There was a palpable energy shift when Leap of Faith director Nicholas Ma walked to the front of the auditorium in the moments before his film's screening as part of the 2024 Heartland International Film Festival in Indianapolis. 

Ma is almost instantly infectious. He draws you in. He makes you believe. When he says "I'm so happy you came to see this film," there's practically a tear in his eyes and you can't help but believe him. 

I'd been contacted late Wednesday by Heartland's artistic director Greg Sorvig, a friend and professional peer whom I trust implicitly, about this late screening acquisition for the festival. Sorvig, who knows me well, was like "You need to see this film."

So, despite my "I don't do late screenings on a work night!" attitude, I worked late in my downtown Indy office and headed over to the filming at the Bottleworks District's Living Room Theaters. 

There are a myriad of ways that Leap of Faith could have gone wrong, a fact that likely inspired the fact that the Colossian Forum, around which the film's storytelling is wrapped, initially declined the project. 

But yeah, Ma is infectious. He's also the director behind the marvelous Mister Rogers doc Won't You Be My Neighbor?

If anyone could pull this off, it would be Ma. 

Ma pulled this off. 

To be fair, it wasn't simply Ma who pulled this off. It was Michael Gulker, an ordained Mennonite pastor and President of The Colossian Forum. It was the 12 diverse (I will confess the lack of disability representation, or even mention really, bothered me) pastors who comprised the co-hort at the center of the film who took huge risks in participating in this film and, in the process, manifested something beyond special. 

Leap of Faith, picked up by indie distributor Picturehouse for release, is definitely something special.

I can't lie. 

I cried a lot during Leap of Faith. A lot. I wept at what I was watching unfold on the big screen, however, I also wept for my own life - the divisions, the repairs, my own activism, my own failures. When one of the pastors posed the possibility "What if we're part of the problem?," I outright sobbed. 

In the film, twelve diverse Christian leaders across the theological, political, racial, socioeconomic, gender, and sexuality spectrum make a commitment to participate in a series of boundary-brteaking retreats in Grand Rapids, Michigan. These retreats, five women and seven men, are brought together by Gulker and, as we would likely expect, begin having difficult conversations and facing difficult realities around some of today's most contentious issues. The simplicity of "love one another" is tested as divisions become apparent, relationships strained by theological positions and long-held beliefs. The presence of Rev. Dr. Joan VanDessel, an openly lesbian pastor, seems to cause a sort of leaning toward issues of sexuality for the group and yet other contentious issues arise and Gulker himself, largely the facilitator of the journey, himself triggers what could be a widening chasm for the group or, perhaps, a healing of the divide. 

Can we heal the divide? 

Is it possible to still belong to each other in a divided world? 

Leap of Faith doesn't, somewhat surprisingly, so much advocate as hold space. Have you ever experienced a film do that? So often, we'll say "observe" but there's nothing particularly passive here. Being passive won't heal the divide - we can't simply "love one another" and we can't simply say "I can disagree with you and still love you." 

More is demanded. It's that "more" that unfolds in Leap of Faith and it's that more that makes Leap of Faith an essential documentary on how we live into our faith and love one another authentically and deeply. 

As I departed the screening of Leap of Faith, I found myself immersed in the infectiousness that is Nicholas Ma. I found myself with deep respect and admiration for Michael Gulker. I found myself grateful for the conscious vulnerability and surrender displayed by twelve pastors who committed to a risky, remarkable journey and leaned into it with intelligence, insight, openness, wisdom, and tenderness (which, if you know me, is my favorite word ever). 

Brilliant and compassionate in every way, Leap of Faith holds space for the fullness of our humanity and our desire for a better way of living it. Avoiding trite slogans and easy solutions, Leap of Faith is exactly that - a leap of faith, a calling of sorts into choosing love not just via some artsy t-shirt but by wrestling with the conflicts, taking off the masks, choosing to be present, and willing to be transformed. 

I can't wait to watch it again. And again. 

Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Criti