Teaching Youth How to Find Freedom in Christ

More than 800 middle and high school students will arrive on campus March 23 for one of Cedarville University’s biggest youth events, CedarMania. CedarMania is an energetic one-day event packed with worship, small groups and group games.

The 17th annual event will begin at 10 a.m. with a main session located in the Dixon Ministry Center. Cedarville’s HeartSong team will lead the group in worship, followed by a message from Dr. Jeremy Kimble, interim director of the Center for Biblical Integration and assistant professor of theology.

The theme of this year’s CedarMania is “Freedom.” Kimble will highlight the benefits of finding freedom in Christ compared to the effects of worldly freedom. “My aim is to demonstrate to students that the world offers us a version of freedom, but in the end it is empty, temporary and yields bad consequences. Christ bids us to come to him and in him find true life and freedom,” he said.

— Jeremy Kimble

After the main session, students will dive deeper into Kimble’s message in breakout sessions led by local pastors. Mike Standish, pastor for student ministries at Grace Baptist Church in Cedarville, will lead the high school small groups, and Brian Solomon, pastor of children and family at Southgate Baptist Church in Springfield, Ohio, will lead the junior high small groups.

Cedarville students will help lead the individual small-group discussions. Three hundred Cedarville students have volunteered to help coordinate the event and lead small groups.

The day will conclude with a final main session, where Kimble will challenge the students to embrace the lifestyle of Philippians 1:21, which says, “to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

Attendees can preregister online at cedarville.edu/CedarMania or by phone at 937-766-4444. The registration deadline is March 15. Cost per student is $30, which includes a CedarMania T-shirt and a boxed lunch.

Located in southwest Ohio, Cedarville University is an accredited, Christ-centered, Baptist institution with an enrollment of 4,193 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.