A religious conference — which tourism officials believe will generate roughly $250 million in economic impact over three years — will return to St. Louis from 2026 to 2028.
Explore St. Louis, the city’s tourism bureau, said Thursday that the Church of God in Christ will host its annual conference at the America’s Center after what will be a six-year hiatus.
“This truly is an exciting time for St. Louis and America's Center,” said Ed Skapinok, Explore St. Louis’ chief commercial officer. “COGIC’s decision to bring its Holy Convocation to St. Louis shows the city's strength as a premier destination in the meetings, convention and events industry.”
The African American Pentecostal denomination held its annual conferences in St. Louis from 2010 to 2019.
The Church of God in Christ’s leaders canceled their 2020 Holy Convocation because of the pandemic, and 2021’s event was held virtually. In 2022, the denomination opted for its home base in Memphis as part of a three-year contract, including in November this year.
“Once we left, we went home. Obviously, we took the opportunity to poll our own delegates to see where they wanted to go — and overwhelmingly the choice was St Louis,” said Bishop Keith Kershaw, the denomination’s chief operating officer.
Explore St. Louis estimates 180,000 people will attend the religious gathering over the next three years, and those attendees will patronize local restaurants, hotels and businesses.
“It really does impact the entire region,” Skapinok said. “You see the impact in the hotels, the local restaurants, the attractions and the dollars that are spent in retail establishments, and then all of the jobs and services that are supported from that.”
The denomination’s members grew concerned with an aging hotel and conference center in Memphis, the St. Louis Business Journal reported.
The Church of God in Christ recently hosted and scheduled other conferences and meetings in St. Louis, including its Auxiliaries in Ministry in June 2024 and a Women’s International Convention in May 2025.
Explore St. Louis believes recent expansions at the America’s Center have put it in a new class of destinations that will allow St. Louis to be more competitive for other events. Recently, the convention center added a 72,000-square-foot exhibit hall, constructed new loading docks and built a culinary garden to grow produce.
Hosting an event like this brings notoriety, and it shows the city can handle these big events, Skapinok said.
“You’ll see us continue to book these larger events because we got the facilities to do them now,” he said.
