Documentary · post production · 2026
Where Are the Christians
A transportation planner hears a question he can't shake — and answers it the only way he knows how: by mapping every church in his city.
About the film
Where Are the Christians? follows a transportation planner who hears a simple question—“Where are the Christians?”—and responds the only way he knows how: by mapping every church in his city.
What begins as a geographic investigation slowly becomes a personal one. As the map fills with dots and the camera lingers on empty parking lots, church signs, locked doors, and quiet buildings, another question emerges:
If there are churches everywhere, why does it feel like something is missing?
The film isn’t trying to determine who is or isn’t a Christian. It’s exploring the difference between the visibility of churches and the visibility of Christian love, service, and community. It asks whether faith is something that can be located on a map—or only experienced in people’s lives.
The audience isn’t asked to agree with my conclusions. They’re invited into the search.
How it started
There were two beginnings — one external, one internal.
While volunteering at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, I overheard two filmmakers discussing the state of documentaries and audiences. One of them casually asked, “Where are the Christians?” The line wasn’t directed at me. It wasn’t explained. But it lodged in my mind. At first I heard it as a question about the absence of Christians in filmmaking, arts, or documentary spaces.
The question wouldn’t leave me alone because it collided with something I had already been wrestling with. I’ve been a Christian for over twenty years. I’ve served in churches. I’ve experienced meaningful community. I’ve also experienced disappointment, hypocrisy, church hurt, and watched people—including myself—struggle to reconcile what Christianity teaches with what churches often look like in practice.
Instead of answering the question philosophically, my instincts as a planner took over. What if I literally looked for them? Not people. Churches. Maps. Addresses. Locations. Data.
Stills
