ANDREW CHRISTJOY
A PhD Dissertation Film Project
by Andrew Christjoy
Department of Communication & Journalism
Texas A&M University
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The church as an organization in America is dying. That’s a fact. Yet one church in a small rural town has found the keys to resilience. This documentary film examines the story of the First Baptist Church of Calvert, Texas and provides tools for other churches to find their own resilience. This project is a multi-modal doctoral dissertation and is funded by grants from The College of Arts & Sciences and the Department of Communication & Journalism at Texas A&M University.
RSVP now for the Film Premiere & Screening on Facebook Events
Monday, December 2, 2024
Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
Rudder Tower - Room 501
11am - 1pm
RSVP HERE
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Director's Bio
Andrew Christjoy is an award winning director with two films in distribution. His first narrative feature film Let There Be Zombies (2014) premiered at the historic Landmark Theater in Dallas to a sold out crowd of 800 fans and won the People’s Choice Award at the Interurban Film Festival. The film is distributed by Gravitas Ventures. His second feature Prepper (2016) premiered at the historic Texas Theatre in Dallas to a crowd of 500 fans and won several awards including Best Domestic Feature at the Fort Worth Indie Film Showcase, Best Feature at the Boomtown Film and Music Festival, Honorable Mention at the Lionshead Film Festival, and Best Feature at the Hollywood Independent Film Festival. The film is distributed by Global Digital Releasing. Currently an instructor and PhD candidate at Texas A&M University, Andrew’s research focuses on resilience for individuals, organizations, and communities through the production of heroic narratives.
Director’s Statement
Since I was a young boy I loved going to church. Being in God’s house around all my family and friends worshiping the Lord and learning how to live for Jesus inspired me. I want other people to know that joy because over the years when I was lost, the church and its people faithfully carried me through the most difficult times. But the church in America today is dying. That’s the facts. Over the past few decades, the institution has seen a steep and steady decline and the data continues to head the wrong direction. But there is hope. As a Christian who understands the value of a network of loving support, I cannot stand by and watch the organization as a whole collapse. I chose to make this film as part of my dissertation to obtain my PhD so that I could inspire churches to recognize just how vital they are to the community. As a filmmaker and academic, my goal is to bridge the gap between churches and university researchers so that churches might discover key communication tools to harness their own resilience and academics just might find a little bit of faith.
Film and written dissertation coming December 2024.
