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Thousands of Baptists were in Greensboro this week for the 179th annual Baptist State Convention of North Carolina at the Koury Convention Center.

In previous years, the group has met in the Greensboro Coliseum’s special events complex.

The official tally of delegates, called messengers, was down to 2,055, with some of those unneeded spaces belonging to moderates and liberals, who have been staying home in increased numbers, saying the largely conservative leadership ignores them.

What people are talking about:

• The 2009 North Carolina Missions Offering is 11.7 percent behind the total received last year at this time.
• About 25 percent of churches responding to a survey regarding the distribution of Woman’s Missionary Union of North Carolina materials (World Hunger, Lottie Moon, Annie Armstrong) through the Baptist State Convention are opting to receive their information directly from the national WMU. The organization is the historic women’s mission in Baptist life. The North Carolina chapter has moved out of the Baptist building in Cary last year, after deciding to assert more autonomy over its operations.
• The 2010 budget includes a 1.5 percent salary increase for staff at the Baptist State Convention.

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 A simple meal of soup and bread will kick off the 18th annual Feast of Caring for Greensboro Urban Ministry at First Baptist Church on Thursday.

A variety of soups will be served throughout the evening with homemade bread donated by more than 25 Greensboro organizations. The Temple Emanuel youth choir and the duo of Bobby Doolittle and Jim Carson will provide musical entertainment.

The free meal is from 5 to

7 p.m. at 1000 W. Friendly Ave. in Greensboro. Those who attend are asked to make their 2010 annual pledge or gift at the event.

Individuals making a pledge or donation ($20 minimum) at the event can choose a handcrafted pottery bowl donated by potters from the Seagrove area and Guilford and Rockingham counties (limit one bowl per family) or four of William Mangum’s 2009 Holiday Honor Cards, with this year’s theme, “Moving On.”

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A free community outreach concert tonight, sponsored by the Guilford Interfaith Hospitality Network, will feature fiddlers and a children’s choir.

The interfaith network is a faith-based community that works to eliminate family homelessness. The 58-church network has provided shelter for local homeless children and their families for the past 10 years.

The concert, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. today at First Presbyterian Church, 918 N. Main St., High Point (across from Krispy Kreme), will have:

• Walker Street Fiddlers.
• New Garden Friends School Friendly Strings.
• Carl Chavis YMCA Children’s Choir.
• Lee and Sarah Atkinson (contestants in the Great American Duet Sing-off on “A Prairie Home Companion”) with Bobby Doolittle of Alley Rabbits.
• Williams Memorial CME Church Choir.

Contact Nancy McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin@news-record.com