Christian hip-hop artist Lecrae and MercyMe frontman Bart Millard have been named co-hosts of the 45th annual GMA Dove Awards, the Gospel Music Association announced. The Christian music awards will be handed out Tuesday, Oct. 7 at 6:30 pm CT at Lipscomb University in Nashville and will air on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN).

Performers and current nominees include Natalie Grant, Hezekiah Walker, Matthew West and Erica Campbell. In addition, Capital Kings, Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton, author Karen Kingsbury and Bill Gaither are confirmed as presenters.

“I can't wait to be a part of what I believe will be a historic evening,” Lecrae said. “Co-hosting with a great friend and talented artist makes it even better. Be careful though, who knows what will happen when Bart and I get together.”

"I'm so excited to be part of this year's Dove Awards,” Millard agreed. “The Doves are unique because they bring all styles of Gospel music together. Lecrae and I are just a small example of how different and yet unified this community is in sharing a message of love and hope through music.” He joked, “To prove how unified we are, I will be freestylin' my fresh rhymes while Lecrae sings the chorus to ‘I Can Only Imagine" over and over!”

Dove nominees Jonathan McReynolds and Meredith Andrews have been confirmed to co-host the GMA Dove Awards Preshow, which will stream live on www.hearitfirst.com/live on Oct 7 at 2:00pm CT.

Tickets are available now at www.doveawards.com. For a complete list of nominees visit www.doveawards.com/nominees.