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Jesus is the answer to the problems that churches in urban America face today, Southern Baptist Convention President Fred Luter said during an Urban Economics and Ministry Conference at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

"You don't have to be a Bible scholar to realize that we're living in a time of crisis. You don't have to know Bible prophecy to realize that we're living in some very sinful and sick days," Luter said, listing teenage pregnancy and abortion, homosexuality and gang violence among these problems.

However, Luter underscored the solution to these problems in Christ Jesus.

"People need to know the difference that Jesus makes in the personal life," said Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans.

"They need to know that Jesus is hope for the hopeless. He is joy in the midst of trouble. He is peace in the midst of confusion. He is love for the unlovable. He is bread for the hungry, water for the thirsty. He is a friend even for the friendless."

Luter said he learned these truths from his own experience -- from the grace that God has poured upon his life and from his ministry in New Orleans. When Luter, a native of New Orleans' lower Ninth Ward, became Franklin Avenue's pastor in the 1980s, the church had 65 members. By 2005, when Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, there were 7,000 members. Luter led the church through the tragic hurricane, ministering even when his own home had been destroyed. He welcomed his congregation to a new sanctuary in 2008.

Southwestern's Urban Economics and Ministry Conference, sponsored by the seminary's Land Center for Cultural Engagement, featured scholars and ministers who addressed the economic, social and cultural challenges confronting African American churches in the 21st-century urban context. Speakers discussed the creation of wealth; the importance of marriage, the family and abstinence education; and the impact of black liberation theology in African American churches.