fbpx
×

Log into your account

We have changed software providers for our subscription database. Old login credentials will no longer work. Please click the "Register" link below to create a new account. If you do not know your new account number you can contact [email protected]
SBC: by the numbers
Mark Kelly, Baptist Press
July 22, 2009
3 MIN READ TIME

SBC: by the numbers

SBC: by the numbers
Mark Kelly, Baptist Press
July 22, 2009

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Official registration figures for the 2009 Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting in Louisville, Ky., have been released by SBC registration secretary Jim Wells.

A total of 8,795 messengers were sent by 3,642 churches from 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. While attendance was up significantly among the 35-39-year-old demographic, it was down in the 45-49 and 55-59 categories and up among those 60 and over.

Kentucky Baptists had the largest number of messengers, 1,680, at the June 23-24 meeting at the Kentucky Exposition Center, accounting for 23.61 percent of the registration total.

The next four leading states in messenger count were Tennessee, 805 messengers (11.31 percent of the total); Georgia, 730 (10.26 percent); North Carolina, 537 (7.55 percent); and Alabama, 526 (7.39 percent).

Official state-by-state registration numbers follow: Alaska, 8; Alabama, 526; Arkansas, 239; Arizona, 21; California, 122; Colorado, 25; Connecticut, 3; District of Columbia, 13; Delaware, 4; Florida, 393; Georgia, 730; Hawaii, 20; Iowa, 13; Idaho 4; Illinois, 287; Indiana, 347; Kansas, 53; Kentucky, 1,680; Louisiana, 210; Massachusetts, 2; Maryland, 86; Maine, 1; Michigan, 62; Minnesota, 7; Missouri, 354; Mississippi, 422; Montana, 2; North Carolina, 537; Nebraska, 5; New Hampshire, 1; New Jersey, 7; New Mexico, 23; Nevada, 25; New York, 35; Ohio, 249; Oklahoma, 204; Oregon, 5; Pennsylvania, 41; 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; and Wyoming, 9. No messengers registered from North Dakota or Rhode Island.

By gender, 61.51 percent of the 8,795 messengers were male, 38.49 percent female.

According to data from 846 messengers who provided additional information during the registration process, messengers ages 18-29 accounted for 5.56 percent of the total; ages 30-34, 5.20 percent; ages 35-39, 8.16 percent; ages 40-44, 6.15 percent; ages 45-49, 8.39 percent; ages 50-54, 15.25 percent; ages 55-59, 16.78 percent; ages 60 and over, 34.52 percent.

The age categories that showed the most dramatic changes over the 2008 meeting were 35-39, up from 5.51 percent; 45-49, down from 13.10 percent; 55-59, down from 18.90 percent; and 60 and over, up from 31.25 percent.

By vocation, according to the data compiled from the 846 messengers, 44.80 percent were senior pastors; 10.87 percent were homemakers; 10.99 percent were other church staff; 4.14 percent worked in associational missions; 3.55 percent were state convention, entity or institution staff members; 1.77 percent were other denominational employees; 1.54 percent worked in evangelism; 1.89 percent were seminary students; 2.72 percent were involved in North American or international missions; and 17.73 percent listed “other.”

For 165 of the 846 messengers, the convention in Louisville was their first SBC annual meeting, or 19.50 percent of the total; 214 had attended an SBC meeting five times or less, or 25.30 percent; 166 had attended six to 10 times, 19.62 percent; and 301 had attended 11 or more times, 35.58 percent.

In traveling to Louisville, 82.39 percent of the 846 messengers came by car; 15.25 percent by plane. In terms of expenditures to attend the annual meeting, 51 of the 846 estimated they would be spending under $100, 6.03 percent; 78 estimated $100-299, 9.22 percent; 181 estimated $300-599, 21.39 percent; 189 estimated $600-999, or 22.34 percent; 204 estimated $1,000-1,499, or 24.11 percent; 118 estimated $1,500-1,999, 13.95 percent; and 25 estimated $2,000 or more, 2.96 percent.

Of the 846 messengers who provided the additional information at registration, 271 said no other family members were with them in Louisville, or 32.03 percent; 433 brought one family member, 51.18 percent; 119 brought two to four family members, 14.07 percent; and 23 brought five or more family members, 2.72 percent.

Last year’s SBC registration total for Indianapolis was 7,277.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Kelly is an assistant editor of Baptist Press.)