BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – It’s an 11-hour drive from Birmingham to Houston, but Pastor Fred Luter makes a round trip uncomplainingly twice a month.
By Karen L. Willoughby
Managing editor
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – It’s an 11-hour drive from
Birmingham to Houston, but Pastor Fred Luter makes a round trip
uncomplainingly twice a month.
That’s where part of his Franklin Avenue Baptist Church congregation is.
Another group is in Baton Rouge (five hours from
Birmingham) and some have stayed near the devastated Franklin Avenue
Church in New Orleans, (six hours from Birmingham).
Luter preaches in all three cities at least twice each month.
“We’re one church in three cities,” Luter said in a
cell phone interview, with a wry grin in his voice. He was driving to
his temporary home in Birmingham from a midweek meeting with pastors in
New Orleans.
“So many people are still displaced.” With these
words, Luter’s voice changed to one filled with concern and caring. “I
miss the people so much. It’s been real tough on me as a pastor.”
Franklin Avenue Baptist held its breath under eight
feet of water in the wake of Katrina’s wrath, but it’s beginning to
breathe again as members find each other.
On Jan. 1 Luter began preaching at 7:30 a.m. the
first and third Sundays at First Baptist Church of New Orleans, which
suffered some wind damage but none from flooding. At least 500 people
attended the Jan. 1 service; and 1,100 the Jan. 15 service.
After that early-morning service, Luter drives to
Istrouma Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, where 600 attended the most
recent Franklin Avenue service, which takes place at 1 p.m. on the
first and third Sundays of the month.
On the second and fourth Sundays, Luter and his
wife, Elizabeth, drive to Houston, where the Franklin Avenue
congregation gathers at First Baptist Church; about 650 attend that
service.
“We bought a Jeep Cherokee Dec. 7 and have already
put more than 9,000 miles on it,” Luter said. “We’ve gotten to know
each other a whole lot better the last five months than we did the
first 25 years of our marriage!”
His sermons have been about encouragement, Luter
said. They’re not a series; but encouragement and explanation are what
people are looking for, the pastor added.
The first Sunday in January he preached on Job 23, for a message he called “The test called Katrina.”
“None of us have faced a test like Katrina, except
maybe Job,” Luter said in that message. He preached on trust and
confidence in God to people who had lost their homes, their belongings
and in too many cases, their loved ones.
His three points: God pre-approves every test. “Katrina surprised us, but it didn’t surprise God.”
God prepares every believer for every test. “From
the time we were born, everything we’ve been through God has used to
prepare us for Katrina.”
God preserves us through every test. “Look around.
You’re here. You’re worshipping. You’ve passed the Katrina test.
“I know it’s hard; I know you cried. I know it’s
difficult, but you’ve made it,” Luter said to his congregations.
“I try to answer the ‘why’ and encourage them that this too will pass,” Luter said to the Message.
He and his wife have been trying to move back to New
Orleans since November, but the apartment they found had about a foot
of water in it, and with so many people needing their homes repaired,
the Luters have had to wait their turn, the pastor explained. They now
expect to return by the end of February.
“New Orleans is home,” Luter said. “I’ve been there
all my life. I owe it to the church, the neighborhood, the city, to go
back and help rebuild.”
Before Katrina, Franklin Avenue Baptist had more than 7,000 members.
“We’ll probably never again have the same numbers,”
Luter said. “But I assure you, we’ll have a better ministry. From all
the lessons we’ve learned from this thing, we’ll definitely have a
better ministry.”