Missouri numbers up at SBC annual meeting

By Brian Koonce

Staff Writer

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – More than 350 Missouri Southern Baptists attended the Southern Baptist Convention June 23-24 annual meeting here.

Overall, interest in the Great Commission Resurgence caused an attendance resurgence at the annual meeting here, according to Registration Secretary Jim Wells. This year’s unofficial messenger count was 8,790, more than 1,500 over last year’s tally in Indianapolis.

“It was way above my expectations,” Wells said.

Location played a large role as well. Kentucky had the largest state representation with 1,597 messengers, more than twice its 2008 delegation and almost twice as many as the next largest state, Tennessee.

“It was also a younger convention,” Wells said. “I saw a lot of younger pastors and families.”

Wells said the large Kentucky numbers and the younger crowd could be attributed to the annual meeting’s close proximity to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, located in Louisville.

Missouri ranked 10th among the state conventions in the number of registered messengers with 354, just behind ninth-place Texas with 389. That is up from the 293 who attended last year’s meeting in Indianapolis. Among those leading the strong Missouri contingent to Louisville were Missouri Baptist Convention Executive Director David Tolliver and his wife, Myra, and MBC President Bruce McCoy, pastor, Canaan Baptist Church, St. Louis.

The registration process “went very smoothly,” Wells said, praising the participation of 60 collegiate volunteers from Baptist Collegiate Ministries in Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina and Indiana.

As for next year in Orlando, Wells said he thinks he will see another boost in attendance.

“It’ll be way up,” he said. “I’m looking for a significantly larger group because it is such a family friendly destination.”

The unofficial state-by-state messenger registration numbers are as follows: Alaska, 8; Alabama, 526; Arkansas, 239; Arizona, 21; California, 122; Colorado, 25; Connecticut, 3; Washington, D.C., 13; Delaware, 4; Florida, 393; Georgia, 730; Hawaii, 20; Iowa, 13; Idaho, 4; Illinois, 287; Indiana, 347; Kansas, 53; Kentucky, 1,597; Louisiana, 210; Massachusetts, 2; Maryland, 86; Maine, 1; Michigan, 62; Minnesota, 7; Missouri, 354; Mississippi, 422; Montana, 2; North Carolina, 537; Nevada, 5; New Hampshire, 1; New Jersey, 1; New Mexico, 23; Nevada, 25; New York, 35; Ohio, 249; Oklahoma, 204; Oregon, 5; Pennsylvania, 14; Puerto Rico 2; South Carolina, 414; South Dakota, 6; Tennessee, 805; Texas, 389; Utah, 4; Virginia, 313; Vermont, 5; Washington, 12; Wisconsin, 4; West Virginia 66, Wyoming, 9; unassigned for various reasons, 78.

Official totals for the 2009 annual meeting will be available at the end of June, Wells said.