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One of the most frequent questions that I’m asked is…

“What exactly does a creative pastor do?

That’s understandable. Up until a few years ago, the title was only used in a handful of places. Still today, while I see it used at more and more churches, there are many other names used that cover this unique set of responsibilities.

Creative Arts Pastor, Creative Director, Communications Lead, Media Minister, Multimedia Coordinator, A/V Leader, Visual Media Technician, Experience Pastor, Head of Fine Arts, Tech Pastor, Production Coordinator

The list goes on and on. 

I’ve also found that many churches combine roles. So it’s not uncommon to see creative tossed in with other areas of ministry.

Worship & Arts Pastor, Youth & Creative Leader, Music & Media Director, Visual & Social Media Coordinator, Minister of Media & Outreach

For me, I’ve been involved in almost every form of church media and creativity. I’ve spent about twelve years serving in ministry and love to help improve every area of the church.

Most of what I do fits into these categories:

Internal Communication

Keeping all of our regular attendees in the know about upcoming events and general information is huge. This includes maintaining our website, updating our app, and regularly sending email blasts. Designing graphics and writing copy are a large part of making this happen, too.

External Communication (Marketing)

Since we put a large emphasis on reaching people outside of our four walls, marketing is a huge part of the job. This looks like keeping our website and social media pages active and thriving. I’m also constantly designing new invite cards, posters, flyers, t-shirts, and anything else that we can come up with to spread the word about our church. Creating a solid brand is a key responsibility here.

Service Planning

As a creative pastor, I work hand-in-hand with all of our leaders to make Sundays great at our church. This includes planning messages with our lead pastor, overseeing song selection with the Worship Team, and designing media with the Production Team. My role even extends outside of our auditorium to other areas of the church. I work with the kids leader to take their fun to the next level and plan special moments for our church family with our Guest Experience Team.

Special Events

We take events seriously at our church because they’re a great way to build excitement. I lead our team in planning for special Sundays like Easter, Christmas, and Mother’s Day. I also ensure that we’re creating memorable days for things like baptisms and baby dedications. Events outside of Sunday like our volunteer celebrations and outreach events also fall into my jurisdiction.

Environments

Another area where I come alongside the leaders in our church is to help with their environments. I lead the design all of our spaces, signage, and decor. This includes everything from the signs by the road, to our lobby coffee areas, to our kids classrooms. I work with our worship pastor to create new stage designs and light shows, as well. This even includes the small things like the playlists and scents that are unique to each area.

Story-Telling

The Gospel is best shared through story. An extremely important part of my job is collecting stories of what God is doing in our church and sharing it with the world. This most often comes through photo and video. Even simple interviews shared through text posts on social media have been great for this. I’ve found that this part of the job becomes more and more rewarding with each new story.

Leading A Creative Team

It would be impossible for me to accomplish all of these tasks on my own. I have a fantastic team of people who help me do all of these things. As a pastor, I’m called to equip saints for ministry, so I’m always looking to help the various leaders in our church and to get new people involved on my team. I truly consider it an honor to lead them.

 

The Most Important Part of My Job

All of this comes back to showing the love of God to people in practical ways. Creative ministry, like all ministry, is about the people. If what I’m doing isn’t leading them closer to Jesus, I’ve missed the mark.

 

What Do You Think?

What is your role at your church?
Let us know by leaving a comment below!

Kendall Conner

What do you get when you combine production, design, and communications together with a passion for the Church? It turns out, this is the precise formula to make up Kendall Conner. For over 20 years, this Christ-led creative has been bridging the gap between media and ministry. In addition to serving as the creative pastor in his local church, he is the Chief of Operations for Church Motion Graphics, a ministry-focused design studio that serves thousands of houses of worship around the globe. Kendall specializes in equipping church media leaders and volunteers to utilize creativity in their services to share the hope of Jesus.

23 Comments

  • James says:

    Really good read! I love the fact that you lead a team and you don’t do it on your own. Think I can implement some of your ideas into our ministry.

    • Kendall Conner says:

      It really is a difference maker. Sure, I still get my hands dirty with projects, but I’m constantly getting more people involved to keep making it better.

  • Tyler Hanson says:

    You say you lead a team. How many and what do THEY do specifically?

    • Kendall Conner says:

      I currently have an event coordinator, a “moments team” leader, and a few photographers who serve solely on the creative team. But in our structure, I work with every leader in our church to ensure their areas are extra creative. :)

  • Andrew says:

    So so good man!

    Do you think you could link your “official” job description somewhere? I’d love to see it.

  • Clayton Bell says:

    We call ours “Storytelling Director.” Changed it from Content Director, because we wanted her to be reminded in her title that he job wasn’t to just get content out, but to tell the story of Jesus through our church…

  • Ryan Oliver says:

    I just started a brand new position in creative media specifically for our student ministries. We titled it student ministries creative media and worship coordinator. The position is a combination of the things listed in this article, as well as coordinating worship for all of our student ministries. I spend a lot of time creating videos and graphics, and working with the four departments in our student ministries to help them plan out the creative elements of their weekly programs and events. Its actually somewhat of an experimental position. We’ve never done this before, so it’s exciting to be venturing into uncharted territory for our student ministries. The position has a large focus on outreach oriented work, but has a lot of internal implications as well.

  • John James says:

    Hey Kendall! I’m the Media & Production Director/Worship Ministry Resident at my church and I’ve recently joined the community here. I really appreciate the resources and wisdom man! Its cool to hear from people who are doing the same things that I am.

  • Juan says:

    I am a big fan of yours Kendall! Do you think you could share some of your invite card designs or do a blog all based on that? I love sharing ideas of Poster concepts and design concepts.

  • Brad says:

    I would love to know what your weekly schedule looks like. Do you time block?

    • Kendall Conner says:

      Brad, I don’t know that you could handle my schedule! :-P
      Here is a quick weekly schedule, but it’s pretty fluid.

      Monday AM – Church staff meetings
      Monday PM – Worship/Service planning meetings
      Tuesday AM – TCP Blog Posts
      Tuesday PM – Social Media Scheduling
      Wednesday AM – Various Church Projects
      Wednesday PM – Various Church Projects
      Thursday AM – TCP Blog Posts
      Thursday PM – Sunday Production Prep
      Friday AM – Various Church Projects
      Friday PM – Various Church Projects

  • Willie Smith says:

    I never knew there was such a thing as a “creative pastor”. I guess maybe I was in the wrong churches, where us artists are frowned upon, and belittled. I need more information. I finished my Associate’s of Science in Graphic Design in 2014. I just turned 58 last month, and I’m not getting any younger.

  • SH says:

    This is great! I am transitioning into full time ministry in the creative role at my church and although I have a great idea of everything that I do or will be doing, this really broke it down for me. Thanks!

  • Garrett Baker says:

    Hey Kendall, Ive just recently got the passion into being an Arts Pastor or Creative Arts Pastor. I’ve been a musician my whole life so the arts come to me naturally. Do you find yourself working with the worship/music pastor more than any of the others especially since your both working in the fine arts? Since you dip your hands into other areas of ministry have you found yourself stepping on other peoples toes at all?

  • Ruth says:

    Thanks so much! :) This is my brother’s job title. I have observed what he does on a Sunday, but I wanted to know all of the nuts and bolts. This article completely satisfied my curiosity. Thanks again. :)

  • Great article man! I am a fan of what I see you doing! Keep up the good work!

  • Charlie says:

    Kendall, appreciate the time you take to share your knowledge. Would you be willing to email an org chart for your department? Thanks so much!

  • Tyler Cole says:

    I have helped with our kids ministry (grades 1-5) for the last 13 years. This is some amazing content!

  • Danielle says:

    Could you please share, what type of education can prepare someone to become a creative pastor?

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