'Growing spirit of optimism': 20,000 to attend SBC's Annual Meeting in Orlando

By Michael Gryboski, Editor Wednesday, May 13, 2026

The Southern Baptist Convention is preparing for one of its largest gatherings in years, with organizers expecting roughly 20,000 people to attend next month’s annual meeting in Orlando, Florida.

The SBC's Annual Meeting and its Pastors’ Conference are scheduled to be held June 7–10 at the Orange County Convention Center. 

Dr. Richard Land, executive editor of The Christian Post and former president of the SBC's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, told CP he believes the projected increase in attendance "reflects a growing spirit of optimism about the SBC's future."

Land added that this is "reflected in the recent reports of significant increases in baptisms and regular church attendance at the local level and the smooth and contention-free recent election of new chief executive officers at Southeastern Seminary in North Carolina, along with Lifeway, the publishing arm of the Convention in Nashville, and the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, the public policy arm of the convention."

Convention Manager Lynn Richmond told Baptist Press (BP), the official news outlet of the SBC, that signs of large attendance began last year when hotels first became available.

“When SBC hotel availability opened in October, the response was immediate,” Richmond explained to BP. “We sold out of room blocks multiple times and added hotels to keep up with demand.”

Jonathan Howe, vice president for convention administration, told BP that the 20,000 attendees will include over 13,000 messengers, who are delegates to the SBC's Annual Meeting.

“This will be our largest annual meeting since Nashville in 2021, and we can’t wait to see SBC families from across the country come together in Orlando,” Howe told BP.

“With more than two dozen partner hotels in the area — many of which are not walkable from the Orange County Convention Center — we are pleased to offer complimentary shuttle service again this year to help facilitate getting messengers and guests to the convention center in an orderly fashion.”

The largest Protestant denomination in the United States, the SBC meets annually in June for convention-wide business, including the election of officers and hearing reports from agencies.

The SBC's Annual Meeting is among the largest deliberative bodies in the country, typically gathering over 10,000 messengers for the purpose of proposing, debating and voting on items.

At present, the record for the largest number of annual meeting attendees in SBC Convention history took place in June 1985, when 45,500 messengers met in Dallas, Texas.

A major focus of that year’s annual meeting was the Conservative Resurgence, a movement within the SBC that sought to remove liberal and modernist theology from the convention.

Charles Stanley, a notable theologically conservative pastor, was re-elected SBC president with 55.3% of the vote, defeating moderate opponent Winfred Moore, who received 44.7% of the vote.

Regarding this year’s annual meeting, two individuals are expected to be nominated for SBC president: South Carolina Pastor Josh Powell and Florida Pastor Willy Rice. Other potential candidates might be nominated later. 

Current SBC President Clint Pressley was elected in 2024 and then overwhelmingly reelected in 2025 with 92.64% of the vote. Per convention law, he cannot run for a third one-year term.