What Walmart Can Teach The Southern Baptist Convention About Our Annual Meeting
On Friday, June 7, I attended the annual Walmart Stockholders’ Meeting and on Tuesday-Wednesday, June 11-12, I attended the Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. Let’s compare the two briefly:
Walmart Southern Baptist Convention
Estimated 15,000 attendees Estimated 5,000 attendees in Houston
Estimated Mtg Time: 3.50 hours Estimated Mtg Time: 19 hours
Largest company in world Largest evangelical denomination in N.A.
The comparisons could be endless, but the above observations are sufficient.
Now a personal word to all of my Southern Baptist friends, I am fully aware Walmart is a corporate community, while the Southern Baptist Convention is a convention of churches intended to be a spiritual force globally.
My goal in this post is NOT to make the Southern Baptist Convention like Walmart; my goal is to give you a few personal observations that we may consider in any conversation about the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention.
One other point of clarification: I am a Pastor highly involved and engaged in Southern Baptist life. I am not sitting on the sideline, being critical of who we are, what we do, and where we are going. My church is highly committed to who we are and what we do as Southern Baptists supporting it with time, money, prayer, and focus.
Five Lessons Walmart Could Teach The Southern Baptist Convention About Our Annual Meeting
1. Culture Counts
The culture of Walmart is built around its associates — its employees. The company and culture is not built upon the key leaders, but its 2.2 million employees. Their commitments to serving their customers, respecting all individuals, and striving for excellence exudes in their stockholders’ meeting.
Amazingly, this has built a highly contagious culture, overflowing with enthusiasm, authenticity, and honesty. Walmart believes the biggest difference they can make is how they treat each customer. In fact, a statement was made, “Making the customer #1 is living the culture out loud.” Stated another way, “The biggest difference is how you treat every customer.”
Culture matters at Walmart, and their stockholders’ meeting is all about building upon their culture. Excitement and enthusiasm began before the meeting and continued afterwards. In the words of Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson, “Happy, Happy, Happy!” That is what I felt and saw everywhere at the Walmart stockholders’ meeting.
2. Mission Matters
The Walmart mission matters and is illustrated continually: “We save people money so they can live better.” They value a one-cent saving to their customers, never minimizing it. This statement is like a trotline through their culture. Everything leads to it and everything flows from it.
3. Simple Story
Walmart has many sub-tribes that comprise the one large tribe. While each has a sub-culture of their own, they all connect with the big Walmart story. While Sam’s Club, Walmart International, Walmart USA, and Walmart Global e-Commerce, all have distinctives, each operate with one story, the Walmart story. Their own stories connect with the overall Walmart Story.
4. Innovation Ignites
Walmart celebrates innovation, doing new things or doing them in a new way. Again, anything that helps promote the mission, “To save people money so they can live better,” is not condemned, but celebrated! When this kind of innovation is celebrated, it ignites more innovation!
5. Effectiveness Excels
The Walmart meeting was effective and when it was over, it bred an effectiveness that excelled! The associates who attended from all over the world along with the stockholders in attendance departed fired up and excited about Walmart and what the company is doing. Whether the story was told via video or in person, it was effective.
Their use of technology was incredible. The unexpected absolutely engaged the crowd, no body in attendance wanted to miss a single thing! The unexpected included Les Miserables’ star Hugh Jackman serving as Master of Ceremonies, Tom Cruise sounding off the Walmart values, and Kelly Clarkson and Jennifer Hudson entertaining. Intermingled were reports from their key leaders, each done within eight minutes. The President over all of Walmart gave approximately a 15-minute presentation. The introductions of the key leaders of Walmart were done by who else but their associates, most of whom were hourly employees. Their believability to those in attendance literally made you leave believing their story and mission are imperative to the American free enterprise.
I Wanted to Join
If they had given a public invitation at the conclusion of that meeting, I would have wanted to walk down the aisle and joined Walmart! Yes, their meeting was that believable and effective. The atmosphere was electric. No one left early — everyone was on time and stayed until the end of the meeting. If you had been late, you would have missed something and if you had left early, oh, no one would ever want to do that at a Walmart meeting.
Yes, We Could Go To School
Our Southern Baptist Convention could go to school and learn some things from Walmart to improve our annual meeting. Honestly, I am concerned with our numbers from this year. I would never have thought we would have had just over 5,000 messengers in Houston. In fact, I would have guessed somewhere around 8,000 messengers. There may be several things we can blame the low attendance on, and some may be valid reasons.
Yet, I believe the bigger questions are: Why are several thousands not attending? What are their reasons for not attending? Why do they not see a value in attending? What can we do to improve the convention to engage a greater attendance? Why are we losing all generations and their commitment to this important meeting?
I fully understand we have reporting and business to do, but how can we do it more effectively, in a way that engages thousands. In today’s world, I do believe we could reduce our annual meeting to one day, with all other meetings leading up to that day, never competing with it.
Again, I know we are not Walmart and I do not desire us to be so. Yet, we should continually be evaluating how we conduct our time together annually, in order to more effectively communicate our story as the Southern Baptist Convention. We have a great story to tell and my desire is for all generations to know that story.
These are just a few thoughts from one Pastor, who loves to learn and grow personally and do whatever is necessary to engage more people in our mission. And yes, I do have a few thoughts about what it could be in the future. Perhaps more later.
Yours for the Great Commission,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
One thing missed in the comparison is WalMart is about encouraging ownership by it associates and participation by those associates.
SBC leadership should do the same in promoting lay participation rather than giving the impression that attendence is limited to SR. Pastors,select staff and members of the local boards of directors. Even to the point of paying the expenses of say at least 5 lay attendees from each church.
Very little is said locally about the convention except for prayer requests for the attending SR. Pastor and select staff members. Granted that is necessary but lay attendence is not promoted except in
a very few of the local churches.
I’m so glad you wrote this. It was my first convention. I grew up SBC and have been all my life, but I recently began a pastorate for a 104 year old church after spending years in church planting. I felt we had so much more we could do to make it effective. I have some ideas, but not sure where to share them or if they’ll even be heard. But, I totally get why there weren’t more there.
I believe you have made a lot of good points. I have been going to SBC conventions for over 30 years and my children, now in their 30’s have gone for about 20 of those years. They were dumbfounded recently to see the lack of interest by people in their own age group. Disturbing to them was the lack of dramatic reports, video presentations, etc. by our mission boards. On the other hand, I am also well aware that in all of SBC life for instance, there have been drastic cut backs–and I do believe the SBC executive committee is facing even more cutbacks which will directly affect just how many bells and whistles can be trotted out to produce the meeting. When all is said and done, ours is a meeting of mostly ministry personnel who are elected and selected each year–to tell the story. There are preachers and missionaries, musicians and ministry leaders. They should be the best, and they are, by and far. But each year they have had limitations placed on them–from 30 minutes to 3 minutes–to hardly any time at all. We have a myriad of entities, agencies and personnel. Perhaps our mission is not as cut and dry as that of Walmart. And perhaps we can do it better, but who wants to use dwindling CP funds to do it? I think this is the question every Southern Baptist church in America asks. And after all, we are not there to give each other a dog and pony show. When it comes down to it, we are vested in the mission already, or we should be. Our product can’t be discounted–our people have honest issues to address–eternity. So maybe, just maybe, those who serve on the committees and those who are elected by the messengers, people like you, will work from the inside out to put on a better show. If one is needed. It seems when we compared ourselves with Chrysler, that didn’t go over very well either a few years ago.
Couldn’t agree more, and couldn’t agree more with Terry Evers also. Our pastors and churches do not promote the Convention at all.
We need to break beyond that. The SBC itself should market it actively as a sort of four day grown-up church camp, a genuine mountaintop experience. This could be the premier spiritual event of the year, at which you hear the very best preachers all week, get to meet denominational leaders and Christians from around the country, and see in intimate detail the outworking of God’s Kingdom through the ministries supported by the Cooperative Program.
Just as we must evangelize if the Kingdom is to grow, perhaps its time to get more serious about marketing what we’re doing internally. At a time when commitment to our institutions and to the Cooperative Program is at a low ebb, and when we need people to truly embrace the vision of the Great Commission Resurgence, how can we even think of leaving such things to the whims of pastors we already know to be drifting? And, as Terry points out, how can we expect lay people to act when their own pastors, however unintentionally, keep them at arms length from the most important things we’re doing?
We can do better. I, for one, am game.
Pastor Ronnie, talk you for your thoughts about the SBC annual meeting. Here are some thoughts of my own: We meet this year in a city that is at or above 50% Hispanic. It is also one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the USA. From what I could tell, there was hardly any mention of that. Our program is dominared by white, English-speaking people from one region of the country. The fact that we have an African American President must not overlook the ethne among us. If we are ever going to reflect our diversity, our supposed commitment to reach cities, or the one portion of our constituency/stockholders that is actually growing, we must begin to address our male, Anglo, English-speaking bias.
[…] in the events of business taking place in the hall. My pastor, Dr. Ronnie Floyd, has written an excellent article on his blog comparing the recent Wal-Mart Shareholder’s Meeting to this year’s SBC Annual […]
[…] Ronnie Floyd compares and contrasts the SBC with the Walmart Convention to make a point about the power of a story to unite and embolden people: […]
[…] Ronnie Floyd compares and contrasts the SBC with the Walmart Convention to make a point about the power of a story to unite and embolden people: […]
Amazing article! I grew up in the SBC and am so disappointed. They seemed more concerned about their traditions than accepting the reality of what it takes to reach people today. My favorite line in this is “their meeting was that believable and effective.” It saddens me that some leaders are more fearful of offending some of their members than reaching the lost and loving others.
I have been a part of an SBC church all my life. Different churches, but each one of them were SBC affiliated. I love our missions, overall goals, and theology. But that’s where it stops.
I’m a pastor and I’m 34 years old, and the idea of going to another annual meeting is dreadful to me. The representation isn’t there. The SBC needs to realize that times have changed. No one is dressing up in suits and ties unless you are on Wall Street or a traditional baptist church. It’s time to move on from this. It’s hard to get excited about old white men in suits singing hymns and and voting on what they’re against in the culture (i.e. The vote against Boy Scouts in churches). But seriously, I love our missions and theology, but the other junk just needs to go away.