Life
Rev. Fred Luter poised to become first African-American president of the Southern Baptist Convention
“When I came to Franklin Avenue it was a bunch of women and kids,” Luter said. “You could count the number of men on one hand.”
So Luter bought a pay-per-view TV boxing match between Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns and told the women in his church to invite every man they knew.
About 25 men showed up, some of whom didn’t realize they were coming to the pastor’s house, Luter said. Nonetheless, they happily dumped their beer to go in and see the match. Afterward, Luter invited them to come to church.
“The boxing match was on a Friday night and the following Sunday five of those guys were at church,” Luter said. He recognized them during the service and all the women started applauding. After church, they lavished attention on the men.
“The next Sunday there were more men,” Luter said. “Once we started the men’s program we found that men draw not only other men, but men draw women. Word started spreading.”
Luter also began an outreach program called “frangelism,” for “friends, relatives, associates and neighbors.” One week, members asked to bring a friend to church, the next week a relative, and so on.
“We told them, ‘If God has done something in your life, you are obligated to share it.’ We’ve never been on TV or the radio, never put up any billboards. The church grew through word of mouth.”
