[1]NASHVILLE (BP) – Figures on and feedback from messengers at the recent Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Orlando are now available through two online tools.
A record number of exhibitors and churches representing every state made up the second-largest messenger registration in 20 years, according to stats on the annual meeting website [2].
The final numbers record 11,692 messengers. Florida, unsurprisingly, brought the lion’s share at 2,160. It was followed by Georgia (983) and Texas (899).
Including exhibitors and guests, the final number for total attendance rolled in at 21,144. The exhibitor count of 3,667 marks the fourth straight annual increase and was the biggest ever, said Jonathan Howe, SBC Executive Committee vice president for convention administration. A large exhibit hall is a major reason the number of adequately-sized facilities to hold the annual meeting has shrunken to a handful.
“Ever since Nashville, we have required 500,000 square feet of exhibit space — the industry term that includes both the exhibit hall and main meeting space,” Howe said. “The amount of space the annual meeting requires dictated that we plan through 2038 [3].”
Howe said many of this year’s attendees were attracted by the workshops held as part of the SBC Pastors’ Conference.
[4]“The immense popularity of this year’s micro-conferences will continue to be a factor” in the amount of space needed, Howe said, adding that the SBC Executive Committee is looking into expanding those types of offerings in the future.
Additional hands were much needed at registration, with a new record set three times [5] for the number of messengers processed through in an hour.
More than 4,000 churches (4,018) were represented in Orlando. More than one-third (35.8 percent) fell into the category of 76-200 in weekly worship attendance, with 31.8 percent of messengers also belonging to that group.
Atlanta had the largest number of messengers from a metropolitan area, with 399. Dallas-Fort Worth followed with 362, as did Tampa (275), Miami (269) and Orlando (263).
An estimated gender breakdown, dependent on first-name inference, determined that 62.9 percent of messengers were male and 37.1 percent female. There were 272 “genuinely ambiguous names excluded.”
According to survey results [6], more than half (56 percent) of messengers were church staff. About 60 percent were over the age of 50. Ninety-one percent were White/Anglo, with 2.3 percent, each, identifying as African American and Hispanic. Approximately 1.6 percent identified as Asian American, and .6 percent as Native American.
[7]Other states and their respective messengers at the Orlando meeting are:
- North Carolina – 826
- Alabama – 788
- Tennessee – 781
- South Carolina – 671
- Kentucky – 542
- Mississippi – 535
- Missouri – 406
- Louisiana – 403
- Virginia – 331
- Oklahoma – 306
- Arkansas – 269
- California – 191
- Ohio –190
- Illinois – 183
- Indiana – 133
- Maryland – 119
- Kansas – 94
- New York – 89
- Michigan – 86
- Colorado – 69
- Arizona – 60
- New Mexico – 56
- New Jersey – 48
- Pennsylvania – 48
- West Virginia – 39
- Washington – 36
- Utah – 34
- Montana – 33
- Massachusetts – 32
- Nevada – 28
- Oregon – 24
- Minnesota – 22
- South Dakota – 22
- Alaska – 21
- Hawaii – 21
- Wisconsin – 17
- Wyoming – 15
- Delaware – 14
- Iowa – 12
- District of Columbia – 8
- Nebraska – 8
- Puerto Rico – 7
- Connecticut – 6
- Idaho – 6
- New Hampshire – 6
- Vermont – 6
- Maine – 5
- North Dakota – 2
- Rhode Island – 2
Next year’s annual meeting was moved to Indianapolis due to construction on Salt Lake City’s convention center. This year’s survey showed 86 percent of respondents saying they plan to attend.
Nearly 11,000 Southern Baptists gathered in the Hoosier State in 2024, a 50 percent increase [8] from the previous gathering in 2008.
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Chitwood previews IMB’s plans for annual meeting 
Hispanic pastors discuss leading a church out of COVID 
Seminary presidents give reports to messengers 
National African American Fellowship continues five-year Vision 2030 
Worship sets the tone at SBC meeting 
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