NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–Official registration figures for the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in San Antonio were released July 12 by SBC registration secretary Jim Wells.
Texas Baptists sent the largest number of messengers, 1,605, of the 8,630 who registered for the June 12-13 sessions at San Antonio’s Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center. Texans comprised 18.52 percent of the registration.
Other leading states were Tennessee with 653 messengers (7.58 percent of the total); North Carolina, 627 (7.28 percent); Georgia, 602 (6.99 percent); and Florida, 525 (6.09 percent).
Messengers were sent by 3,567 churches from 49 states in addition to the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
Official state-by-state registration numbers follow: Alaska, 9; Alabama, 517; Arkansas, 336; Arizona, 56; California, 160; Colorado, 43; District of Columbia, 8; Delaware, 1; Florida, 525; Georgia, 602; Hawaii, 11; Iowa, 11; Idaho 12; Illinois, 143; Indiana, 73; Kansas, 63; Kentucky, 400; Louisiana, 371; Massachusetts, 3; Maryland, 75; Maine, 4; Michigan, 28; Minnesota, 7; Missouri, 282; Mississippi, 477; Montana, 2; North Carolina, 627; North Dakota, 5; Nebraska, 9; New Hampshire, 3; New Jersey, 2; New Mexico, 89; Nevada, 32; New York, 30; Ohio, 107; Oklahoma, 370; Oregon, 3; Pennsylvania, 22; Puerto Rico, 4; South Carolina, 428; South Dakota, 3; Tennessee, 653; Texas, 1,605; Utah, 13; Virginia, 331; Vermont, 9; Washington, 11; Wisconsin, 9; West Virginia, 37; and Wyoming, 7.
By gender, according to data from 642 messengers who provided additional information during the registration process, 58.71 percent were male; 41.29 percent female.
By age, 18-29-year-olds accounted for 3.12 percent of the 642 messengers; 30-34, 4.67 percent; 35-39, 5.30 percent; 40-44, 5.92 percent; 45-49, 11.06 percent; 50-54, 15.73 percent; 55-59, 18.85 percent; 60 and over, 35.36 percent.
By vocation, 36.92 percent of the 642 messengers were senior pastors; 9.66 percent were other church staff; 4.05 percent worked in associational missions; 3.12 were state convention staff members; 2.34 percent were involved in North American or international missions; 1.71 percent in evangelism; 1.25 percent were other denominational employees; 1.56 percent were seminary students; 17.91 percent were homemakers; and 21.50 percent listed “other.”
For 95 of the 642 messengers, the convention in San Antonio was their first SBC annual meeting, or 14.80 percent of the 642 total; 162 had attended an SBC meeting five times or less, or 25.23 percent; 124 had attended six to 10 times, 19.31 percent; and 261 had attended 11 or more times, 40.65 percent.
In traveling to San Antonio, 48.91 percent of the 642 messengers came by plane; 48.13 percent by car; and 2.96 listed “other.” In terms of expenditures to attend the annual meeting, 179 of the 642 messengers estimated they would be spending $600-999, or 27.88 percent; 164 estimated $1,000-1,499, 25.55 percent; 133 estimated $1,500-1,999, 20.72 percent; 57 estimated $2,000 or more, 8.88 percent; 76 estimated $300-599, 11.84 percent; 23 estimated $100-299, 3.58 percent; and 10 estimated under $100, 1.56 percent.
Of the 642 messengers who provided the additional information at registration, 139 said no other family members were with them in San Antonio, or 21.65 percent; 417 brought one family member, 64.95 percent; 76 brought two to four family members, 11.84 percent; and 10 brought five or more family members, 1.56 percent.
Last year’s SBC registration total in Greensboro, N.C., was 11,639.
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