NASHVILLE (BP) – Pre-registration for the 2024 SBC Annual Meeting in Indianapolis has opened up for messengers and/or childcare at sbcannualmeeting.net.
The meeting is expected to be highly attended, as a new SBC president will be elected and messengers will vote for the second time on a constitutional amendment regarding women pastors. Reports will also include those studying the impact of the Great Commission Resurgence as well as the Cooperation Group, which is currently developing recommendations.
Nearly 200 ancillary meetings, events and gatherings will take place from June 9-12 in and around the Indiana Convention Center.
Giant Cow and Giant Calf are set to return for 2024. Giant Calf will offer childcare for newborns through age all four days while Giant Cow Children’s Ministries will be available for those ages 5-12 during the SBC Pastors’ Conference and Annual Meeting. Youth on Mission will provide missions opportunities for ages 13-18 on June 11-12, with lunch and snacks provided both days.
Registration has also opened for the SBC Ministers’ Wives Luncheon, to be held in the Sagamore Ballroom of the convention center on June 11 from noon-1:30 p.m.
Information about the annual meeting and host city will be available in the video series The Road to Indy, hosted by Jonathan Howe, Executive Committee acting president and CEO.
“For the past few years, Southern Baptists have faced monumental decisions at the annual meeting,” said Howe. “This year is no exception. We’ve seen an incredible increase in participation at the annual meeting and expect more of the same in Indianapolis. It’s exciting to see how many Southern Baptists want to be part of the process when we gather each June.”
After pre-registering, individuals will receive an email with a QR code and a registration number, explained Don Currence, registration secretary. That code can be presented on the messenger’s phone or as a paper copy at registration to complete the process.
The process requires prospective messengers to present their church’s SBC identification number as well as confirmation the church has chosen them as a messenger. Southern Baptist churches that contributed to the Cooperative Program from Oct. 1, 2022-Sept. 30, 2023, are allotted two messengers with some allowed as many as 12, depending on the amount the church gave toward SBC mission causes through the Cooperative Program.
Completing the registration process on site wouldn’t be possible without the approximately 125 volunteers who pay their own way to be there, Currence said. Many of those volunteers are college students joining other adults to do things like arriving the preceding Saturday to sort items that will be handed to registering messengers.
