DISCOVER. DEVELOP. DEPLOY.

The goal of the LCS Festival is to focus on helping children find their talents, sharpen their skills, and learn to share their gifts with confidence, knowing that their gifts and talents are bestowed by God and are to be used humbly without fear.

The LCS Festival is a discipleship tool intended  to help students discover, develop and deploy their ministry gifts. Although competitive elements are present, providing a competition venue is not the primary mission of the Festival. Through the Festival, students are given the opportunity to have their skills evaluated by qualified ministers, industry professionals, and educators who encourage excellence, offer ideas for improvement, and inspire students to use their gifts in the local church, community, and around the world in ministry or secular vocation. Scores are not as important as lessons learned, experience gained, and skills developed.

The Festival allows students to perform or demonstrate their skills and talents in dozens of different categories and events. Each event is evaluated by three professional adjudicators who provide detailed evaluations of each students presentation, giving guidance and observations that will help students to overcome weaknesses and improve their talents and skills. The Festival features events for students in grades 3 through 12, and is hosted in beautiful Lakeland, in the heart of Central Florida.

Save the Date!

2025 LCS Festival – 

Tentative date: March 7-8, 2025 @ SEU!

Regular Registration

$1500Per Entry
  • Before January 22

Late Registration

$2000Per Entry
  • After January 22

Important Dates

  • December 15 – Coordinator Registers

  • January 22, 2024 – Early Registration Deadline.

  • February 2, 2024 – FINAL Registration Deadline.

  • February 2, 2024 – ALL 2D Art and Writing due.

  • February 9, 2024 – Change request deadline; no changes will be accepted after this date. Only drops will be allowed.

  • February 27, 2024 – Festival Schedule will be posted online.

  • TBD- District Fine Arts Festival on-time deadline for “Superior w/ Invitation” participants. (https://youth.penflorida.org/fine-arts/)

Map of Buildings
Campus Diagram

Southeastern University

Lakeland, Florida

1000 Longfellow Blvd.
Lakeland, FL  33801

The LCS Festival is held at the beautiful campus of Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida. Southeastern University is located in the city of Lakeland in Polk County, Florida the heart of citrus country. Surrounded by the beautiful lakes that characterize Central Florida, the 60-acre campus presents an attractive and picturesque scene for the students’ pleasure and academic environment. The natural beauty of the lakes and citrus groves, combined with a semi-tropical atmosphere and lifestyle, makes Lakeland a delightful place to attend college and enjoy Florida winters. The average annual temperature is 72 degrees. With a population of 200,000, the greater Lakeland area is less than one hour from Florida’s world renowned tourist attractions—Sea World, Busch Gardens, Epcot Center, Universal Studios and Walt Disney World. In addition, the Gulf of Mexico can be reached in an hour and the Atlantic Ocean in less than two hours.

Lakeland is centrally located between Tampa and Orlando and is easily accessible via the international airports of each city. Three major highways serve the Lakeland area: US 92, US 98, and Interstate 4.

Get Directions

SEU will be on spring break during the Festival. As such, the food outlets will not be available to us.

We are excited to partner with the following vendors to bring quality food services to our event this year.

Food Services will be set up in the circle next to Bush Chapel. You can view the map for specifics. Follow the signs from the Fountain!

Celebration Service

The LCS Festival ends on Saturday afternoon with a celebration festival where students are recognized for their achievements. The Celebration Service will be at Victory Church, 1401 Griffin Rd, Lakeland, FL 33810. During the service, participants are recognized for their performances and the top three scores are read. The top scorers in each category will receive a medal of achievement. All other categories will receive a commemorative certificate with their performance category and rating. The top score in each group category will also receive a trophy for their school.

Several specific categories are featured as “Performance Categories.” A Performance Category is a category that is chosen during the event for presentation in the celebration service. If a category is a performance category, it will be announced during the service prior to the reading of the top three scores in that category. The winner of that category will have a few minutes to prepare before presenting before the entire audience. It is a wonderful time for everyone to see the rich talent that populates our schools!

Lodging

If you will be staying overnight on Friday, consider these hotels for your visit.

View Locations

Restaurants

If you need a local spot to enjoy a break or feed your crew, check out these close locations!

Restaurants

District Fine Arts

Students scoring with a “Superior With Invitation” at the 2024 LCS Festival are invited to participate in the PenFlorida Youth District Fine Arts program. Fine Arts will help students further develop their skills and talents and also provide them the opportunity to advance to Nationals in August. For $10.00 off, LCS Festival students with a “Superior With Invitation” may use the discount code: 10off2024

Register Online

Watch the Celebration Service LIVE on Saturday at 3 PM!