SBC registration secretary Jim Wells has released official registration figures for the 2010 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Orlando, confirming earlier unofficial results showing a boost in registered messengers compared to 2009.
A total of 11,075 messengers were sent by 4,466 churches from 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Only North Dakota had no registered messenger.
The registered messenger count was up nearly 26 percent – from 2009’s 8,795 messengers sent by 3,642 congregations – and is the third-highest in six years: 8,790 in Louisville (2009); 7,277 in Indianapolis (2008); 8,630 in San Antonio (2007); 11,639 messengers in Greensboro, N.C. (2006); 11,641 total in Nashville (2005).
The age group showing the largest increase (3.6 percent) was messengers 45-49 years old, according to a random sampling of registered members.
Predictably, Florida had the largest number of messengers, 1,868, at the June 15-16 meeting in the Orange County Convention Center, accounting for 16.87 percent of the registration total. A total of 602 Florida Baptist congregations sent messengers.
The next four leading states in messenger count were Georgia, 1,251 (11.30 percent of the total) from 470 churches; Alabama, 872 (7.87 percent), 367 churches; Tennessee, 872 (7.87 percent), 317 churches; and North Carolina, 833 (7.52 percent).
South Carolina sent 633 messengers. – BP