7 hours ago
Southern Baptist Convention happening in Dallas this week
The Brief
The Southern Baptist Convention is currently underway at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center in Dallas.
About 20,000 people are expected to attend.
The four-day conference is expected to bring an economic boost to the Dallas area.
DALLAS - The Southern Baptist Convention, the country's largest religious conference, is happening in Dallas this week.
What we know
The convention kicked off Sunday and is expected to bring as many as 20,000 people to the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center in Downtown Dallas throughout the week.
It's the largest annual religious gathering in the United States and is back in Dallas for the first time since 2018.
The conference is expected to bring a big boost to the local economy with visitors booking hotels, shopping, eating at restaurants, and visiting museums and other attractions.
Visit Dallas expects direct spending from the event will bring in about $12.8 million, with an additional $7.5 million in indirect spending and more than $600,000 in tax revenue.
While a lot of the money will stay downtown, other popular Dallas areas are expecting to benefit as well.
What's next
The Southern Baptist Convention brings members together to vote on a path forward.
They're expected to vote this year on a stricter ban on women pastors and work to overturn the Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage 10 years ago, among other measures.
By the numbers
There are 12 million Southern Baptists across the country, and more than 2 million are Texans.
The Source
FOX 4's Shannon Murray gathered information for this story from an interview with Craig Davis, the president and CEO of Visit Dallas.
