This Year’s SBC Meeting Should Be Interesting

It has been observed by some Baptist historians and onlookers that when there is a controversy, attendance increases at the annual Southern Baptist Convention meeting. If that observation is accurate, this year’s SBC has the potential to be very interesting.

Three areas that could spur increased attention and attendance are the election of a new president, the location of the meeting in Dallas, Texas, and the uneasiness — or even controversy — surrounding the need to find new presidents for the International Mission Board and the SBC Executive Committee. Add to that the controversy swirling around Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary president Paige Patterson, and it is possible for attendance to reach 10,000 or more.

Meeting June 12 and 13 at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, the auxiliary meetings, luncheons, dinners, etc., will begin in earnest on Sunday, June 10. Crossover, an evangelistic outreach of the North American Mission Board and cooperating churches, will partner with the new (but well-known) Southern Baptist evangelist Greg Laurie for a one-day Harvest crusade on Sunday, June 10, at AT&T Stadium. In 2016, Laurie spoke to more than 82,000 in the same stadium. This year’s crusade attendance will certainly far exceed the attendance at the SBC annual meeting.

Not since the controversial Orlando meeting of 2010 have messengers gathered together in numbers exceeding 10,000. (There were 11,075 in attendance at the Orlando meeting.) The motivation behind increased attendance that year was the presentation of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force. The report passed in a majority vote, but it was divisive.

This year, J.D. Greear and Ken Hemphill are the two announced candidates for president. Both have earned Ph.D. degrees and have encouraged their supporters to approach this year’s presidential election with civility and prayer.

Following the 2016 election of Steve Gaines, after two runoff votes failed to secure a majority of votes for either candidate, Greear withdrew and supported Gaines. At the time, Gaines said he would be willing to nominate Greear should he be a candidate for the presidency in the future. Sometime later, the two talked and prayed, and they determined that a sitting president should not endorse a candidate for president.

However, following the 2016 election, it was assumed by most messengers that Greear would be the president following Gaines. Now that Hemphill has announced his desire to be president, the likely two-person race will be interesting. Greear is a successful younger pastor of a contemporary church. Hemphill served as president of Southwestern and at other denominational posts before coming to work at North Greenville University.

Despite theological or even methodological differences, the vote may come down to who shows up at the annual meeting. A younger crowd would likely favor Greear, while the older generation may support Hemphill. Both would certainly reach some people from a range of ages. Hemphill is 70, and Greear is 45.

David Platt’s resignation as IMB president stirred the waters of controversy, but not as much as the resignation of Executive Committee CEO Frank Page due to a moral failure. These two positions are critically important and may arouse increased interest among potential messengers, thus creating greater attendance.

Location is always an important factor. When the SBC has met in the Southern states, the attendance has been higher. The last time the convention met in Dallas was in 1997, when 12,420 messengers were registered. Dallas also holds the record for the highest attendance, which occurred during the throes of the Conservative Resurgence, when 45,519 attended. Last year, the Phoenix attendance was 5,018. The attendance at Dallas should be much better than Phoenix, but will it exceed the 1997 attendance?

The controversy surrounding Southwestern Seminary president Paige Patterson may draw people to this year’s convention who otherwise might not attend. As the Courier went to press, the Southwestern trustee board had called a special meeting at Patterson’s request for May 22. Speculation was that this meeting involved a discussion of Patterson’s future as president of the seminary. (Check with BaptistCourier.com for updates.)

The SBC has been referred to as the largest business meeting in the world. During the meeting, reports will be presented, music will fill the arena, preaching will challenge and inspire, resolutions will be made, and Southern Baptists will return to their churches to serve Jesus Christ.

If you are not attending the convention, you can view the proceedings at sbcannualmeeting.net. This link will be available, according to the Executive Committee, on Sunday, June 10.

This convention is on track to be the most interesting meeting since 2010.