Compiled from Baptist Press
Messengers raise their ballots at the 2018 SBC Annual Meeting in Dallas. Photo by Van Payne
DALLAS — The Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting drew 9,637 messengers to Dallas June 12-13. The unofficial total is nearly double last year’s 5,015 messengers in Phoenix.
When registered guests, exhibitors and others are included, the count of those at the SBC annual meeting rose to approximately 15,000, according to the convention manager.
It is the highest attendance at an annual meeting since Orlando in 2010 (11,070), but fewer than in 1997 when the convention last met in Dallas (12,519). The all-time high messenger count — 45,519 i
n 1985 — also happened in Dallas in 1985.
Tennessee ranked third in messenger attendance with 615, trailing only Texas (2,036) and Louisiana (718).
Don Currence, registration secretary from Ozark, Mo., credited the high turnout to location, the presidential election, and other issues that garnered the attention of messengers. Given that next year’s meeting location in Alabama is in the heart of the South, he anticipates another high attendance figure.
“Birmingham is a strong location,” Currence said. “It will be less expensive for many people to travel there, and the hotels are cheaper as well. It will be one of the cheaper convention sites we’ve been to.”
