MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Church of God in Christ has announced its Holy Convocation will return to Memphis this November 8-15 at the historic Mason Temple and the newly renovated Renasant Convention Center.
The event is expected to draw some 25,000 COGIC church members, known as “saints,” to Memphis and bring $33 million to the city, a tourism official said.
COGIC moved its annual convocation to St. Louis in 2010 after more than 100 years in Memphis. Leaders had tried to lure the convention back to the Bluff City for years. COGIC leadership voted in 2018 to move the event back to Memphis after 2020.
In a press release, Bishop J. Drew Sheard said the following:
“The Church Of God In Christ is excited to return to Memphis for our upcoming Holy Convocation. Memphis is cherished as not only the location of our historic headquarters, but the place that our founder, Bishop Charles Harrison Mason, began the very essence of our longstanding denomination. The return of our largest annual convention to the city we call home after 10 years away is incredibly meaningful to convention attendees,” Bishop Sheard said.
Kevin Kane, president and CEO of Memphis Tourism, welcomed the event back.
“With a fully renovated Renasant Convention Center, a new passenger terminal at Memphis
International Airport, along with a variety of new hotel properties downtown and across our
city and county, the Memphis tourism and hospitality community is well equipped and proud to
welcome the COGIC Holy Convocation back to the city it called home for over 100 years,” Kane said.
With the large number of people planning to attend, COGIC said they expect to have adherents visiting from all 50 states as well as Israel, France, the United Kingdom, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, among others.
