'Safe for the Whole Family' was directed by filmmaker Jason Ikeler
Credit: Taylor Hill/Getty; Tibrina Hobson/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Safe for the Whole Family explores the challenges faced by Christian music artists who defied the industry’s strict moral expectations
- Filmmaker Jason Ikeler highlights the intersection of faith, fame, and commerce in Nashville’s Christian music industry
- Artists like Jennifer Knapp, Michael Passons and more share personal stories of being ostracized for their life choices
A new film is examining what it really takes to be a Christian music artist.
In the upcoming documentary Safe for the Whole Family: How to Make a Christian Superstar, filmmaker Jason Ikeler explores the rise of Nashville's contemporary Christian music — and "the personal cost paid by many of the artists at the center of it," according to a press release.
Marking his directorial debut, Ikeler got first-hand accounts from singer-songwriter Jennifer Knapp, Avalon's Michael Passons and Nikki Leonti.
“CCM wasn't just a genre – it was an industry built largely out of Nashville,” Ikeler says in a press release. "The film looks at what happens when faith, fame, and commerce become inseparable, and what it costs the people inside that system."
The Safe for the Whole Family website states that Leonti, 44, was a Christian pop star — who's since crossed over to other genres — and she was dropped from her label after she got pregnant at 17. Meanwhile, Passons, 60, was ousted from Avalon after the news broke that he was gay and Knapp left contemporary Christian music "when she refused to push a conservative agenda."
According to the release, the documentary will reveal what happened to artists who "stepped outside of the industry's strict moral expectations."
The documentary will also feature interviews with contemporary Christian music artists like Leigh Nash from Sixpence None the Richer, Matt Thiessen from Relient K, Crystal Lewis, Derek Webb from Caedmon's Call, Nate Cole from Plus One, Chanel Haynes from Trin-i-Tee 5:7 and Semler.
"Nearly three decades after the Christian music industry reshaped Nashville and evangelical pop culture alike, the artists once expected to stay silent are finally telling their stories in full," the release concludes.
Credit: Chrissy Yoder
In an August 2025 Instagram post, Ikeler revealed his reason for making the documentary.
"Growing up, I was obsessed with the artists in this film, mainly because Christian music was ALL I was allowed to listen to," the post read. "As a gay kid who never fit the evangelical mold, I knew how hard it was to exist in that world… I couldn't imagine what it was like to do it under a spotlight."
"I really wanted to tell the artists' stories honestly, without pointing fingers. I'm grateful they trusted me to do that," he concluded.
A release date has not been set for the film.
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