RIDGECREST, N.C. (BP) – Incorporating his beloved rapid-fire style of repetition and Scripture recitation, Fred Luter captured worshipers on the closing night of the 2026 Black Church Leadership and Family Conference (BCLFC) July 23, encouraging dry bones to reengage.
Disengagement tends to happen at some point in our lives, he said, including himself in the mix and basing his sermon on Ezekiel 37:1-10.
“If (dry bones) are going to live again, if they’re going to change the situation that they’re in, if they’re going to get out of their rut, if they’re going to reengage, they must hear the Word of God,” Luter said. “Not the latest in politics, the Word of God. Not the latest topics on the internet, the Word of God. Not the latest topics on social media, on Instagram, on TikTok. They must hear the Word of God.
“Word that brings nourishment to dry bones. Word that brings strength to dry bones. Word that brings life to dry bones.
“Words like Psalm 1, ‘Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord.’ Words like Psalm 23:1, ‘The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.’ Words like Psalm 27:1, ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?’ Words like Psalm 34:19, ‘Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of them all.’ Words like Psalm 37:25, ‘I have been young, but now I’m old, and I have never seen the righteous forsaken, or his seed begging bread.’ Oh dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord.”
Applause and shouts of praise filled Spillman auditorium, as many worshipers rose to their feet, some joining Luter in completing the scripture recitations from memory.
“Proverbs 3:5-6, ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart,’” Luter said. “‘Don’t lean to your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge God and He shall direct thy paths.”
He would recite in rapid succession Isaiah 26:3, 40:31 and 54:17; John 15:7, Acts 1:8, Romans 8:31, 1 Corinthians 10:13 and 15:58, Galatians 2:20 and 1 Peter 5:8 before preaching his refrain, “Oh dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord.”
Hearing God’s Word was the second step Luter cited as necessary for dry bones to reengage, after first admitting that they’re dry. Third, dry bones must respond to the Word of God, Luter said.
It was the first sermon Luter has preached at the conference since the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted what had been his continuous attendance at BCLFC since its inception nearly 35 years ago. Large contingencies from his longtime pastorate, Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, have frequently attended the annual event.
Conference convener Mark Croston, Lifeway Christian Resources’ national director of Black Church Ministries, recognized the Luters upon the pastor’s upcoming October retirement after 40 years as FABC’s senior pastor. Luter is the only African American ever elected as Southern Baptist Convention president, having served from 2012-2014. New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in 2023 renamed its student center the Fred Luter Jr. Student Center.
Ahead of the sermon, Croston presented the couple with gifts, including a large print of the Fall 2026 cover of Lifeway’s YOU urban Bible study curriculum which has Luter’s photo on the cover. In a brief panel discussion in the form of a talk show, a regular feature of the BCLFC evening worship services, Croston asked Luter what he would like to leave as a legacy.
“My prayer, Mark, is that people will remember in all the years that I’ve been pastoring Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, the only church I’ve ever pastored all my life, that I was a man who tried to lead by example,” Luter said. “I believe in walking what I talk and walking what I preach. I pray that they will remember that he tried to lead as an example, as a husband to his wife Elizabeth, as a pastor to his church, as a father to Chip and Kimberly, as a grandfather to his grandkids, and as a leader in the community.
“I always understood that I had to take my role seriously because people knew me that I did not know them. So I had to be consistent in my walking, my talking, no matter where I was,” Luter said. “Of course, in the church on a Sunday morning, but throughout the week, whether it was in Walmart, or whether it was in Walgreens, or whether it was at the store, I tried to lead by example. I’ve tried to be light and salt in this dark world that we’re living in.”
Elizabeth Luter, responding to the question what she has learned the hard way that she would like others to also learn, encouraged other ministers to learn to lean on Jesus very early.
“Do not put any of your weight or trust in your ministry leaders or ministry friends. That’s too big of a responsibility for any man or woman,” she said. “You’re setting yourself up for failure and you’re putting them in a position that they cannot uphold. In addition, they’re not your people, so hold them loosely. So if God removes them or you to another assignment, you’re not dead.”
The July 23 sermon was the fourth in a week of sermons that launched on the conference’s opening night July 20. The annual conference helps equip leaders for ministry in urban settings with a week of sermons, breakout sessions, targeted messages, fellowship, camps for children and youth, and other activities.
Luter commended the conference to others, noting numerous Southern Baptist trailblazers he met in his nearly 30 years of attendance.
“My life and my ministry have truly been impacted by attending this conference,” he told those in attendance. “Let me encourage you. Don’t let it be your last time. You can develop some lifetime friends here that will impact your life forever and forever.”
