Cedarville University

The OneVoice Ensemble started off the event and from the very beginning it was evident that God was going to do something awesome in the room that night.  We didn’t have to plead with or coax people to worship along with us.  It was a praise party right from the start!

OneVoice Ensemble singing, "Lord, You are Good" led by freshman student, Darris Sneed

The Gap Choir from AHOP (A House Of Prayer) Church in Xenia, OH was the next group to lead us in worship.  They had so much passion in their praise and we were all immediately on our feet worshipping with them. There was just so much passion for God and for worship that whole night.  I don’t think I sat down for more than 5 minutes the entire 3 hours!

The GAP Choir from AHOP led by Worship Pastor Eric Free

Following the GAP Choir, Cedarville’s praise dance ministry, Expressions of Praise (EOP), continued the worship with “Lord, You’re Holy” by Karen Wheaton. They used their movement to express reverence and an intense celebration of the character of God.

EOP dancing to Karen Wheaton's "Lord, You're Holy"

United A.M.E. Church of Xenia led us in worship next with some “Old School” Gospel singing.  It was wonderful! We may have been in the chapel but they TOOK US TO CHURCH!  The newly elected mayor of Xenia, Marsha Bayless, is a member of this choir and joined them in leading us in worship.  I thought that was cool, how often do we get to see politicians in ministry?:)

United A.M.E. Church's Choir led by Colleen Matthews

Next, Dunamis, a mime group from Cincinnati performed “Oh, What Love” by Vickie Winans.   Their interpretation of that song’s powerful lyrics was so moving and incredibly powerful.  Dunamis returned in the evening as well with their rendition of Karen Clark-Sheard’s “The Heavens are Telling.”

Dunamis performing Vickie Winans' "Oh What Love" featuring Junior student, J.C. Carmichael

Bowling Green’s Gospel choir followed Dunamis with several selections.  they brought so much energy to the stage as they continued to lead us in worship. It was so great to have another college choir there to join in the time of worship and fellowship. They set the place on FIRE with their rendition of Richard Smallwood’s “Healing.”

Bowling Green State University Gospel Choir singing Richard Smallwood's "Healing"

OneVoice singing, "Perfect Praise"

OneVoice was the last choir to sing that evening.  By the time we got up to sing, we were all so exhausted from such an incredible evening of worshipping with all our might! God was faithful though and gave us strength to continue with worship, seeking to give everything we had. We started out by singing, “Souled Out” by Hezekiah Walker.  Immediately, we were re-energized and I got to watch as the excitement, gratitude and joy that can only come from knowing Jesus Christ poured out of our Cedarville students.  We sang several other songs but it really didn’t matter what song we sang.  The Spirit of the Lord was very present in room and we just sang and prayed and enjoyed being in the presence of God.  It was a real kingdom experience, worshipping together with people of different races, generations and denominational backgrounds.  We recognized God for who He is and in doing so we got a taste of what it really means to be one body. We celebrated the goodness of the Lord together and had a real PRAISE PARTY!

At the end of the night. we brought all of the choirs that participated back on stage and sang one last song together. It was such a powerful moment of worship and unity!  We poured out our hearts to God as one unified group as we sang and one song led into another song and we ended the night singing “I Need You” by Tye Tribbett.

Combined choirs singing the last song of the night

We thank God for His love and the grace that He has shown to us as a choir.  It was such a great night of recognizing God for all that He is.  We also just want to say a quick thanks to Cedarville’s SGA for co-sponsoring this event.  Thanks to Briana DuPree and her committee for all the work they did to make this event happen.  Special thanks to our M.C.s for the evening Josh and Jillian Robinson, co-pastors of Fusion Church at AHOP.  We can’t wait until next year’s Gospel Fest!

Justin Spann – ’06 alum and Director of OneVoice Gospel Choir

This entry was posted on Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 4:44 pm and is filed under Special Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.