CAPE GIRARDEAU TO HOST LARGE BAPTIST CONVENTION

More than 400,000 people are expected to call Cape Girardeau home for a night in 1996.

Two large conventions this year -- the Missouri Baptist Conference and Midwest Forestry Show -- will account for the largest blocks of visitors.

The Missouri Baptist Convention, featuring the Missouri Women's Missionary Union annual meeting and the Foreign Mission Board Appointee meeting, is expected to attract as many as 7,000 total visitors from April 18-20.

The forest show, to be held this fall, usually attracts more than 6,000 during its three-day, to be held at the Show Me Center Sept. 27-29.

Motel rooms are expected to be filled to near capacity each of these big weekends.

The city currently has about 900 rooms, according to the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB). That total does not count motel rooms at Jackson and Fruitland, which swells the total past the 1,000 mark.

The past weekend was another big weekend for the motel and restaurant industry, with hundreds of athletes in Cape Girardeau for the annual SEmotion Relays, held at the Abe Stuber Track & Field Complex.

A number of smaller conferences and meetings are scheduled in Cape Girardeau this month.

Rotary Club members from all 37 clubs in the Southeast Missouri District are expected to attend a three-day conference April 26-28, which features meetings, fellowship and golf tournament. More than 300 members are expected to attend the conference, which will be headquarted at the Drury Lodge.

Other April meetings include the MCTM Spring Conference of about 250 persons this Friday and Saturday with sessions at Southeast Missouri State University, and the Catholic Women's Annual Spring Assembly April 26-27 at the Holiday Inn.

The 1992 Missouri Baptist Convention was a big success, said the Rev. Roy Jones, director of missions for the Cape Girardeau Baptist Association, composed of churches in Cape Girardeau, Perry, Bollinger, St. Francois, Stoddard and Scott counties.

"Cape Girardeau graded high during that convention," said Jones. "We had the third highest attendance ever. People were talking about the Show Me Center facility and the many available restaurants."

"Show Me, Send Me" is the theme for the missionary service, which will be held at 2 p.m. April 20 at the Show Me Center.

"More than 200 members of the Foreign Mission Board (FMB) are expected to be here," said Jones. "This event is one usually held in metropolitan areas."

The board will announce about 40 appointments for foreign missionary services.

Jerry Rankin, FBM president, a native of Tupelo, Miss., and a former career missionary who served in a number of foreign countries, will be the keynote speaker.

A flag display and other exhibitions on missions and Southern Baptist ministries in Missouri will be displayed at the center from 8 to 10 p.m. April 19 and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 20.

Southern Baptists have been expanding foreign mission programs, noted Jones. "There a lot of people in the world who have never met a Christian," he said. "In 1976 we established a goal to let everyone know about Jesus by the year 2000."

With more than 4,000 missionaries currently assigned in 133 foreign countries, Jones said a lot of progress is being made.

The Missouri Woman's Missionary Union will hold its annual meeting at First Baptist Church, 1926 Broadway.

"This meeting will end in time for attendance to the missionary appointment service," said Jones.

Missouri WMU is affiliated with the national Women's Missionary Union, an auxiliary of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Mary Popp, a member of First Baptist Church, Jackson, and vice president of the Missouri WMU, heads the hospitality committee for the weekend's events. Local Baptist church members are preparing homemade food for hospitality rooms and organizing tours. Popp said a number of tours were being planned.

With more than 15 million members, the Southern Baptist Convention is the largest evangelical domination in the U.S. People attending the service will have an opportunity to indicate their interest in missionary service.

The conference is expected to attract people from four to five states, noted Jones. "A lot of people will come and go at the conference," said Jones. "But hundreds will be here for the entire conference."

"We have the potential for thousands of visitors," added Jones."We'd love to hit 7,000."