October 1, 2026
ORLANDO, Fla. — A group of Georgia Baptist college students helped set registration records at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting last week while getting a firsthand look at the scope and diversity of Southern Baptist mission work.
The nine students, accompanied by Valdosta State Baptist Collegiate Ministries Director David Williams and his family, served in Orlando as part of a Send Me Now mission trip, assisting with registration for messengers attending the annual meeting.
According to SBC Registration Secretary Don Currence, the previous annual meeting record for the most registrations in one hour was 1,297. This year’s team surpassed that mark three times during the busiest registration periods, recording hourly totals of 1,323, 1,400, and 1,438.
Williams said the experience gave students more than an opportunity to serve behind the scenes. It also allowed them to see the work of Southern Baptists up close.
“It cannot be overstated how impactful it is for college students to serve at the Southern Baptist Convention,” he said. “College students get to see just how far-reaching the Kingdom work of the SBC is, as well as how diverse Southern Baptists truly are.”
This was the Williams family’s second time leading the trip, and he said that both times, students came away with a deeper appreciation for the Convention and the local church.
The BCM Send Me Now team included Kai Freeman, Alessio Williams, Gabe Davis, Riley Girard, Will Hasty, Callie Whigham, Chelsea Brewester, Amelia Dobbs, and Carolyn Bearden. David and Jennifer Williams served alongside their sons, Davis and Daniel.
For many of the students, serving at registration gave them a front-row seat to the breadth of Southern Baptist life.
“I enjoyed meeting the many people across the nation, different ethnicities, cultures, and languages,” Freeman said. “Also, the fact that they all were there for one purpose, and that’s Kingdom business.”
Whigham saw the registration work as a reminder that unseen service still matters.
“It was encouraging to see thousands of people come together with a common mission of sharing the gospel,” she said. “Serving behind the scenes through registration reminded me that every role, no matter how small, contributes to God’s work.”
Hasty was especially interested in observing the Convention’s business sessions and seeing how decisions are made.
“Getting to see the way the governing floor works and the process for how amendments are brought forward, discussed, and voted on was really cool,” he said.
For Girard, the gathering showed how churches from different places and backgrounds cooperate for the sake of the Great Commission.
“I loved seeing churches from all over the nation come together for one purpose: wanting to reach the lost,” she said.
Davis said the trip helped him better understand the work that happens behind the scenes in SBC life and the number of people involved in making that work possible.
The diversity of messengers and the Convention’s emphasis on missions stood out to Brewester.
“I enjoyed seeing the many different cultures and ethnicities that were present,” she said. “It really did feel like a taste of heaven.”
Southern Baptists’ support for missionaries also left a strong impression on her.
“I enjoyed being able to see just how much SBC really loves missionaries and how they’re excited to continue to spread the gospel to all the ends of the earth,” Brewester said. “It was breathtaking to see how so many different types of people are going out on long-term missions, surrendering their personal lives and comfort of home to tell people about the good news of Jesus Christ.”
Seeing local churches support those missionaries showed the power of cooperation, Brewester said.
“It speaks to the beauty of what a local church can do, no matter how big or small,” she said.
For the Georgia students, the trip was both a service opportunity and a reminder of their place in the larger Southern Baptist family. By helping register messengers, they served the churches. By watching those churches gather, worship, vote, send missionaries, and focus on the gospel, they saw why cooperation matters.
That kind of exposure, Williams said, can shape students long after the annual meeting ends. “Each time,” he said, “students have walked away inspired to participate in a greater way in their local church, with several considering a call to ministry.”
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