By Jaci Schneider, Copy Editor
Between 3,000 and 3,500 people attended the last Bible Lectureship to take place in February.
Dr. Mark Love, director of Ministry Events, said although he has no way of knowing exactly how many people attended, the numbers seemed slightly less than average.
“The evening theme lectures looked a little down,” Love said.
He said with ice on the roads in Dallas on Monday and Tuesday, many people didn’t make the drive to Abilene. However, he said some hours had very high attendance, especially the 3:15 p.m. classes.
“Attendance then was higher than it typically is,” Love said. More than 800 attended the Restoration Unity Forum.
“And there were three other classes at the same time that were also well attended,” he said.
Along with the 3:15 p.m. time slot, the Restoration Unity Forum had high attendance at all times of the day, Love said. He also said many people attended the theme lecture Tuesday night from Mike Cope, preaching minister at Highland Church of Christ and adjunct professor of Bible, missions and ministry.
“He’s a well-known local preacher,” Love said. “And Mike’s just going to draw a crowd any time he speaks.”
The evening coffee houses also saw high numbers. Love estimated about 200 people attended Sunday night’s presentation about the band U2, with student band Homer Hiccolm & the Rocketboys covering several songs. About 100 more attended Monday night, when Stephen Moore, assistant professor of English, spoke about the movie Crash.
Love said scheduling two Lectureships in one year could have affected the attendance, but he doesn’t think it had a big influence.
“A big part of our audience are church leaders,” he said. “They tend to think of the year from September to August, not January to December, so they don’t necessarily see it as two in one year.”
Now that the February Lectureship has completed, Love is planning for the one to take place in September by sending out invitations to speakers and creating the program.
He said he expects the September event to attract an average-sized audience.
“Most exhibitors who are set-up in the Teague Special Events Center have already reserved spaces,” he said. “That’s a good sign.”
Although Love said he heard from a few people who won’t be able to attend in September, for the most part he’s heard positive responses.
“I had a lot of people say to me, ‘I’ll see you in September,'” Love said.
