Worship 4:24 Trains Worship Leaders and Teams at Record-Setting Event

Worship 4:24, a partnership between Cedarville University and SCBO, had another amazing year setting multiple records while training worship leaders and teams from Ohio and across the nation.

God is truly at work in our state, and the kingdom footprint He allows us to have to invest in worship leaders and teams is enormous.

Last year, we saw a massive increase in total conference attendance. In 2023, our attendance was 804, and it shot up to 1,485 in 2024 with Shane & Shane.

This year, the conference continues to grow, as we celebrated 1,265 conference attendees, plus 141 high school students who came early for Cedarville’s Weekend of Worship and stayed through the conference. We hosted 125 speakers, vendors, and those they brought with them to help.

Once again, shoutout to the Cedarville Team for solving so many logistical hurdles! Roger O’Neel, John Chillicothe, Susan Troth, and Jesse Oliver. Also, shoutout to Katrina Umphrey for redesigning registration, and to our SCBO and volunteer team which hit a home run in getting people registered quickly.

This year conference attendance was 1531, a new record.

On top of that, 1,354 people bought tickets for the Friday night Charity Gayle worship concert with the 4:24 Worship Choir.

The chapel was filled with worshipers, and if you couldn’t make it, you missed something awesome. Charity Gayle, her husband, Ryan, and their team did a phenomenal job leading us in worship the whole weekend. They were a delight to work with and the worship was incredible.

All told, we had 2,885 people during Worship 4:24, which is 4 less than last year.

More major milestones: we hosted 480 students. Our attendees came from 29 states and 308 churches. To serve this many attendees, our speakers hosted 128 breakout sessions.

Here’s what that means: 

• Last year was not an anomaly. It is no small thing that the Lord showed favor so we could maintain and build on the huge spike from last year. 
• The core conference attendees continue to grow, which is most important because those are the people we invest in through breakout sessions. 
• We are impacting the next generation of worship ministry in a massive way through the students who are attending.

But remember, it’s not just about numbers: each attendee represents a real worship leader or worship team member who is trying to serve the local church in their gifting and calling. It’s about the mission: equipping our worship leaders and teams to lead worship with passion and excellence for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This year, we saw 258 SCBO attendees from 70 churches. I don’t have a ton of historical data for SCBO attendance, but to my knowledge, this is a record. Thank you to all who sent your worship teams and engaged with Worship 4:24 this year.

Our goal for 2026 is to see our churches send at least 300 of our people to be trained at Worship 4:24.

If you didn’t come this year, please consider sending at least one person from your church to Worship 4:24 next year - and register early! It will hugely impact your worship ministry.

Here’s the secret: registration opens at a steep discount usually in September or October, so if you plan ahead, you can make it much more affordable.

Why am I so confident attending Worship 4:24 will help your worship ministry become more effective?

Because, I hear it directly from our conference attendees.

A normal part of our process is to get feedback on sessions through the Worship 4:24 app. Attendees can give feedback on each session with comments for our team to review.

This year, we received 1058 feedback submissions throughout the weekend, with an average session rating of 9.1/10. Needless to say, our speakers did an incredible job.

I want to share some of the feedback we got from our conference attendees so you can hear from them directly:

“THANK YOU FOR THIS AMAZING WORSHIP 4:24 CONFERENCE! I’M A BEGINNER IN LEADING WORSHIP AND I HAD A LOT OF QUESTIONS. AND EVERY QUESTION RECEIVED AN ANSWER. MAY GOD BLESS EVERYONE WHO WAS INVOLVED IN THIS CONFERENCE!”

“4:24 2025 was spectacular! Informational/interesting sessions, excellent organization, varied/engaging vendors, smiling/helpful volunteers, and the Lord’s Chicken, as always. Every bathroom and breakout room I stepped into was always sparkling and ready for service.”

“It was my first time visiting and I had a great experience in worship, the classes are very good. I learned a lot of new ideas and ways to be more effective for the Lord in the ministry he is leading us to be part of his body. Very organized and a lovely atmosphere of brothers and sisters praising God is a life-changing experience. I recommend it for next year 110% .”