Below is the list of annual meetings, location, and attendance for the past 19 years. This from the nice folks at SBC This Week.
| Year | City | Attendance |
| 2000 | Orlando | 11,959 |
| 2001 | New Orleans | 9,581 |
| 2002 | St. Louis | 9,645 |
| 2003 | Phoenix | 7,077 |
| 2004 | Indianapolis | 8,600 |
| 2005 | Nashville | 11,641 |
| 2006 | Greensboro | 11,639 |
| 2007 | San Antonio | 8,630 |
| 2008 | Indianapolis | 7,277 |
| 2009 | Louisville | 8,795 |
| 2010 | Orlando | 11,075 |
| 2011 | Phoenix | 4,852 |
| 2012 | New Orleans | 7,874 |
| 2013 | Houston | 5,103 |
| 2014 | Baltimore | 5,298 |
| 2015 | Columbus | 5,407 |
| 2016 | St. Louis | 7,321 |
| 2017 | Phoenix | 5,015 |
| 2018 | Dallas | 9,637 |
So, you’ve got a high of 11,959 in Orlando, 1990 (thank you, Mickey Mouse) and a low of 4,852 in Phoenix in 2011 (well, it was ‘dry’ heat, so you fried while not sweating).
Note the big crowd in Greensboro in 2006 where there was a hotly contested election. Somehow the brethren and sistren can come up with convention money when they want to strike a blow for their favored candidate. Same for this year in Dallas.
I liked Phoenix once but if we’re going to have the annual meeting in June, I don’t understand the love affair with the city where the average June high temp is 104 degrees.
I’m OK with Dallas and Houston, a bit cooler than Phoenix, but the humidity is usually around 150% making for pure misery unless you find a good taco place.
We’re headed to Birmingham next year. Good. Just a few hours away. Birmingham has aspirations. Ought to be just fine.
After that: Orlando, Nashville, Anaheim, Charlotte, and Indianiapolis.
I’ve already said (here and here) why any system of sattelite locations or remote voting is a bad idea but that will not slow down those who think our problems will be solved if only more people can attend.
If increased annual meeting attendance is a good thing how may it be achieved. Here are a few ideas. I don’t endorse all them.
- Fire one of the entity heads just prior to the meeting. That will stir up the crowd and people will find funds to attend. My hope is that we’ve seen the last of this type of motivation.
- Have a hotly contested election. This may be done positively or negatively. This past year’s contest was positive if only the candidates spoke but, unfortunately, immediately degenerated when supporters got involved. Folks can make their own judgment about which side should bear more guilt.
- Scholarship money. A handful of small church pastors receive money from the Pastor’s Conference and/or Caskey Center to attend. Good.
- Put a lot of celebrities on the platform. No, wait, we did that this year and it might hurt rather than help.
- Offer a better selection of swag in the exhibit halls. Hundred dollar bills would generate a crowd.
- Try a meeting in Toronto. Average temps are in the 70s in June. Might be some legal reason the SBCAM can’t be outside the US, though. So, go with Buffalo…umm…maybe not.
Might be best, though, to let the annual meeting grow (or shrink) organically. Let those attend who feel it is important and want to participate.
See you in Bmghm.
Have them all in Orlando. #obvious
#disneybaptists
I am not 100% sure, but I believe my church and pastor are in the SBC as a way to reach folks across America and the world with the Gospel, thus for the missions, and for Annie and Lottie. We, as far as I know in the 6 years I have been there, or is it 7, have never sent a delegate to the convention, even when it was in our own home town, Columbus. Maybe some went, but there was no report or mentionof it in our business meetings prior to or after.
My position is thatwe dont need the SBC, but it is a useful tool for missions and is much appreciated in that capacity. We have sent a few to Southern to become missionaries or to become pastors.
That William thanked Mickey for the large attendance in Orlando echoed my thoughts when I read that stat. How many messengers go to the convention city for a short vacay and without much desire to do participate in the convention?
Maybe a comparision between the above numbers and the votes cast for important resolutions or candidates/elections will dispel that idea, or support it.
I agree that many could go if they wanted to, even if money was tight. I am sure some dont go because they dont see the need whether they have the money or not. That many dont go must mean that the convention meeting is somewhat irrelevant to them, or at least unimportant enough to participate.
Personally, I wouldnt use my vacay time to go uness my church asked me. For them I woud go. But like i said, even when it was in our home town, it wasn’t mentioned in our meetings.
Not to be pejorative, but maybe you SBC geeks could explain to me why going is important, since no matter what happens there it doesnt seemt to affect my local church, or the reasons we give. And if my 150 member church feels that way, maybe a lot of other small churches do as well. I suppose if the SBC went sideways doctrinally, we would stop giving. But its a big ship, and it makes only incremental turns, so that would take a while I do imagine.
I would say that it does affect your church, though the effect might not be seen immediately. I don’t want to say it’s trickle down because of the political connotations of that term, but the convention that is healthy at the top will lead to healthy entities, which can lead to training healthy pastors, and will lead to healthy churches. It does affect your church, but more in the long run than the short run. That’s my view.
Luke,
I’m not saying that a good convention or a bad one doesnt eventually affect my church. Rather, does it affect it enough to make it imperative that we send a delegate? From another comment, only 5% of SBC churches actually send delegates. I dont think my pastor actually went to one of the 5 SBC seminaries. The thread is about getting more to attend. Thequestion is WHY?
I have no problem with those who don’t see the AM as a priority and it’s mostly a preacher thing. As a pastor, when kids were still with us we would plan vacations around the convention. Now, mostly enjoy seeing friends. The SBC doesn’t exist without the AM. It is critical in that regard as the structure through which tens of thousands of churches cooperate together.
If you really get into the statistics of it all, Lifeway does a good convention analysis, or you can pick up a copy of the SBC annual after the fact and read what the registration secretary recorded. There are something like 50,000 churches in the SBC, but the total number of churches represented even at some of the larger gatherings runs between 1,200 and 2,400 depending on the location. So in any given year, a max of 5% of the churches send messengers. Larger churches send multiple messengers, so the small churches, which make up 85% of the convention’s congregations, are way under-represented. I would guess that by sliding the location to different parts of the country, over a decade, perhaps a third of the churches would send at least their pastor.
Last year in Phoenix was my first time there and I enjoyed the location. Huge population center so presence there is a positive thing. I think most of all the fact that no one else goes to Phoneix in the summer means the price is kept low, hotel & convention center costs, etc… I’m thankful for the EC working to keep costs down on that front so I’m happy to go to Phoenix whenever.
Phoenix, which happens to be my hometown though I haven’t lived there for a while, is a great convention city and while June is a scorcher (I’ve seen it at 115) the convention center and hotel complex makes it possible to avoid having to go outside to move from one place to the other. I’ve attended SBC meetings in Atlanta, Indianapolis, San Antonio, Houston, and Nashville, and Phoenix beats them all. I think the smaller attendance is just part of geography. Phoenix is a long way from the places where Southern Baptists tend to be more numerous.
Ideas:
1. Free Chick-fil-A chicken biscuits all through the day.
2. Slap a price on attending, like $399, but then announce that the first 10,000 registrants get in free. We’ll have 10,000 every year. Baptists who won’t cross the street for a free meeting will travel for days if they think they’ve gotten a deal on one.
3. Institute gong/hook policies for schedule enforcement. Bang the gong, then give ’em the hook!
4. Two words: Taco Tuesday.
5. Free Kevin Ezell Sweater Vests.
Looking at that data, I think it’s clear that the annual meeting should stay within the Bible Belt each year (primary SBC footprint). Rotate among cities that have a certain % of churches within a certain radius. So yeah, Nashville and Orlando should get it every 5 years at least.
Lesser-known smaller cities should be considered as well though the issue will probably be lack of desired convention space.
We could consider putting in travel reimbursement costs in the CP for any pastor or delegate who has to travel more than a certain number of miles to get there. Or maybe limit to just small-church attendees?
Or we can always just open satellite voting locations… 😉
Aren’t the cities chosen partially if not mostly based on the proximity their hotels and restaurants are to where the Convention is being held?
That would make sense.
I was told, several years ago, that there is a minimum number of hotel rooms that must be made available for the SBC block with walking distance, or directly connected to the convention center. There aren’t many cities in the “Bible Belt” that have that arrangement other than the ones which routinely host. Other than Nashville, and Greensboro, NC which drew a crowd because of a contested election, Orlando has the big numbers, and it’s not in the Bible Belt. Ironically Houston, which is considered the “buckle” of the Bible belt, had the second smallest convention in the decade. And St. Louis and Kansas City draw fairly well, and they’re not in the Bible belt either.
Fair points. I’m surprised Atlanta hasn’t had a return visit after nearly 20 years and it’s not one of the future sites over the next few years either.
Great article – I just hope you got your tongue out of your cheek before you hurt yourself. I think the trends speak for themselves. Location (destination) is certainly a factor as far as whether it’s an attractive tourist city. Controversy, real or perceived, is a real factor. I went for the first time this year, primarily because it was close and I had never been after over 30 years of ministry. I enjoyed it and it helped me learn much more about how things “work”. However, if I never mentioned SBC in my church, nobody would ever ask me about it, and many have no idea what that really means or that there is a convention every year. The same for state convention work and association work. In most of the churches I’ve served, it’s just not on the radar screen because people can’t see how it affects their church directly.
They would see if you showed them.
You would think so…but in my last church I was the Moderator/DOM for a small association and talked about what we were doing and promoted our events, and nobody would get involved. Certainly it starts with leadership. I realize that.
I too have been concerned about the lack of participation in our Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting. I wanted to share come of my ideas that I would like to be prayerfully considered:
1. Preaching that is expository that takes us into the riches, depth, and meat of the word instead of fake expository preaching that is more like a snack with long personal stories that do not feed the soul and spirit like the Word of God would accomplish.
2. Preaching that emphasizes the “exchanged life.” Christ in me and his supernatural power is what we heard preached years ago in our convention. The Spirit Filled life that takes us to the Cross in brokenness, pray, confession of Sin, Crucifixion of the Sinful Nature, and the Lordship of Christ is strangely missing.
3. Preaching that is prophetic. Pastors realizing that Jesus is the answer for every generation, and that understand the crisis of the hour and issue warnings of God’s judgement that will fall on an unrepentant ration and offering the love, forgiveness and redemption power of a sovereign, gracious, everlasting, and compassion Savior.
4. .I am stunned by the lecturing of pastors directed at a political party,and those that support it’s leaders,that is in the process of appointing supreme court justices that will reverse the evil of murdering babies and the secularizing of America’s institutions and schools, and destroying marriage. Yet these same pastors are oddly silent on toxic, deceitful, and immoral politicians who support murdering babies, the destruction of marriage, and the secularizing of America. The hypocrisy is glaring to those of us that are critical thinkers, and who support no political party, but will vote for those who vote our values, and encourage all to do the same. We need preaching that avoids hypocrisy.
5. Pastors who support the cooperative program. It’s difficult for many to listen to individuals who say that care about us as pastors and care about missions who expect other churches to sacrifice in the percentage giving while they do not.
6. Preaching that deals with the great social evils of the day. How is it that our nation is drowning in alcohol and related spousal abusive and crime (support by the WHO which is no conservative Christian group), and yet our own convention president buries his head in the sand and ignores the issue? What percentage of our budgets our given to help the homeless. What plan do we have in our church to aggressively reach people of color.