Lee Steffen is the former Art Director of CCM Magazine, a leading Christian music publication that recently moved to digital distribution. During his tenure, the magazine received a Gold Folio award for his redesign, one of the highest achievable editorial awards. Steffen has worked with nearly every prominent Christian artist and band, including Jars of Clay, Third Day, Newsboys, tobyMac, Family Force 5, Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant, Steven Curtis Chapman, Jaci Velasquez, Jeremy Camp, Rebecca St. James, Casting Crowns and many others.

In 2005, after nearly a decade of experience creating award-winning ideas and products for clients such as MTV Networks and Hatchette Book Group, Steffen felt God calling him to leave his career, sell nearly all of his belongings and travel the globe to raise awareness of critical world issues while inspiring others to be catalysts for change. For the next year and a half, Steffen and a friend embarked on a round-the-world adventure, taking them to some of the most desolate places in the world.

The expedition allowed them to participate in projects such as building a clean water well in Guatemala, working with ministries in Bolivia and Peru, helping to restore a water buffalo farm for a ministry in India and providing computers for a classroom in Kenya. Some of the adventure highlights for Steffen included spending two nights on Mt. Everest Base Camp, scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef, mountain biking down the "world's most dangerous road" in Bolivia and base jumping off the tallest observation tower in the southern hemisphere in Auckland, New Zealand.

Before the trip was over, Steffen knew it was time to return home early and surprise the woman of his dreams with a marriage proposal. They were married within 5 weeks and returned to Nashville to continue to work in the creative industry.

Steffen is currently a freelance Creative Director and Photographer, continuing to work with many Christian artists and is Founder of Penguin Creative, a design studio specializing in editorial design and brand development. Both Lee and his wife Traci continue to be huge advocates for social justice & equality and inspiring others to utilize their talents and gifting to maximize the kingdom.

NewReleaseTuesday.com's founder, Kevin McNeese, had the privilege of speaking with Lee about working behind the scenes in the Christian music industry and how his efforts to reshape perceptions through his art won CCM Magazine a Folio redesign award, produced a series of original photos of Christian artists and ultimately lead him to a higher calling that redefined his life.

Thanks for joining me today Lee. Let's first talk about how you got started in photography.

I've always been really drawn to creativity and to visual story telling. In terms of photography, my passion really developed in college where I learned how film developed and how photography works. That was the point where I couldn't take enough photos. I remember reading a book by Madeleine L'Engle, Walking On Water: Reflections On Faith And Art, that was very inspiring in my life. She asked all these questions like, "What does it mean to be a Christian artist?" and "What is the relationship between faith and art?" She had wrote something along the lines that a prime task of a Christian artist is to listen, to remain aware and to respond to creation through your own art. Reading that book really inspired me to respond to this creativity that God had given me.

Various Artists Photo Gallery by Lee Steffen (12)
Click Here To View More Artist Photos!


How did you get started with CCM Magazine?

Well, ironically, I was a Christian worship leader and like everyone else, I was drawn to Nashville to pursue a career in music. To supplement my income, I was planning to do some freelance work. I had studied industrial design in school and had my MBA. I had a friend who was an artist and had just done an interview with CCM and he told me that they were looking for freelance designers. This was in 2002. So at age 22, I stopped in with my portfolio and unbeknownst to me, they had an opening for an Art Director. Now my background was in product design and I had no experience in print or editorial. For some reason or another, they saw enough diversity in my portfolio to offer me the Art Director job. I wasn't hired as a photographer. That was my foray into learning the ins and outs of the industry, things like how a professional shoot works and how to collaborate with photographers. Looking back, it's really one of those providential events.

It's amazing to hear how God matched your skills to a professional environment in an area you were not even pursuing! So what were your main responsibilities as the new Art Director of CCM Magazine?

The job of an Art Director really varies across publications, but for a smaller team like CCM, my job was pretty heavy handed out of necessity. I was basically in charge of the visual integrity of the entire magazine. Every page of design was me. I would sit down with the editorial team and then plan out visually how everything would flow. I would also determine if we needed a photo shoot with the artist or not, and that process really lead into the more creative directions that we started taking with the magazine. Behind of all this, I had a real desire to push the industry and challenge the magazine to do things completely out of the box and different. It took a lot of time and hard work to get the credibility to bring some of these decisions to reality.

One of the most creative decisions that you had a major part of was the 2005 CCM Reader's Choice photo series, where you took well known artists and shot them in various and unique locations and dress. It was something entirely new for the industry, which is very much built around these perfect press release shots. With the limited press surrounding Christian music, I haven't seen it done since. How did this series come around and how was it perceived?

My goal visually was to show that CCM could be a phenomenal sounding board for these artists to really show a different personal side of who they were, rather than just your typical PR shot. It was a lot of work to get in with management and meet with artists to create a scene that showcased their personality and show something that was relevant to their life.

So, for example, Jeremy and Adrienne Camp had just had a baby. Jeremy is pretty high energy and a lot of fun, so I knew he would be up for something a little different. We wanted to show the chaos and stress of being a new father and I think it turned out great. You can't really see it in the photo, but we had Cheetos that we were smashing into his t-shirt to dirty it up a bit. We had a lot of fun.

One of my favorite photos from the series is tobyMac's [below]. Is he an avid golfer?

He is. He's almost a scratch golfer and played in college. I told him my idea of doing something very sophisticated and elegant with him, since everyone was so used to seeing him jumping up in the air with tons of energy and always on the move, and he was all for it. I was drawing from classic shots of golfer Ben Hogan and we used the large format camera and film instead of digital. In terms of photo shoots, Toby is a dream for any photographer. He has an unbelievable since of style and he's so photogenic. He so passionate about the whole vibe and process and embraces everything to a different degree.

CCM Reader's Choice Photo Gallery by Lee Steffen (6)
Click Here To View More Photos From This Series!


What about Chris Tomlin's shot [above]? Not many photos of artists hide the majority of their face. If you didn't know any better, it could be just your average Joe out on the ranch?

Because Chris is a worship leader, he's so used to being transparent to his audience. I wanted to be sensitive to that and show a faceless image of him, where he's almost bowing in submission. I had a pretty hard time working out a schedule with the label and management though and they were just not catching my vision. So while Chris was in town for a Passion conference, I was able to quickly get Chris on board with the idea and we hijacked him to the country to take these photos. As soon as his management saw the photos from the shoot, they were like, "What? Chris is not a cowboy! This is not what his image is about!" For whatever reason, they hadn't heard about the overall concept, and after some explanation, they gave us permission to run with it. After the photo went to print, I ran into Chris' management and she said, "You know, I had a lot of resistance about this concept, but when I saw this image, it made me cry." It was really fulfilling to hear that someone who was that invested in imaging their artist was able to appreciate them in a totally different context.

Did you run into a lot of resistance from the teams surrounding the artists?

It took some effort to get everyone on board, but everyone was excited with the results. Let me talk about Michael W. Smith's cover for CCM. Michael's image is one of the more controlled in the entire industry. I had received the photo choices back from his management for the planned cover shot and they were just unusable in my opinion. They didn't fit the spirit of the overall concept, it wasn't relevant and they were just more of the same. So, once again, I had to be quite creative in my approach. My boss was interviewing him at his ranch for the cover story and I asked if I could have 30 minutes of her time to do an unplanned photo shoot. I literally didn't have a penny for the shoot, we had no make-up or hair teams there and I only had a few minutes after the interview. Michael came out of the interview and looked a bit puzzled as if he wasn't quite sure what we were planning to do, but he rolled with it. He had some scruff on him and a very natural look.

Afterwards, I got back to the office knowing we had an amazing shot for the cover, and I put a cover concept together and sent it to management and they just freaked out. They loved it. In fact, his mainstream publicist told me after the photo ran that hands down, that was the best photo that's ever been taken in his thirty year career. That photo never would have happened outside the standard $15,000 photo shoot with 10 people involved and a month of production.


That's an amazing defining moment in your career, and a great story. Do you have any others you can share?

A definite shining moment in my career was when we were able to win a Folio award for our CCM Magazine redesign. The Folios are like the Oscars for the editorial world, and we won for Best Magazine Redesign, against mainstream publications like Architectural Digest, National Geographic, Rolling Stone and GQ. For me, that really showed the relevance the magazine had at that time.

Were you still with the magazine when they announced they were going to cease the print publication?

I found out during my trip around the world, shortly after I had left. It was a huge blow to hear that.

What was your reaction to the news?

Truthfully, I wasn't surprised, from an economic sense. Print continues having trouble sustaining in all industries. But it was hard to realize that the moment actually arrived. For me, I was very sad, because I know visually and from a story-telling perspective, CCM reflected the pulse of the industry, and we lost that visual barometer that online is having a hard time replacing.

Well let's get out of the world of CCM. Have you done other work that's made it into album art?

Being in Nashville, the Christian music capitol, I've continued to work in that industry in terms of photography. I've continued to work with a lot of independent artists and new label bands, and more recently have had the opportunity to work with Starfield and tobyMac for their upcoming releases.


Wow, congrats! It must be humbling to be a part of the artistic process.

Yeah. You know, I'm really excited and honored to continue to work with Christian artists. They are where they are because of their music and their heart, but when I have a chance to work personally with an artist, and sit down and hear that there is integrity behind it as well, it's just great. Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant, Jars Of Clay, Steven Curtis Chapman--these are artists that are just phenomenal people at their core.

Now, in 2005, you were called to leave your post at CCM and travel the world. This story is a huge part of your life that truly changed your path and has shaped where you're at today.

This calling to travel came right at the peak of all of this change that I was leading at CCM. For me, as I look back, it's fulfilling to know that I was able to follow God and not a job title or salary. I always want to be reminded of that. I specifically remember God saying, "Will you follow me?" one day. When I heard that call, I envisioned his disciples dropping their nets and going, having no idea what has ahead. I knew instantly God was calling me to give up some luxuries in life. Flash forward a few months and I had a strong sense that God was calling me to travel around the world. So I resigned from CCM, selling much of what I owned, I said goodbye to family, friends and my girlfriend and started planning to jump in.

During the process of planning, we felt a conviction to set up a non-profit and the vision of this trip kept growing and growing. Two weeks before we were going to head out, Katrina hit and we found ourselves saying, "how can we go travel the nations when something of this magnitude has happened on our own soil?" So we went down to New Orleans and I have never seen the church more relevant than I have there. It was incredible. I feel that was the first step in God leading us into the unknown to serve him.

Our calling with this trip was to inspire people to be catalysts for change. We wanted to partner with various non-profits around the world and just to be used to bring awareness to various issues, wherever God was calling us. We built a clean water well in Guatemala, worked with ministries in Bolivia and Peru, helped to restore a water buffalo farm for a ministry in India and provided computers for a classroom in Kenya.

We did everything in real time. One hundred percent of the money we raised went directly, and immediately, to the project we were working on, and people were able to view photos and stories online on a regular basis. Everything didn't go perfectly, but for me, my approach to everything in my life has changed. Now that I've seen, I'm responsible and faith without deeds is dead. I'm called to do something greater. These are new truths for my life. I'm going to use every ounce of my resources, my contacts, my creativity and my finances to maximize the Kingdom. That will be my calling in the rest of my life.

Travel Photo Gallery by Lee Steffen (12)
Click Here To View More Photos From This Series!


Wow. So where will that calling take you in the next 5-10 years?

Before this adventure started, I had mentioned I said goodbye to my girlfriend Traci. We had known each other for about a year and had only been dating for a month when I told her about this call that God has brought into my life. I remember the night I told her she said to me, "You are God's and not mine, and I trust Him just like I trust you" and she supported me and stood by me during that whole time.

I ended up my trip with about 8 months of travel still left (roughly 30 countries) in order to surprise her with a marriage proposal. Believe it or not, I hadn't seen her for almost a year when I came back to the States. I think the distance and us being on those individual paths has only made our marriage stronger. We would love to eventually travel the world together and serve in whatever capacity necessary. Honestly, I'm still trying to figure it all out, but I know without a doubt that I will never be the same from what I experienced. There's a lot of adjusting coming back to the States after traveling through and living in so many third world countries.

Well, it's apparent that your heart is elsewhere.

It is, but I'm grateful for where I'm at and the opportunities I've had, and if God decides to call me elsewhere tomorrow, I'm in. I'm there. You read about people in the Bible who have had great faith and who take great risks. I believe God honors risk takers. A passion of mine is to inspire people to not be stagnant in their lives and in their faith.

We'll certainly continue to pray that God will continue to bring amazing opportunities in your life. Thanks so much for sharing these stories with us and giving us a behind-the-scenes peak into the industry. We'll have to catch up soon.

Definitely. Thanks so much!