Too Small for Big Things

Last Thursday, Fred Luter, Pastor of the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, spoke at the Greene County High and the Leakesville Junior High School.

Dr. Luter is a well-respected pastor in the Southern Baptist Convention. He became pastor of Franklin Ave. Baptist in 1986. At the time of assuming the pastorate, the church had only "a few dozen members." Just prior to the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, the congregation consisted of 7000 members. In 2001, Fred Luter became the first African-American to preach the annual address at the Southern Baptist Convention (Read an article about this historic event here.)

Following the floods post-Katrina, Dr. Luter's home and the church's facilities were severely damaged. A majority of his members moved throughout the country--many moved to Houston and Baton Rogue. Several months passed before he was able to move back into his home.

The church anticipated moving into their restored facilities in December, 2007, but a problem with the beams under the choir loft necessitated postponing their return until March 2008. Currently, the congregation continues to meet at FBC New Orleans. Satellite campuses are worshipping in Houston and Baton Rogue.

I admire Dr. Luter for his humble spirit and fiery preaching. His willingness to drive 150 miles to Leakesville to preach to the students here is to be admired. Especially, in light of the stressful and demanding schedule he keeps.

The first Sunday of this year I preached a sermon based on the Parable of the Talents, recorded in Matthew 25:14-29. A master entrusted a sum of money to three servants. The two servants who were given the most money to handle traded wisely and doubled the funds entrusted to them. The servant given the least monetary amount did not invest the money, but buried the funds. Then, the foolish servant waited for the master to return.

Jesus said that after the master returned, "His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ (Matthew 25:23 NKJV)"

Since the servants handled the "few things" wisely, the men were rewarded with greater responsibility.

During the sermon, I shared a story I heard Evangelist Junior Hill share. During the early years of his ministry, Junior Hill became discontented in preaching to predominantly small congregations. So, he made a list of the 10 largest Southern Baptist Churches in America and prayed that God would grant him the opportunity to preach in much larger congregations. However, he began to receive invitations to even smaller churches. Even more discontented, he began to pray with even more fervor.

One morning while reading a devotional book written by Vance Havner, he read this statement:

If you are too big to preach in a small church,

you are too small to preach in a big church.

That statement was used by God to change the life of Junior Hill. He recommitted himself to preach wherever he was invited on a "love offering" basis. Since that time, Bro. Junior has preached in some of the largest churches in America, including the 10 on his original wish list.

Fred Luter humbly accepted an invitation to come to the woods of Greene County to invest in the lives of students. No wonder he is being used by God to preach in some of the largest churches in America.