History Made: Southern Baptists Elect First Black President

Teresa Neumann : Jun 22, 2012
Staff - Reuters

New president is pastor of New Orleans' church he rebuilt into the denomination's largest congregation in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina devastated it in 2005.

(New Orleans, LA)—With 16 million members, the largest U.S. Protestant denomination, Southern Baptists, elected its first black president on June 19.

As reported in Reuters, New Orleans pastor and civic leader, Fred Luter, accepted his election to the one-year post to thunderous applause and a standing ovation from the thousands of Southern Baptists attending the convention.

The report noted that Luter's election was "an important statement about the denomination's efforts to distance itself from its racist past."