It’s less than a month to the convention in Birmingham. Southern Baptists will show up by the thousands and mix and mingle with all the construction crews tearing up downtown. One hopes that there is no reverend road rage. These guys are just working stiffs, doing their job.
Here’s a list of SBC meetings for the past 52 years, courtesy of the Baptist Courier (I added the 2018 figure). This is for registered messengers, not guests, press, or Secret Service personnel.
1967 Miami Beach – 14,794
1968 Houston – 15,071
1969 New Orleans – 16,678
1970 Denver – 13,692
1971 St. Louis – 13,153
1972 Philadelphia – 13,153
1973 Portland – 8,871
1974 Dallas – 18,190
1975 Miami Beach – 16,421
1976 Norfolk – 18,637
1977 Kansas City – 16,271
1978 Atlanta – 22,872
1979 Houston – 15,947
1980 St. Louis – 13,844
1981 Los Angeles – 13,529
1982 New Orleans – 20,456
1983 Pittsburgh – 13,740
1984 Kansas City – 17,101
1985 Dallas – 45,519
1986 Atlanta – 40,987
1987 St. Louis – 25,607
1988 San Antonio – 32,727
1989 Las Vegas – 20,411
1990 New Orleans – 38,403
1991 Atlanta – 23,465
1992 Indianapolis – 17,956
1993 Houston – 17,768
1994 Orlando – 20,370
1995 Atlanta – 20,654
1996 New Orleans – 13,706
1997 Dallas – 12,420
1998 Salt Lake – 8,585
1999 Atlanta – 11,608
2000 Orlando – 11,959
2001 New Orleans – 9,584
2002 St. Louis – 9,609
2003 Phoenix – 7,015
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 – 9,632
This year? Probably considerably less than last year in Dallas. Nothing drives convention attendance (or social media numbers) like controversy. There is no election of note this year and no big issue. The sex abuse activits and survivors have a rally planned but I’d guess that will not drive messenger attendance.
And, no, you cannot and should not be able to be a messenger unless you show up in Birmingham and get construction dust on your nice, dry cleaned blue jeans and your spiffy Huarache sandals or your expensive Nike Adapt BB, self-lacing, Bluetooth-enabled sneakers.
