LAKELAND — Florida Conference youth attending this year’s Conference Youth Event will find themselves at a three-day Christian arts festival that is as much for unchurched young people as it is for those already involved in church.

"The goal is to allow young people to come to an event that’s predominately United Methodist to interact with various Christian artists…and have a lot of fun doing it," said Mike Standifer, the Florida Conference’s director of Youth Ministries. "This event is geared toward Christians, but we’re publicizing toward and hoping to attract unchurched people, too."

This year’s event is called "UpRoar: a modern music gathering" and takes place April 27-29 at the Osceola Fairgrounds in Kissimmee. Participants can also purchase tickets to Orlando’s Wet ’n Wild water park.

The musical portion of the event features 38 Christian bands on two stages, according to Mike Crawford, one of the founders of UpRoar Events, an event and concert promotion company based in Orlando.

The event also features the Porch at UpRoar, an area where Christian painters, sculptors, poets and drama teams can display and create works of art.

The event is designed to reach "kids that the traditional church is not reaching" through media that traditional churches are reluctant to use, according to Crawford. "We want this to become a focal point for Christian arts in Central Florida," he said. "It’s time to explore other avenues to share the gospel."

The annual youth event’s format is different because it is not being planned by the conference, but by UpRoar Events. Standifer said working with an outside event organizer will help the conference provide a high-quality event without assuming the entire financial risk. In the past several years, as contemporary Christian music has grown in popularity, the opportunities to see big-name acts have increased, along with the cost of hiring those acts, Standifer said.

"Five to 10 years ago there were fewer Christian concerts," he said. "Now there are more opportunities to go to a Christian concert…The draw [of the Conference Youth Event] is less now with more concerts at more venues."

The Florida Conference is one sponsor of the UpRoar event. Others include Universal Studios, Tooth & Nail Records, Cingular Wireless and theXstation.com, an Internet radio station that will broadcast the event live on its Web site.

The Florida Conference’s financial investment involved purchasing a block of tickets to the event, which it will sell to conference youth.

The conference benefits because the single expenditure is easier to budget, yet provides a more effective event. "It also takes the work off the conference staff," Standifer said.

Conference youth benefit because the conference is selling the tickets at a 30 percent discount. Advance tickets cost $30, but are $21 when purchased through the conference. Even with the discount, Standifer said the conference needs to sell 1,000 tickets to break even. Last year’s attendance was 1,200.

UpRoar benefits because the conference’s investment gives it start-up funds to reserve the acts and the venue, according to Standifer.

Although the Florida Conference does not have primary control over the event, Standifer says it will have a strong United Methodist character. "The nice thing about working with Mike Crawford is that Mike is United Methodist, he did youth ministry at St. Luke’s [United Methodist Church in Orlando]," Standifer said. "He’s tempered who’s coming in…and what’s going on through United Methodist eyes."

The featured speaker at this year’s event is Jay Bakker, son of televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. The younger Bakker is the founder of Revolution, a ministry to teens in Atlanta.

"Jay is definitely an evangelist, but an evangelist to people in their 20s, people with tattoos and nose rings," Standifer said.

Despite the differences in this year’s event, Standifer says the goal is still the same. "We’re trying to make the contemporary Christian concert experience affordable to all United Methodists," he said. "Hopefully, some people will come to know the Lord through that."