Louis Beloney, then-senior deacon at Greater Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, gave the 21-year-old Luter sage advice: "Obedience is better than sacrifice." That is, Luter would have done better to obey his mother Viola, who told him just a month earlier not to buy the bike, rather than nearly sacrifice his life in the May 1977 accident when he struck a car on Paris Avenue in New Orleans.

"And he said, 'You better get your life right with God.' It challenged me and started making me really consider my relationship with God, to the point that I started reading my Bible every day, on a daily basis, morning and evening," Luter recalls 35 years later. "I called the accident my Damascus Road experience."

Leaving the hospital three months later in a full-leg cast he would wear until the next year, his head mostly healed, he soon walked on crutches down the aisle of Greater Mt. Carmel and committed himself to the Lord.

"I immediately started a street ministry because ... I was so shocked by my relationship with Christ, I wanted everybody in my neighborhood, all my partners ... to know the God that I knew," Luter said. "So every Saturday at 12 noon I'd be preaching on different streets of the Lower Ninth Ward and sharing Christ. And that's how, as they say, that's how it all began."

The first African American president of the Southern Baptist Convention is amazed at how God has blessed his ministry, opening doors previously closed to those from Luter's side of town.

"I've been with Southern Baptists for 25 years as pastor," he said, "and I have a really, really good relationship with a lot of pastors across the convention, a lot of the directors of missions across the country, a lot of state execs, evangelism directors. I've preached for most of them, if not all of them."

Luter was unopposed for the SBC presidency. A trailblazer in the SBC, the pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church was the first African American to preach the convention sermon at the annual meeting in 2001, also held in New Orleans, and in 2011 was the first black elected as SBC first vice president.

Luter got the SBC's attention in the early 1990s when the church led the Louisiana Baptist Convention in baptisms. Wayne Jenkins, LBC director of evangelism and church growth, contacted Luter while attending a New Orleans meeting, when Luter graciously invited Jenkins to preach, having just met him.

"The place was completely packed. I'm talking about beyond fire-marshal packed," Jenkins said. Once the pews were full, ushers would place seats in the aisles. When those filled, they would seat worshippers on the platform, repeating the same during each of three Sunday morning services.

"People were all around us. In fact, one guy when I was preaching was reaching up and patting me on the back. That's how close everything was," Jenkins said, speaking of a sanctuary that seated 250 before the 1997 construction of the current 2,000-seat worship area. "Most years Fred will baptize between 250 and 350. It will be somewhere in there."

Jenkins describes Luter as authentic, a close friend and a good preacher who has maintained a strong personal witness.

"What you see of Fred on the platform and what you see of Fred off the platform is the same man. A good family man, strong morals. That was part of the success, I think, the blessing of God on his church," Jenkins said. "He made a strong stand and said, 'I will not have anybody serving in this church that does not hold to those strong views,' and he had to discipline some people during that period of time."

Jenkins introduced Luter to evangelism leaders across the SBC and the invitations started pouring in, including the 1996 SBC Pastors' Conference.

"James Merritt was the president of the Pastors' Conference, and you know, everybody, a lot of pastors from across the country come to the Pastors' Conference," Luter said. "When I preached that sermon there, it literally put me on the map. I started getting calls from everybody.

"Before you know it I was preaching in places like First Baptist Church Jacksonville for their pastors' conference with Jerry Vines. I started preaching Bellevue in Memphis, Tenn. I preached Tony Evans' church Oak Cliff , David Jeremiah ," Luter recounted. "It's just amazing the places that God has opened up for me to preach."

Luter's many friends across the SBC encouraged him to seek the presidency.

"They say ... this will say a lot to the kingdom of heaven that here's a convention that was started as a result of slavery and the past that we have, now an African American pastor is leading them," Luter said. "I just feel that with my personality and my commitment to the Word of God, that I can really bring the different groups across our convention together, so that we can help fulfill the mission that God has given us."

Luter grew up in the Lower Ninth Ward, known to many SBC ministries because of rebuilding efforts that continue there seven years after Hurricane Katrina. The middle of five children, his parents divorced when he was 6, with his mother working as a seamstress and surgical scrub assistant to make ends meet. While his father was faithful to care for the family, not having a father in the home shaped Luter's focus on family in ministry.

"Particularly when I had my son I said to God that I really want to be the dad in my son's life that I never had growing up in the home," Luter said. "So definitely it did have an effect on me wanting to do better and be better, because you know it's real awkward when you go to situations and people, their parents are together and yours are not."

As churches struggle to appeal to men, Franklin Avenue enjoys a membership encompassing both genders about evenly, a testimony to Luter's emphasis on developing godly men who are active members of the church.

"I just had a conviction if you save the man, the man will save his family," the new SBC president said. "I felt we needed to make reaching men a priority."

Luter married his high school sweetheart Elizabeth on Oct. 11, 1980 -- he succinctly states the date with pride. Their 27-year-old son Fred III is Franklin Avenue's youth pastor; their 30-year-old daughter Kimberly teaches school in Birmingham, Ala. Continued...