My pastor and I always like to say that, in some ways, we should lead artists exactly the same as everyone else, and in other ways, we lead them differently. What should be the same are the categories that apply to all Christians—in other words, artists shouldn't get a pass or be the exception to the overall character guidelines in Scripture and for your faith community. We can't coddle artists just because they are gifted, or allow them to behave in ways that aren't Christlike. While we recognize that all of us are continually growing, what is nonnegotiable is that artists are increasingly surrendering themselves to Christ and humble and open enough to live in accountable relationships.

But in other ways, we must lead artists differently. For example, most artists don't thrive in a highly corporate kind of environment. Many of them do their best creative work alone, off campus, and even at different hours of the day (some on my team flourish most at midnight!) I expect artists to ...