The 2018 Congregational Hymn Conference “Our Story, Our Song” started off with a bang, as 202 people showed up Thursday, the first day of the three-day conference.

“This is big for Andalusia,” Executive Director Kristy White said. “We have had a lot of students show up not only for the extra credit, but because they actually want to learn.”

The hymn conference started yesterday morning with a lecture led by Dr. Randall Bradley. There were 75 people that showed up for that lecture alone.

There were several sessions spread through out the day including “Music for Keyboard and other Instruments,” “Breaking through the ‘Traditional/Contemporary’ dichotomy: A better way forward,” “Vocal Technique for Church Singers,” and “Congregational Song for Teenagers.”

“Every person that has come up to me has enjoyed the individual sessions,” White said. “They have been saying that every session has been magnificent.”

This year, White said that they have given more time to the speakers instead of actual singing and that people are learning a lot more from it.

The conference is a national level with people driving all the way from Florida, Birmingham and Atlanta.

“One main thing about this conference is that it is not only about the music,” White said. “There are amazing writers and musicians and people from around here get to network with them and show them their ideas.”

White said that they could not have put everything together in time if it wasn’t for the help of all the churches.

“This is a big enough event where a lot of things could have gone wrong,” White said. “But everything has fallen into place with the help of all the wonderful people at the local churches.”