Just came across a staggering statistic put out at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in Indianapolis this week:

…the 2007 Southern Baptist Convention annual Church Profiles indicate that there are 16,266,920 members in Southern Baptist churches; and… Those same profiles indicate that only 6,148,868 of those members attend a primary worship service of their church in a typical week…                                                                         — Baptist Press

Yikes! That means they have 62% of their members AWOL!

I’m not picking on the Baptist. Their numbers are actually better than their Methodist and Presbyterian brethren (that actually isn’t very comforting, is it?)

Something says that the game plan isn’t quite going as it should be. Because the SBC is the largest non-Catholic group in the U.S.—and consequently they may be displaying the biggest black eye—the numbers may be more mind-boggling; however, they are not in the boat alone.

Perhaps if something stinks it means we need to take out the garbage. American Christianity is due for a facelift or else it may end up in the nursing home.

A bit of Nehemiah, anyone?