October 23, 2024
DULUTH, Ga. – Former Southern Baptist Convention President Fred Luter Jr. will be one of the featured speakers at this year’s SPARK total church conference, which premieres online August 25.
The fiery pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, Luter was the first African American elected SBC president and, a decade later, remains a sought-after preacher at church conferences across the nation.
Luter was in Georgia earlier this year at the Georgia Baptist Mission Board’s annual evangelism conference where he told church leaders that the Holy Spirit not only makes a believer a new person but also gives a believer a new purpose and a new power to reach the world for Christ.
“You can’t do this on your own,” he said. “I don’t care what church you go to; I don’t care how long you’ve been saved; I don’t care how many degrees you have; you must wait to be empowered by the Spirit of God.”
In his Christian testimony, Luter explains that in 1977 he was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident that resulted in his decision to surrender his life entirely to Christ. His first sermons were preached on the street at the corner of Galvez Street and Caffin Avenue in New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward.
Nearly 6,000 people took part in the SPARK conference last year, making it one of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board’s most popular training events. That popularity is, in part, the result of well-known Christian leaders who provide inspirational preaching and teaching on topics of importance to pastors and others, said Scott Sullivan, the state Mission Board’s discipleship catalyst.
Besides Luter, the state Mission Board is piping in seminary professor Tod Bolsinger, author of Canoeing the Mountains, a book that provides hope to church leaders who are trying to lead their congregations across difficult barriers.
Michael Catt, author, producer, and retired senior pastor of Georgia’s Sherwood Baptist Church, will also be a featured speaker, as will Robby Gallaty, pastor of Long Hollow Church in Hendersonville, Tenn., and founder of Replicate Ministries.
The Georgia Baptist Mission Board has expanded this year’s SPARK conference to include in-person training at five regional locations across the state next month.
The initial one will be on Aug. 6 at Second Baptist Church in Warner Robins where Woodstock First Baptist Church lead pastor Jeremy Morton will be the keynote speaker.
Some 30 breakout sessions will be held throughout the day covering nearly every area of ministry, including discipleship, child protection, missions, and next gen ministries, said Scott Sullivan, the Georgia Baptist Mission Board's discipleship catalyst.
Other in-person regional SPARK events will be held at First Baptist Church in Douglas on August 13, Byne Memorial Baptist Church in Albany and First Baptist Church in Alpharetta on August 20; and Christ Place Church in Flowery Branch on August 29.
