DALLAS (BP) — Southern Baptists wanting to provide input for future annual meetings are able to do so through a newly formed survey.
A brief series of questions allows for the survey to be completed in a matter of minutes. Questions address a number of issues, including sites for the future meetings, the importance of different events and the cost of attending.
“We are just over 100 days from the 2025 (Southern Baptist Convention) SBC annual meeting. As we prepare together in Dallas, we wanted to hear from Southern Baptists on what matters most to them and also what encourages — or discourages — them from attending every year,” said Jonathan Howe, SBC Executive Committee vice president for convention administration.
“The EC will also be bringing recommendations for future annual meeting locations to the messengers this year,” he said. “As we choose future cities, we want to be conscious of the pain points for many Southern Baptists when it comes to traveling to an annual meeting each summer.
“We obviously can’t address every issue every messenger may have each year, but our team’s goal is to maximize every Southern Baptist’s ability and accessibility to attend the annual meeting every June.”
The upcoming annual meeting and preceding pastors’ conference will be held in Dallas from June 8-11. Future locations are Orlando (2026) and Salt Lake City (2027).
Gearing up for Dallas
Plans for this year’s meeting are taking shape, and many of the events surrounding the meeting are scheduled and accepting registrations.
Times and locations for everything from the SBC’s many ethnic fellowship meetings to seminary alumni luncheons to events for women and families are listed on the website for the Dallas meeting.
“While the business sessions and the pastors’ conference may be the headline events, there are more than 150 other events that take place each summer in conjunction with the annual meeting,” Howe said. “The event listing comprises many, but not all of those events and is updated as we get closer to June.
“One thing to note, only events tied to Southern Baptist ministries and those booked through the SBC Executive Committee will be listed. So there might be other ministries that messengers might need to check with to verify details of other events. But we will update things on the annual meeting website all the way up to our time together in Dallas.”
To see a list of events and register for many of them, go to sbcannualmeeting.net/events.
(EDITOR’S NOTE — Scott Barkley is chief national correspondent for Baptist Press.)
