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WILSON, N.C. -- North Carolina's Southern Baptist pastors are reacting to the election of their new leader.

Fred Luter is the first black president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Pastors said they hope Luter helps to further bring the denomination together.

Many know him as a man of great integrity, and they said they admire his accomplishments.

"When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2007, it scattered his congregation all across the United States and so around the convention we laughingly joke that Pastor Luter is a megachurch pastor who had to do it twice,” said Pastor Gregg Car of Raleigh Road Baptist Church in Wilson.

The Southern Baptists were formed before the Civil War in a split with Northern Baptists over slavery.