SBC Indy Down 1,300 Messengers Over 4 Years

Maybe higher gas prices? Or an overestimation in ’04? At any rate, I bet with twittering, blogs, live video stream, etc., more people are following this convention than perhaps ever before.

Stephen Jones’s last blog post..Donate to China or Burma

That really quite surprises me.

I would have guessed the opposite, a dramatic increase.

This year there was controversy about the president, buzz about membership resolutions, and general concern over declining figures.

There is, I assume, a general apathy toward the annual meeting, but I really expected an increase since there was some stuff going down.

Was there anything out of the ordinary going on in 2004? I can’t remember anything.

That was B.B. for me, Before Blogging.

GUNNY HARTMAN’s last blog post..Well, I’m in the amazing business.

Economy slow-down
High hotel costs
Gas prices
Flooding in S. Indiana (closed I-65)

Those right there are reason enough to drop attendance by 1300.

Or are you trying to say something else?

Scott’s last blog post..Lakeland “Revival”

i can hear dr. page speaking to the crowd from where i can sit right now. tell you what i think, as a first time attender: – lack of major discernable battleground issues (although congrats to tom ascol and the ‘founders’ bunch on getting rigorous regenerate church membership resolution amended and passed). – lack of focus on the theme – with few exceptions, the reports have been general and lacking teeth (clear application) – poor preaching at the pastor’s conference. lots of funny moments. lots of free stuff. but the denomination of greats like mohler, rogers, york, dever, and stanley… Read more »

I know that several of my young pastor friends stayed home because they can only go to so many events a year, and they prefer conferences over conventions. If you are reformed (as most of these guys are), you’ve got the Piper conference, the MacArthur conference, the Sproul conference, T4G, etc. The number of these things keep increasing. You can’t go to everything, and often I think the convention loses out. I think the motion that was made concerning using convention week to offer seminars and theological classes was a helpful one that would help attendance at the convention. Justin… Read more »

Good points about gas prices and access to information via blogs and video, etc.

If one has a limited amount of budget for conference action, is this the most bang for ministry buck as far as edification goes?

GUNNY HARTMAN’s last blog post..No? Okay, then shut your piehole and listen to me when I say that I am FINISHED with the checking-of-the-bags CONVERSATION.

I agree with Scott, but I think an additional reason is that older ministers are retiring, dying, losing health, losing convention allowance from churches, etc. at a faster rate than the convention is engaging the younger pastor.

Disagree re: “poor preaching at pastor’s conference” comment. Eliff, Wicker and Litton, especially strong, imo. But maybe I needed it more than others who disagree.

Thought PC set the tone for a convention that finally passed Regenerate Church Membership motion.

I think it is a combination of things. Gas prices and the flooding may have had an effect, though minimal. The SBC attendance has been on a downward trend for more than a decade now. Small churches, which make up as much as 80% of the membership of the SBC, are finding it more and more difficult to afford the sharp increases in air fare or other travel costs, including hotel rates which are up significantly nationwide. Indianapolis was not bad in that regard, compared to other places that the SBC favors. And the fact of the matter is that… Read more »

You know, when you think of all the costs involved in the annual meeting, one wonders if it’s all worth it. After all, what is it that we necessarily need to have a great number of people there to accomplish? There are (allegedly) millions of Southern Baptists, but a tiny few who show up to these things. How many churches are even represented? The reports could be emailed, put on a website, and/or mailed (if we just had to spend that kind of money). Voting could be done online, just as the ACP can be done online. Think about how… Read more »

Gunny,

My local association was offering “Full Scholarships” paid for by the SBC to any pastor willing to attend… and a free ride…

I am not sure if this was something that was available for all Southern Baptist Pastors or not, but if it was then the price of Gas is not the reason for poor attendance.

What does it say about the health of the annual convention when the SBC is willing to pay pastors to attend?

Grace Always,

Greg Alford’s last blog post..Anti-Great-Commission Policy?

Thanks for sharing that, Greg.

I’ve never heard of such an offer, but I can assure you it would motivate at least one more to go.

My church couldn’t afford it and I certainly couldn’t personally, so it was never really on the table.

But, if someone would have paid my lodging and travel expenses, I’d probably go every year, but especially to Indy, because they have White Castles.

GUNNY HARTMAN’s last blog post..Isms, in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an ism, he should believe in himself.

I remember a time when I was yet in High School, pre OK corral, then people would talk for weeks in advance about the upcoming convention, caravan in masse and attend whatever it was that was offered at the time, and come home and chitter and chatter for weeks again about the convention that they had just attended, and how it would be next year…what has changed the voting mechanism?

This was also my first time attending the Convention. I agree with what Tony said here. It really lacked much business other than the regenerate church membership resolution and the normal stuff of electing a president. It was a bunch of advertisements for the CP and the seminaries mostly. I live in central Indiana, so I went. I’ll go to Louisville, but I won’t travel any further to go in the future. It isn’t worth it. As for the Pastor’s Conference: I agree with pastakeith when he said: ” – poor preaching at the pastor’s conference. lots of funny moments.… Read more »