ATLANTA (BP)–Georgia and North Carolina, with 2,100 and 1,100 messengers each, sent the largest numbers of the 11,000-plus messengers registered for the June 15-16 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting at Atlanta’s Georgia Dome.
Other leading states were Tennessee with 900, South Carolina with 825 and Florida with 800, according to unofficial figures compiled by SBC registration secretary Lee Porter.
As of 5:30 p.m. June 16, 11,522 people had registered as official messengers from their churches to the 142nd session of the 154-year-old SBC. The 1999 total represents an increase of 2,936 over the 8,586 messengers attending 1998 sessions in Salt Lake City.
Porter reported the median age of this year’s messengers was 47, with a male-to-female ratio of 60-40 percent.
New York, with 50 messengers showed a dramatic increase from its 1998 presence of 19 messengers in Salt Lake City. Porter stated this was the first time New York has reached the 50-messenger mark. It is also the first time a church from that state has sent its full contingent of 10 people. Trinity Baptist Church of Niskayuna sent 10 messengers to Atlanta.
Ten churches in Georgia sent their full quota of 10 messengers. Five Tennessee churches sent 10 messengers each, along with four from Virginia. Florida, Texas and North Carolina had three churches each send 10 messengers.
Three states — North Dakota, Rhode Island and Vermont—and the territory of Puerto Rico had no registered messengers. Delaware and South Dakota each had one messenger, along with two from the state of Washington and three from Maine.
Unofficial tallies of state-by-state registration numbers are: Alabama, 750 messengers; Alaska, 20; Arizona, 25; Arkansas, 225; California, 100; Colorado, 35;
Connecticut, 5; Delaware, 1; District of Columbia, 6; Florida, 800; Georgia, 2,100; Hawaii, 15; Idaho, 5; Illinois, 175; Indiana, 100; Iowa, 15; Kansas, 75; Kentucky, 500;
Louisiana, 300; Maine, 3; Maryland, 85; Massachusetts, 5; Michigan, 35; Minnesota, 5; Mississippi, 550; Missouri, 275; Montana, 6; Nebraska, 5; Nevada, 20;
New Hampshire, 5; New Jersey, 15; New Mexico, 30; New York, 50; North Carolina, 1,100; Ohio, 150; Oklahoma, 250; Oregon, 5; Pennsylvania, 40; South Carolina, 825;
South Dakota, 1; Tennessee, 900; Texas, 525; Utah, 15; Virginia, 500; Washington, 2; West Virginia, 60; Wisconsin, 5; and Wyoming, 10.
