Thousands of Southern Baptist church members will descend upon Indianapolis for the SBC Annual Meeting on June 9-12, 2024. What does it take to pull this meeting off, and how is a state convention involved? Here are a few fun facts.

 

The SBC Executive Committee staff work hard

A meeting of this size take a lot of work, and it begins early. Lynn Richmond, Jonathan Howe, and a few other EC staff members were in Indy even before the New Orleans SBC Annual Meeting. A couple of our staff and the Crossroads Association leader met with them in the convention center in April of 2023 to talk through all that would need to happen to meet in the summer of 2024. Lynn’s main job is to direct everything for this meeting.

Most people show up and enjoy all that happens for this meeting probably without thinking about what it takes to make it happen.

We helped the EC staff find a chairperson for the Local Encouragement Team

Alison Blankenship (SCBI Staff) is the chairperson for the Local Encouragement Team. When Jonathan Howe told us this person needed to know the churches of the convention and the Indy area, Alison was the clear choice. She’s donating her time to this committee’s main purpose of enlisting the 500-700 volunteers it takes. There will be a website for you to sign up to serve at the Annual Meeting. That coordination is done by Alison and her volunteer team leaders in conjunction with the EC staff.

The Local Encouragement Team met with EC staff at the convention center on July 25, and they are excited to host the SBC Kick Off Rally on Tuesday, August 15, at 11:30am at Harvest Church in Carmel. That rally is open to all Indiana Baptists, and will feature Dr. Willie McLaurin (interim CEO of the SBC EC) and Dr. Bart Barber (SBC President). It’s a free lunch and program, so plan to attend!

We assist the NAMB Evangelism team to coordinate Crossover Efforts

Crossover is a big effort of Baptists doing evangelism activities together the weekend before the annual meeting. Churches around Indy can choose to host outreach activities, and anyone can sign up to participate. This is a huge endeavor that takes a lot of cooperation between NAMB, SCBI, and the Crossroads Association. On July 25, close to 20 leaders, including NAMB leaders, some SCBI staff, Chris Kellermeyer (Crossroad’s associational leader), and many church leaders around the area, gathered at the Java House in Carmel to hear an overview of how Crossover works and give feedback and input on some new ideas. There was a lot of excitement in that meeting with large and small churches represented, knowing that we can do a lot together through Crossover. Pastor Roger Kinion has been contracted by NAMB to be their on-the-ground coordinator, and Scooter Kellum serves as our liason from SCBI staff to the NAMB evangelism team for this effort.

Every SBC church is autonomous, but they’re also part of a really large family. It takes many volunteers and the faithfulness of the EC staff to pull the annual meeting together. Let’s come together and enjoy the fellowship and evangelism happening around Indy in June 2024!