The Artist’s Cry

on Aug 15 in Art and Media, Church, Leadership, Worship

How do you know what the Creative Arts Staff and Volunteers in the local church are thinking?  Simple.  Put them in a room with no Lead Pastors, no Church Executives, and no Church Elders.  Now add a dose of other artists:  Worship pastors, filmmakers, web designers, a couple of painters, and a host of graphic artists.

And it happens.

Authentic conversation.

“You feel that way too?  I thought I was the only one.”

Every time I get the honor of speaking to that exact room, I’m blown away at the line that forms after the presentation.  Without fail, there are themes that keep resurfacing Рthemes that Lead Pastors and Church Executives should be anxious to hear.

You already know that the worst possible scenario for any leader, is to lead out of an environment that’s fabricated.  And there’s one sure thing that will begin to shatter any fabricated staff environment.

Honesty.

So to help Lead Pastors and Church Executives lead from a place of accuracy and honesty, listen to the voice of the people who form the line.  They are artists.  They are evangelists.  And they are limping.  Be certain of this:  Theirs is more than complaint Рmore than critique.

Theirs is a cry.¬† And here‚Äôs what they‚Äôre saying…

Please give me more time. This is, without a doubt, the most common desire I hear from artists and media folks.  And because teaching pastors live in hundreds of one-week cycles, anyone attached to the creation of the big event at the end of those cycles will logically only have a week to prepare.  The artists I listen to wish Executive Leaders would understand that they can’t simply click the “Be Creative” button, and then turn it off when they’re done Рthat creativity comes in the middle of the night, or in the shower, or while they’re mowing their lawn.

If I say “no” to you, I feel like I’m saying “no” to God. You may think this is crappy theology (and it is), but many artists feel like God speaks to the Senior Pastor, then the pastor speaks to the staff with God’s message.  When I was in pastoral ministry, this was a voice I battled with every day. There is enormous potential freedom for the artist when a pastor says, “It’s okay to tell me no.”

Above all else, I want you to be pleased with my art. Artists need to know that you like the stuff they create.  They also need to know that their art is impacting the lives of real people.  Names and faces help artists make it real.

I spend more money out of my own pocket than you’ll ever know. When God plants an artistic idea deeply into the heart of a filmmaker or a graphic designer, they cannot NOT create it.  And much of the time, their creation consists of elements that cost money.  Conversely, they already know that they church doesn’t have any money to spend.  So it comes out of their pocket.

Ultimately, I want to get this right. The artists I talk to want desperately to do whatever is best.  They’re willing to change and revise their art.  They’re willing to reshoot, or re-envision an idea.  They just don’t want for a constant re-envisioning of their art to become the norm during the entire life-cycle of the project.

I know.  This post seems extremely adversarial, pitting the “poor, misunderstood artist” against the “tyrannical over-bearing boss”.  I’m not writing to further broaden the chasm between artists and leaders.  But this post is one-sided.  It has to be.  It’s the cry of the artist, whether right or wrong Рit’s what THEY are feeling.  And in all fairness, I explored the depths of the other side in a very one-sided post called “Never Trust an Artist”.

Finally, here’s the real danger to this whole discussion.  Tragically, I’ve only met a couple of Executive Leaders who think they need to read an article like this.

Think about it.