Baptist Press has the unofficial count, 5,406, for the meeting in Columbus earlier in the week. Sorry I couldn’t make it 5,407. The last six years are shown below:
2010 Orlando 11,070
2011 Phoenix 4,814
2012 New Orleans 7,814
2013 Houston 5,103
2014 Baltimore 5,294
2015 Columbus 5,406
Absent some white hot Baptist controversy, folks that like to go and have the money will go and folks that don’t see it as all that important will stay home. When there is an attraction apart from the meeting itself, attendance bumps up (Bourbon Street, Mickey Mouse).
There are over 46,000 SBC churches these days. The typical husband/wife messenger system means 3,000 or so churches had folks present, six percent or so.
My state, Georgia, one of the largest SBC state conventions, had only 287 people registered. There are over 3,300 Georgia Baptist churches. Figure that about one church per dozen sent messengers.
The annual meeting, manifestly, is not that important to most Southern Baptists, even Southern Baptist pastors. I don’t see much that will change it. Attendance for the last five years is about at the same level it was during the late 1930s and early/mid 1940s.
Contrast attendance at the SBC annual meeting with registration and expected attendance for NAMB’s Send North America conference that is scheduled for Nashville in August. More than double the number are paid and registered for the SNA conference.
I don’t know what the attendance was for the pre-convention Pastor’s Conference or if linking the two meetings more closely would draw more attendees for the Annual Meeting.
The paltry attendance that is routine for the SBC Annual Meeting is begging for some proposal that would incorporate remote participation, sattelite locations, and/or electronic voting. Moving away from the paper ballots eliminates one obstacle but I recognize that there are a number of hurdles to overcome. I don’t know if it would be an improvement to our ancient system of having a mass meeting in the heat of the summer where if you show up, you count and if you can’t be physically you don’t count.
St. Louis next year? Yawn. Look for the same 5,000 or so.
A visit to Bush Stadium is calling my name next year. I sure hope the Cardinals are in town.
Yawn at St. Louis? Adam is right. The Cardinals! That’s reason enough. The zoo? Free. Science Center? Fantastic and fascinating. The Arch, City Museum, The Magic House, Ted Drewes, The Muny (My Fair Lady is on right now. Best outdoor theater anywhere and you can pay or attend free). Then there’s Sweetie Pies and Pappy’s BBQ. I could go on and on about the family friendly things to do in STL. I’ll even volunteer to be on the host committee. 🙂
I, as a St. Louisan in exile to the pit of despair that is Kansas City, approve of this post.
Wife and kids are looking forward to St. Louis…they’ll go have fun whilst I wile away the time at the SBC….
All of the folks who are paid to attend the annual convention right now will not change the rules to make it easier and less expensive for those of us who do the paying to attend and to have a voice/vote.
They don’t want thier power diluted so they will not alter the current set-up with the advantage it gives them.
Lynn Gray
Why are you part of an organization whose leaders you believe to have such dishonest motives? The same could be said about those of us who attend the convention. If there are 5,000 messengers, my one vote is more significant than if there are 40,000 messengers. Do you think that the only reason I do not want the current system changed is so my vote can maintain its current significance?
Adam, I do not know you and have no idea what vested interest you have (if any) in keeping the current configuration. You may just enjoy the fellowship of the meeting and fear that allowing some sort of Internet participation would reduce the blessing you receive from attending as some old friends might not attend in person. I understand this. I do not accuse the leaders of the convention of being dishonest about this one item or about anything else and regret if anything I wrote implied that. The SBC does much that is good and I am pleased to… Read more »
Everybody knows Orlando was high because of the location and the GCR vote. Other than the higher New Orleans total, there’s actually a slight upward trend. We all know the convention is part (mostly?) business meeting and part preaching. It’s not really fair to compare it to an event like Send NA whose entire schedule is content driven and equipping-oriented. They’re not the same thing. Many people have asked to make the annual meeting more like some of the big name conferences. I don’t think that’s totally feasible, but this year they took a great step in that direction with… Read more »
BTW, just posted my thoughts on the convention at http://brenthobbs.com/index_files/SBC2015_recap.php Expands on some of the things I said in my comment above.
How long has the Send conference been going on? Maybe folks are spending their money to go there rather than the convention. There does seem to be a correlation between the dramatic increase in attendance at Send and the decrease at the SBC.
SNA has been held for several years. I feel sure some choose it over the SBC AM but I doubt these account for much of the AM decline which long preceded the SNA conferences.
SNA is popular for many reasons and attracts many who have little interest in the SBC AM. Different motivations for attending.
I’m planning to be in Nashville for the SNA in August and would love to meet any of the brethren who participate here.
I have always wondered how many people would be there if you took out all the paid staff from the SBC entities and DOMs.
I would guess that a big chunk of the messengers are likely paid denominational workers on some level (SBC, state, associational).
I’m not sure that the percentage of messengers who are paid denominational workers is that high.
Dave,
Are the statistics available?
It would be interesting to see. I would be very much surprised if they are not significantly “over-represented” at the annual meeting when compared to lay people and small church pastors.
Lynn
Of course, if you get into that question, you do have to consider: No denominational entity gets messengers at the SBC. Not an association, a state convention, or a national body. Any one coming whose bills are paid by those bodies must still be elected/approved by their local church. So a DoM, for example, might be attending because he’s enabled by the association he works for. And that association might require him to attend. But he’s still there as a messenger from his home church. That could make him both a DoM and a small church messenger. Likewise for some… Read more »
I agree with your point.
However at my church all that would be required for just about anyone to be selected as a messenger would be to simply indicate a desire to attend. Nothing more at all. I suspect that it is the case at many places.
Lynn
Just my own take: I wouldn’t mind going, but I have to count the cost versus the value. First, there’s the value of contribution: I’m not a Southern Baptist born and bred, like I’ve seen many people tout. It’s a natural sensibility to have, time in service equates to clout – a certain kind of seniority. It’s a reality. Therefore, I have to wonder if I would have anything positive to contribute or if I would even be able to lend my voice in a knowledgeable way. Then there’s the value of enrichment: Is there something I would gain that… Read more »
This post states my sentiments about the convention. I wouldn’t mind seeing my brother, who I rarely claim anyway, but see no other compelling reason to go–either for my own personal edification or to benefit the church I serve. God’s money is more appropriately used elsewhere. I’ll casually watch from afar.
Man, I love “Take the Money and Run.”
One of the best.
One other plus is that I’ll never have to experience the embarrassment of seeing my little brother in a lime green leisure suit.
There are ways to cut costs. My first year (1999), I did the entire convention for $100. In subsequent years, I’ve found ways to keep the costs down including discount flights, using public transportation, taking advantage of free luncheons or brown bagging it, staying at cheaper hotels, sharing a room with other pastors coming alone, etc. Also, you can use the opportunity for combining Convention with other things like family vacation or short term missions by participating in Crossover. Whatever means I use in a given year, I look forward to our Annual Meeting. For me, there is great value… Read more »
True there are ways to make a trip and stay less expensive but the average layperson would also have to use vacation time for the better part of a week as well. Two points: 1. We wouldn’t tolerate a political system where the vote was “restricted” to those who could easily afford to travel to a distant location and then on top of that we paid govt workers to make the trip and vote. 2. Allowing messengers to participate online doesn’t mean that that others who enjoy the in-person fellowship couldn’t make the trip if they want to do so.… Read more »
I wasn’t at the convention, as travel is just getting quite difficult for us. But as to math, I believe you meant to say Georgia had about one registered messenger for every dozen churches, not the reverse thereof.
Also, last I heard, The Jamaica Baptist Union had about 330 churches, 122 ministers, 40,000 members, and around 10,000 attending their national annual convention.