California pastors wanting to receive more information about the 2022 Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting in Anaheim will get the opportunity during a luncheon on Aug. 17.
The event, scheduled from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., will feature addresses from SBC Executive Committee President Ronnie Floyd, SBC President Ed Litton and SBC Pastors’ Conference President Matt Henslee. It will take place at the Anaheim Convention Center, Room 303, Level 3. The luncheon is free, so participants are encouraged to register to secure a space.
Floyd called the luncheon a launching point for work over the next 10 months in anticipation of Southern Baptists regathering.
“We want to begin the process of building a vision of the 2022 SBC annual meeting with California Baptist churches and leaders,” he said. “When I served as SBC president from 2014-16, we did this type of gathering with churches and leaders in the host cities for the SBC annual meetings. My purpose was to create vision and anticipation about what God may want to do with us and through us when we meet together.”
Southern Baptist ministry in California is crucial for the rest of the country, Litton said.
“The annual meeting will be an amazing opportunity for Southern Baptists to encourage and join the work of God that is happening in California,” he said. “It also excites me for Southern Baptists to see the vast mission field of our most populous and diverse state.
“For better or worse, California sets trends for our nation, and we need to seize on the tremendous potential in planting churches that will impact the spread of the gospel across our land.”
Anaheim will also see the return of the SBC Pastors’ Conference, which had been replaced in 2021 by the Send Conference hosted by the North American Mission Board and International Mission Board.
“Your Pastors’ Conference team has been hard at work dreaming together, sketching out some ideas, and locking in our initial plans over the past two months,” Henslee said. “I’m looking forward to getting on the ground in Anaheim to share our vision for the 2022 SBC Pastors’ Conference with local pastors and church leaders. I aim to communicate the heart behind our plans and am praying local leaders and volunteers will say, ‘Yes, I am all in for this!’”
Floyd pointed to additional benefits for attendees.
“Pastors will fellowship with fellow pastors, staff members and church leaders from various churches across California,” he said. “They will also meet some of our SBC leaders who will be joining me, including SBC President Ed Litton and SBC Pastors’ Conference President Matt Henslee. Additionally, some of our SBC Executive Committee team will join me as I lead this gathering and meet with those who are with us.
“I deeply believe they will not want to miss this gathering. It will be inspiring, informative, and very helpful for all of us as we begin to pray daily and work diligently towards the 2022 SBC annual meeting in Anaheim. Please come, and make reservations now so we can plan for you and your guests.
“We want California Baptists to know they are important to our SBC family and we desire partnership in the gospel with each of them in every way.”
The most recent annual meeting was the largest in a generation for Southern Baptists, as 15,726 registered messengers joined guests, exhibitors and others at the Nashville Music City Center. For the second consecutive meeting those messengers represented all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. In addition, 39% of messengers were attending their first SBC annual meeting, most of them from churches that had not previously sent messengers.
(EDITOR’S NOTE – Scott Barkley is national correspondent for Baptist Press.)
