NEW ORLEANS (BP)–While the rains that drenched southeast Louisiana and neighboring Texas ended just in time for the start of the Southern Baptist Convention, severe flooding from the remnants of Tropical Storm Allison likely kept a number of messengers from the 144th session of the SBC, June 12-13 at the Louisiana Superdome.
As of 2:30 p.m. June 13, 9,561 Southern Baptists had registered as messengers from their churches, according to unofficial figures compiled by SBC registration secretary Lee Porter.
Georgia recorded the largest number of messengers with 936. Other leading states were Tennessee with 858; North Carolina, 790; Mississippi, 770; and Alabama, 731.
Unofficial state-by-state registration numbers are: Alabama, 731; Alaska, 12; Arizona, 41; Arkansas, 327; California, 117; Colorado, 45; Connecticut, 2; District of Columbia, 12; Florida, 720; Georgia, 936; Hawaii, 4; Idaho, 6; Illinois, 180; Indiana, 83; Iowa, 10; Kansas, 58; Kentucky, 427; Louisiana, 685; Maine, 1; Maryland, 73; Massachusetts, 2; Michigan, 36; Minnesota, 5; Mississippi, 770; Missouri, 265; Montana, 1; Nebraska, 5; Nevada, 24 ; New Hampshire 6; New Jersey, 12; New Mexico, 39; New York, 39; North Carolina, 790; North Dakota, 2; Ohio, 159; Oklahoma, 235; Oregon, 8; Pennsylvania, 28;
South Carolina, 555; South Dakota, 1; Tennessee, 858; Texas, 719; Utah, 12; Vermont, 2; Virginia, 365; Washington, 13; West Virginia, 47; Wisconsin, 4; Wyoming, 6. The territory of Puerto Rico had 1 messenger attending.
Two states, Delaware and Rhode Island, had no registered messengers.
Registration for last year’s SBC annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., totaled 11,951.
This year’s SBC annual meeting was the first in recent memory to battle a tropical storm. Allison resulted in 20 Louisiana parishes (counties) being declared disaster areas and, in Houston, the devastation of the Union Baptist Association’s offices and flooding and other damage to 18 churches, according to the association’s count to date.
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