I want to keep making films that address this rift in kindness and understanding, because it feels like a topic that everyone, regardless of religion or political party, can connect with.
SYNOPSIS
Twelve diverse Christian leaders find hope and fellowship at a series of boundary-breaking retreats in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Brought together by Michael Gulker of The Colossian Forum, five women and seven men struggle with some of today’s most contentious issues. The divisions between them become apparent and test both their common belief in the universal importance of love and kindness and the bonds they build over the course of a year.
Inspiring and provocative, LEAP OF FAITH explores whether we can disagree and still belong to each other in a divided world.
PEOPLE
Michael Gulker, President of The Colossian Forum, has a long-standing interest in the oft-times contentious intersection of faith and culture and how both thrive best when rooted in worship. Since 2011, Michael has been leading The Colossian Forum and helping Christian leaders transform conflict into opportunities for deeper discipleship and a more beautiful witness. The Colossian Forum has equipped hundreds of church leaders and thousands of laypeople in transformative Christian practices that harness the energy of everyday conflicts for positive spiritual formation.
A native of West Michigan, Michael studied philosophy and theology at Calvin College, has a divinity degree from Duke Divinity School and is an ordained Mennonite pastor. Before joining The Colossian Forum, he served as pastor of Christ Community Church in Des Moines, Iowa. Michael and his wife, Jodie, have two children.
Kim DeLong was a second career pastor and a lifelong United Methodist, with a first career in medical technology working in hospital laboratories. God called her into ordained ministry in 1992, although it wasn’t until 2008 that she was able to finish seminary and enter full-time ministry. She has served as a Licensed Local Pastor at Unity UMC in Muskegon as an ordained deacon in the role of Director of Education at Grand Rapids First UMC, transitioned to an ordained elder and served the Belding/Turk Lake UMC Charge, the Big Rapids Parish UMC Charge, the Courtland Oakfield/Wyoming Park UMC Charge, and lastly the Wyoming Park UMC full-time. Kim retired in June of 2024.
She has been married 44 years, has three adult children who are all married, and four grandchildren. She also has one whom she considers a son from the Democratic Republic of Congo who is married, has two young boys, and serves Hope Community Church in Lansing, MI as their pastor. She enjoys spending time with her family, reading, traveling, quilting, the Detroit Tigers, and Michigan State Spartans (especially basketball!).
Ashlee Eiland is a thought leader, writer, and Bible teacher. She earned her BA in International Relations from the University of Southern California and her Masters in Organizational Leadership from Judson University. She also completed certificate work at both Moody Bible Institute and Fuller Seminary.
Troy Hatfield is the husband of Lis and father of Maggie. He is the Lead Pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church, a community of Jesus people he has served since 2004. Before coming to Grand Rapids, he served for six years as Worship Leader at Christ Community Church in St Charles, IL. Troy began writing his doctoral dissertation in December 2022, seeking a Doctorate in Worship Studies (a hybrid Liturgical History and Practical Theology degree) from the Robert E Webber Institute for Worship Studies. When not reading books about liturgical theology written by people long departed from this earth, Troy enjoys listening to and making music (ask about his vinyl record collection), cooking, traveling, and getting to know people while sipping a Cortado or single-malt Scotch.
Ben Kampmeier’s vocational ministry journey began in 2008 when he was initially called to serve the church through creative arts ministry. Since then, he has served local churches of all shapes and sizes as a worship leader, young adults pastor, teaching pastor, lead pastor and church planter. After a brief stint managing a local wine bar and cheese shop, he now works full time as a Director of Engagement for Our Daily Bread Ministries. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Western Theological Seminary (Holland, MI) and is an ordained minister in the Reformed Church of America. He lives in Grand Rapids, MI with his wife Ann, and their two children.
Artie M. Lindsay, Sr. serves as Pastor of Spiritual Formation at Tabernacle Community Church, a multiethnic congregation in Grand Rapids, MI. He earned a B.A. in political science from the University of Michigan before following God’s call into pastoral ministry. He moved from his hometown of Detroit to Grand Rapids, in the fall of 1995 to complete a Master of Theological Studies. at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary. Pastor Artie has a burden and passion for community revitalization, and he continues to work extensively in the community to address the very real physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of community members, primarily in his role as Board President of the Grand Rapids Nehemiah Project, a local non-profit organization. He also serves as the Director of Flourishing Faith Communities for the Urban Church Leadership Center, mobilizing the church to engage in faith, work, and economics for the common good. He has dedicated the rest of his life to seeking the shalom of the city. He has dedicated himself to seeing all people flourish.
Tierra Marshall is a co-lead pastor at Fellowship Reformed Church in Holland, MI. She holds a B.S. in Psychology from Western Michigan University, an M.A. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Western Michigan University, an M.Div from Western Theological Seminary, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology at Calvin Theological Seminary. Tierra grew up in Buena Vista Township (Saginaw, MI) and currently lives in Holland, MI.
Having spent several years in higher education (Western Michigan University and Providence College) prior to discerning a call to vocational ministry, Tierra works to help people discover Christ, become more like Christ, and share their faith in Christ with others in both word and deed. She is most interested in formation, evangelism, missional discipleship, theology, and strategic leadership. In her free time, you can find her reading really old theology books, sampling a great bourbon, enjoying a meal with friends, spending time on her porch with neighbors, frantically finishing sermons in coffee shops, recovering from the last or planning the next hiking adventure, or arguing for the recognition of Die Hard as a Christmas movie…but almost never watching sports!
Joan VanDessel is a United Methodist elder currently serving as one of the pastors to the congregation of Central United Methodist Church in Traverse City, MI, where her primary roles include discipleship and worship, and she provides support in ministries of hospitality, community outreach, facilities, faith development, and congregational care. She previously served as Associate Pastor and Director of Community Outreach and Mission at First United Methodist Church in Grand Rapids, and prior to entering full-time ministry was a professional clarinetist and music professor.
Joan is married to her wife, Shammora (Sham), and they have two dogs – Samson and Piper. She enjoys hiking, kayaking, travel, and LEGO.
FILMMAKERS
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This film is incredible
It soars, glistens, and shudders! It captures something so beautiful and painful about shared and unshared beliefs, convictions, and perspectives. The way it captures gradations of harmony and disharmony is truly extraordinary, and I know it must have been a hard-won feat to foster that openness, witness it, and then refract it again in the film.
Wow!
I was able to view Leap of Faith and it was painfully wonderful. I truly have to agree with one of the pastor’s assessment, that “perhaps we have put a ceiling on God’s love for others.” It is one of those pieces that will stay with me for a long, long time!
Privilege & Gift
Viewing LEAP OF FAITH is a privilege and gift. It is an extraordinary film and, speaking for myself, I’ve never seen anything like it.
Extraordinary Movie
What an extraordinary movie. My heart is full from the glimpses of grace it captured so well. It’s a film whose subtle, gentle moments of human connection and modest change land with such force they feel like triumphs of humanity and gifts of the spirit.
For This Moment
I want everyone to see it. It’s the movie for this moment.
Opportunity To Learn
Not only did I love the documentary, I loved the opportunity to learn about the Colossians Forum. I love how the different pastors were presented individually and the relationships that grew between them. I love how you learn eventually that for Pastor Mike it‘s more than just a critical exercise of faith- but personal, a deep desire for his adopted children to be loved and accepted in Christian fellowship. Being vulnerable, being humble, being patient, being kind, listening caring, loving. Love is the measure. The film is so good.
Amazing
Wow. I watched it and then let it marinate for a while – and then skipped back through to replay some parts, and then went back for more. Michael Gulker is amazing – as the guide, as the defacto narrator, as the character with a story within the story. This film is wonderful. I want to show it to every person who shuns denominational Christianity and every person who can’t breathe without it.
Amen
Wow. Amen. The film is wonderful. Powerful. Timely.
TAKE THE LEAP
The twelve pastors found the undiscussable topic amongst them to be sexuality, and it is provocative and inspiring to watch them fumble to find their way through the conversation. What are the undiscussbale topics in our lives? In our communities? Take the Leap uses the film as the springboard for those conversations, working with trusted conflict transformation partners and communities across the country. Summary attached below.
Why this matters to me:
For me at the highest level, this film is about recapturing our imagination for the center. It’s not a compromise, or a strategic positioning. It’s the space that exists between us. As the year wore on, it became clear the truest work of these pastors was not to change each other’s positions, but to see each other more honestly and more lovingly, and in doing so to learn to belong to each other. The center is invisible—it’s this place in between that can’t be defined or inhabited—but we are joined to each other through it. In the terms of these Christian pastors, perhaps it is a way of defining the Spirit’s place in the world. In quantum terms, perhaps it is a reminder that while the center may be the statistical average, that doesn’t mean it’s where an individual is observed to be. Relational work is painful, but it creates enduring change. How can we have the faith to endure that pain in the belief that there is something beautiful on the other side? My hope is the film offers that vicarious experience and that inducement to try.
Put more simply, imagine being stuck at a year-long Thanksgiving dinner, a minefield of conversation. Now imagine at the end wanting to stay. That’s the story of this film, and the hope for its viewers.
RESOURCES
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