you know, you’re 65 next year. You think about retirement?’,” Luter recalled of the March 2021 conversation. “I said, ‘Well, my retirement plan is in Florida. Are you thinking of coming home?’”
Soon after, his son resigned as campus pastor with Idlewild Baptist Church’s Sulphur Spring campus in Tampa, Florida, and returned to the church where he was raised, and where he previously served as the pastor of students.
On Oct. 18, Fred Luter will retire and the following Sunday, his son will succeed him.
The church will host a celebration musical, Oct. 16, 6 p.m., featuring the FABC choir, who will sing Luter’s favorite Gospel songs.
“Just looking back on from when it started to up until now, it’s been a joy pastoring Franklin Avenue,” Luter told the Baptist Message. “To see what God has done in this church, with a guy who never pastored before, and then being a part of a church that grew to be one of the largest churches in the state has been a blessing.
“And I look at it as God rewarding my faithfulness,” he continued. “I’ve been faithful to God, to His Word, to my wife and family, and to this church.”
FRUITFUL MINISTRY
Luter began serving with Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in September 1986 when the congregation consisted of only 65 members, mostly women, who were faithful attenders.
Just before Hurricane Katrina made landfall in 2005, the church had become the largest Southern Baptist congregation in Louisiana, with more than 8,300 members and averaging 5,855 in weekly worship attendance.
The church had purchased 90 acres of land near the former Six Flags theme park to build larger facilities, but Katrina derailed those plans by scattering members across the country.
Many formed “remote” worship groups, meeting on other church campuses – First Baptist Church, New Orleans, Istrouma Baptist Church, Baton Rouge, Florida Boulevard Baptist Church, Baton Rouge, and First Baptist Church, Houston – until repairs were completed on Franklin Avenue Baptist Church’s facilities in April 2008.
In the aftermath of Katrina, Luter led a rejuvenation of the congregation at its former home, growing to nearly 5,900 members with an average of 4,760 in Sunday services by the time he was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention in 2012. He was the first African American to hold that post.
When land became available in East New Orleans, the congregation opted to build a new home there. That $35 million facility, which opened in December 2018. includes a 3,500-seat worship center, a fellowship hall, offices, a kitchen, conference rooms, Sunday school rooms and youth and children’s areas.
Today, the church averages 3,200 in Sunday worship and reaches its community through backyard Bible clubs in an apartment complex, sharing the Gospel door-to-door and on its campus, community block parties, free food distributions and back-to-school giveaways.
FATHER-SON RESPECT
During a specially called meeting, Nov. 3, 2025, the younger Luter, associate pastor of the congregation, was officially elected to his new leadership role by a 97 percent vote.
The elder Luter noted that his son was qualified because he was a Christ follower who was baptized by FABC and has served as pastor of high school students with Concord Church, Dallas (2007-2009), pastor of youth and young adults with FABC (2010-2015), campus pastor with Idlewild Baptist Church’s Sulphur Spring campus (2015-2021) and now as associate pastor of FABC.
Chip Luter said the greatest lesson learned from his dad is how faithful he is to his family and church.
“That’s definitely stuck with me everywhere I’ve served,” he said. “My dad has an accessibility he has maintained. He will sit at that desk and check every voice mail and call people from his office. He’s really a shepherding pastor.”
ONWARD IN MINISTRY
He also said he is thankful that his dad and mom, Elizabeth, will remain in the city and as members of the church.
In Baptist life, transitions like this are uncommon no matter if it’s a big, small, downtown, suburban or rural church,” he said. “I’m just really grateful for how it’s going, how my dad is led out with it, and how members have really followed the leadership.”
Fred Luter said not only did he and his wife see something special about Chip, but others did too.
“During his senior high school, the church went through a 21-day fast we do every year and at the end he told me he felt called to preach,” he said. “When he graduated from Dallas Baptist University, he mentioned to the church that he was called to the ministry and man, people stood up and cried tears.”
Meanwhile, Chip Luter said serving with his childhood home congregation is humbling.
“It’s an honor and also a prayer request because you still have people in this church who knew me when I was in diapers and now, I’m their senior pastor,” he said. “We’ve been really blessed to have a really gracious church. We feel loved by the people and we love them. But most of all, we are grateful for the Lord who has His hand on this.”
Looking to retirement, Fred Luter will serve as pastor emeritus starting in November. He hopes to preach at more churches on Sunday mornings, something he has not done because he has remained committed to preaching at FABC most weekends.
“My initial plans are to visit churches in the city around New Orleans that I’ve never had a chance to visit,” he said. “I got a lot of friends around the city that I haven’t been able to see on Sundays. I want to experience their worship service, sit in their pews, hear them preach and maybe even preach myself at some. I want to be there to support them just like they and so many others have supported me through these years of ministry at Franklin Avenue.”
