The Night COVID Closed the Doors and 3 Million People Heard the Gospel

Matt Neff, CEO of Sight and Sound Theaters, was watching basketball with his boys the night the NBA suspended its season. He knew immediately what was coming. The next day, Pennsylvania closed large venues. Sight and Sound, which had its biggest pre-booking year on record and two brand new productions ready to open, went dark. At the end of that year they had their largest financial loss in history, and had reached three times more people with the gospel than in any previous year. The story of Jesus aired on TBN Easter weekend to an estimated three million-plus viewers worldwide.

Fifty years of bringing the Bible to life, a new production called Joshua, and a God who uses every shut door to open something bigger: Matt shares what makes Sight and Sound unique, a stage as wide as a football field, live animals, surround sound, immersive storytelling, and why the spectacle always has to serve the story or it gets cut. He also talks about the core theme that emerged from the Joshua production, that the promised land was never really about the land but about the presence of the one who gave the promise, and why every show ends with a gospel presentation pointing back to Jesus regardless of which biblical character is on stage.

Highlights

• Why Sight and Sound was founded on the idea of putting the audience inside the story so walls can come down and hearts can open
• How the Joshua production opens at the crossing of the Red Sea and builds toward the theme that God's presence is the real promised land
• Why the production team argues passionately about cutting anything that is spectacular but does not serve the story
• The COVID night Matt watched the NBA suspend its season and knew everything was about to change
• How airing Jesus on TBN Easter weekend reached an estimated three million-plus people in three days, more than two sold-out theaters reach in a full year
• Why that COVID season accelerated the launch of Sight and Sound TV and the idea of filming shows for movie theater release
• The morning after COVID closed his theaters when Matt woke up excited because God reminded him He uses hard seasons to take you to what is next
• What is coming next: Jonah returning to Lancaster, Daniel premiering in Branson, and a third Sight and Sound film in pre-production

Resources / Links / CTA

• 🌐 Sight and Sound Theaters: https://www.sight-sound.com
• 🌐 Sight and Sound TV streaming
• 🎬 Joshua in theaters: October 30, filmed live before a theater audience
• 🌐 Follow, share, and explore more of Crosswalk Talk
• 👉 Follow, share, and subscribe for more faith-driven conversations on Lifeaudio

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