Chart-topping singer-songwriter headlines CU worship conference

Chart-topping and Dove Award-winning singer-songwriter Paul Baloche will be the featured speaker during Cedarville University’s Worship 4:24 Conference January 26-27, 2018.

Worship 4:24 equips worship leaders, musicians, bands, praise teams, choirs, tech crews and students to be effective leaders. This year’s conference will feature a free worship concert Friday night from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Cedarville's Jeremiah Chapel and general sessions and breakouts on Friday and Saturday. Cedarville University Department of Music and Worship and the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio sponsor the two-day event.

Baloche has written some of the best-known worship songs of the last 20 years, including "Open the Eyes of My Heart," "Hosanna," "Your Name," "Today Is the Day" and "Above All." He was nominated for Dove Awards’ Songwriter of the Year in 2002 and 2003 and won Dove Awards for Inspirational Recorded Song of the Year in 2002 for “Above All,” which he co-wrote with Michael W. Smith, and in 2009 for “A New Hallelujah,” which he co-wrote with Smith and his wife, Debbie Smith.

Worship 4:24 is one of the largest worship conferences in the country based on seminars offered — more than 100 — and total attendance, noted Roger O’Neel, associate professor of worship and director of Cedarville’s worship program. “We are expecting more than 750 registered guests for the conference this year,” he said.

“We want to remind attendees that true worship comes from John 4:24: ‘God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth,’” O’Neel said. “This is where we derive our conference name. We hope to equip worshipers to serve their local church by offering them very practical training on a wide range of worship related topics, including technology, voice, theology, drama and much more.”

“This fits in closely with our Cedarville worship mission statement: ‘equipping worshipers to serve,’ and every year our students get great training from outside speakers and artists right here in Cedarville.”

Walk-up registration the day of conference is $75 per person, but $40 for students in seventh grade through college. For more information, visit cedarville.edu/worship424.

Located in southwest Ohio, Cedarville University is an accredited, Christ-centered, Baptist institution with an enrollment of 3,963 undergraduate, graduate, and online students in more than 150 areas of study. Founded in 1887, Cedarville is recognized nationally for its authentic Christian community, rigorous academic programs, strong graduation and retention rates, accredited professional and health science offerings, and leading student satisfaction ratings. For more information about the University, visit www.cedarville.edu.