By Message Staff
Louisiana could see its highest Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting messenger count since 2013 if pre-registration numbers continue to rise.
Through Wednesday afternoon, 208 messengers from Louisiana had pre-registered, according to SBC Vice President for Convention Finance William E. Townes Jr. Though an official number won’t be known until the actual annual meeting in St. Louis, Mo., ends on June 15, the 2015 SBC Annual reported that 175 messengers from Louisiana registered for last year’s meeting in Columbus, Ohio.
The 2013 annual meeting in Houston, Texas, saw 383 messengers register from Louisiana.
The pre-registration numbers for the annual meeting mirror a trend across the SBC, Baptist Press reported on Wednesday. Just under 5,000 have pre-registered so far.
Townes told BP that he projects 6,000-7,000 messengers in St. Louis and 10,000-11,000 total attendees. Last year, 5,407 messengers attended the meeting in Columbus.
Townes told BP in written comments his projection “is just an educated estimate at this point. Based on my best estimate at this point, I would suggest that the hotel reservations are a pretty good indicator of our anticipated increase in attendance. I think the pre-registered messenger count will fluctuate greatly on a daily basis and may be impacted by a number of factors.”
Hotel reservations also are up, compared to 2015. BP reported that 13,275 hotel rooms have been reserved in St. Louis. Last year for the annual meeting in Columbus, 10,829 reserved rooms and 3,267 pre-registered for the meeting.
Information on guest and messenger pre-registration can be found by clicking here. This year, all messengers, exhibitors and guests must be registered and properly badged for entrance into the general sessions of the annual meeting.
