California Southern Baptist Convention ranked in the top 20 percent nationwide in total baptisms for 2005 among Baptist state conventions.
Randy McWhorter, leader of the CSBC healthy church group and evangelism specialist, reports 18,849 baptisms in California in 2005, a 30 percent increase over the baptism figure for 2004. That number ranked CSBC seventh among the 40 state Baptist conventions.
McWhorter also reports that California was the only state convention not in the south to make the top 10. In the ranking, California came in behind Texas, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Alabama. California however ranked ahead of Kentucky, South Carolina and Oklahoma to round out the top 10.
The 2005 figure is the largest total reported since 1982 when 18,850 was recorded. The 2005 figure is almost 39 percent, more than the 13,570 reported in 2004.
One reason for the growth in recorded baptisms can be attributed to the increased number of Annual Church Profiles (ACPs) collected for the 2005 church year, according to Steve Foss, information technology specialist for CSBC. The ACP is a statistical survey of information to help track trends in churches and missions. In 2004 CSBC collected about 50 percent of the annual reports, but collected 70 percent for 2005.
McWhorter noted the “Everyone Can” evangelistic emphasis encouraged by Southern Baptist Convention president Bobby Welch may be another possible factor for the increase in recorded baptisms.
According to the 2005 statistics, each CSBC congregation averaged 10 baptisms and it took 27 California Southern Baptists to win and baptize one person.
The 18,849 reported baptisms, 5 percent of the national total of 371,850, fell into the following age categories:
| 126 |
preschoolers |
| 4,644 |
ages 6 - 11 |
| 3,835 |
ages 12-17 |
| 3,922 |
ages 18-29 |
| 6,322 |
ages 30-59 |
| 0 |
60 and older |
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