By Mark A. Taylor
It seems everyone who attended this year’s North American Christian Convention was happy about their experience. Many speak of the wonderful resort where the conference was held under just one roof July 10-13. They praise the preaching. They comment on the refreshing insights from special guests like Alan Hirsch and Reggie McNeal. They were engaged and inspired by the creative worship led by Tim Foot. They loved laughing with Chonda Pierce. And quite a few of them played golf and enjoyed the waterpark-like pools at Orlando’s World Center Marriott Resort and Convention Center.
And now that the cold, hard numbers are in from NACC Managing Director Larry Collins, everyone can see objective reasons to be happy.
First there’s attendance. When you add Bible Bowl teams (101 of ’em) and unregistered attendees to the registration total of 5,694, Collins estimates total attendance of almost 8,400, not bad for a convention so far away from our movement’s strength in the Midwest. Morning main session attendance averaged 2,919, and evening main session attendance averaged 4,423 with a high of 4,615 on Thursday. This is in addition to folks watching the sessions from their hotel rooms or on one of the widescreen monitors throughout the facility.
Live streaming was a big success this year, with total video-on-demand views of 15,206. Meanwhile, main sessions are still available at the NACC website for a limited time. As of July 14, these sessions had been viewed almost 27,000 times.
The convention offering exceeded the $130,000 goal, at $144, 213, due largely to the opening night offering of $80,000. Other attendance successes:
Almost 700 gathered for the President’s Banquet, with the expectation that Jeff Walling (left*), Dan Garrett, and Dave Stone (right) would entertain them, and they weren’t disappointed. The “presidential debate” hosted by Garrett allowed Walling and Stone the opportunity to explain why they should be the next NACC president. The result was hilarious, especially when they wandered from their script.
The next day, close to 900 attended the Ladies Luncheon sponsored by Standard Publishing, and again laughter was the main item on the menu with giggles and guffaws created by guest Chonda Pierce.
Happy conversation and many smiles were the norm for the whole week. Those who attended were very glad to be there–refreshed by the creative  convention schedule, a beautiful location, and the spirit of Christ in the sessions and  hallway conversations.
* Tom Patrick photos
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