Spiritual Emphasis Week wrap-up
Luter says renewed mind key to victorious Christian living
By Vicky Kaniaru
CLEVELAND, Ga. (TMCNews) –Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, New Orleans, and 1st vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention, concluded Sept. 8 his engagement for Truett-McConnell College’s (TMC) Spiritual Emphasis Week, Sept. 6 – 8.
“There’s a difference between having a spiritual emphasis week with a good speaker and having a spiritual emphasis week with a prophet,” said TMC President Emir Caner.
“Dr. Luter came here and not only communicated with our students, but his messages were on point for our students,” Caner added. “Dr. Luter obviously had prepared his heart and not only his head for this week. I just praise the Lord for Dr. Luter. He was the right man for the right time. Perhaps Truett-McConnell will be a place God honors and where awakening comes.”
A well-known preacher across the SBC, Luter said, “I got saved at college, so being able to speak to college students is a blessing because it reminds me of when I got to know the Lord.”
During TMC’s Spiritual Emphasis Week, Luter emphasized his purpose was to encourage students to live a victorious Christian life: “One of the misnomers about college students is that all of them are wild. Everybody is doing drugs; everybody is having sex, etc. However, it is possible to live a victorious life. I know there’s a lot of pressure, but it is possible to resist,” he said. “And I challenged the students with the Scriptures and also with real life examples.”
Luter’s last words to the students gathered for his final sermon were, “The key is not allowing life to distract you, and on a daily basis, on a weekly basis, purposely do what you have to do to stay connected to God because we have so many distractions out there in the world. The sermon that I preached yesterday is the key, as is Philippians 2:5.”
That verse says, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.”
“When we have renewed mind,” Luter said, “it will really focus us on what we have to do for the Lord.”
An increasing number of students each of the three days publicly responded to God following Luter’s sermons. More than 40 filed forward to pray on the last day of Spiritual Emphasis Week.
###
Return to News Archive