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Welcome back to the podcast friends. Today we’re talking about values based entertainment, what it is, and why it matters.
If you’re a mom, then you probably already realize how the world is eagerly serving up content to our kids, and to our families today. And it doesn’t always align with our Christian values. I know it’s something that I am constantly keeping an eye on. But thankfully, there’s one source of entertainment that my family has always been able to count on. And that is the Sight and Sound Theatre.
We’re so fond of this incredible experience and we’ve taken in live productions many, many times at the beautiful Sight and Sound Theatre in Branson, Missouri. We’ve watched everything from the story of Noah to Jonah to Moses, and most recently the story of Christmas. That was such a special time to have our whole family there watching this beautiful live production at Christmas time. And every time that we attend a live production at Sight and Sound, our senses are delighted. And our hearts are really deeply touched by the wisdom that’s found in Scripture, and then shared on stage.
So I’m absolutely honored to introduce today’s guest to you, Katie Miller. She’s the Director of Marketing and Communications for Sight and Sound that’s just truly on a mission to bring the Bible to life through live theater, television and film. As the oldest grandchild of Sight and Sound’s founders, Katie Miller first stepped onto the stage when she was just four years old, making her the first member of the family’s third generation to be a part of the ministry. Throughout the years, Katie has served in various capacities within the company, including human resources, marketing, and business development. It is such a joy to have her here today.
Katie’s Story
Katie and I got to chat for a few moments before we hit record, and I had asked if she would share with everybody when she actually retired from being on stage and move behind the scenes because I just think it’s a fun story.
Katie tells the story of when she was a kid, it truly was a family business. It was all aunts and uncles and cousins. And they were all on stage, and they were also the ushers, the bathroom cleaners, and the animal trainers. When she was about 12 years old, she remembers having this very distinct memory during rehearsals for their Christmas show, and looking around on stage thinking, “I don’t think I like doing this very much.” She says everyone else seemed to be having a blast. And so when she went home, she says she had a very serious conversation with her mom about how she felt like she was supposed to retire from the stage. And sure enough, she did. That was her last show, and she ended up working in concessions in the box office and many other places throughout her teenage years instead of staying on stage.
I just think that’s so incredible. Katie had more life experience and theater experience in her four to 12 age range than most of us get in a lifetime!
From Farming to Entertainment: The Origin of Sight and Sound Theatre
If you’re not super familiar with the Sight and Sound Theatre, there are two theater locations and as we mentioned, they are passionate about bringing Bible stories to life on stage in a really big and spectacular way. They are known for their 300-foot wraparound stages, where live animals run up and down the aisles of 2000-seat theaters. They have 55 actors and actresses on stage that help to portray these stories. But they certainly didn’t start that way.
Katie shares that her grandfather had grown up as a dairy farmer in Lancaster and wanted to be a dairy farmer for his whole life. And so he had always enjoyed creativity but was a fifth-generation farmer and wanted to stay that way. And when he was 17 years old, he was dating her grandmother and through a tragedy, lost his mother at a very young age. One day, his dad came home and said, “You’re going to have to find a new vocation. I just told the family farm I can’t do this without your mom.” And just a few short years later, Katie’s grandfather found himself a newlywed trying to make ends meet without really knowing what he wanted to do. And so he began relying on his creativity. He was taking photography throughout the county in his community, he was doing paintings and then selling them out of the trunk of his car to make ends meet.
One night his pastor asked him if he would mind doing a multimedia slideshow. This was in the 60’s so it was a big deal. He went home and asked Katie’s grandma what she thought about it and she said they could do it, but they couldn’t let it be boring. And so they put this slideshow together, they narrated it, put music to it, and it really set the stage for what it grew into all these years later. They went on the road with their show, and then eventually built a very small theater right down the road from where Sight and Sound is now. Throughout the years, they added different actors and actresses and animals and all the live elements that they’re known for today. Eventually, they transitioned into doing full Bible stories.
What a fun journey just full of God’s faithfulness! To go from family farming, to the entertainment business, and just the whole story of how it got there, Katie’s grandpa was so far ahead of his time. To be back in the 60’s doing that sort of thing, it’s incredible.
I remember, because it’s been years and years back, but I’m pretty sure that the story of Noah is the first live production that we took in. And I just remember, we’re sitting there in the middle of this huge, beautiful theater and all of our peripheral vision peels back and there’s all these animals and it was just breathtaking. It’s something that you really can hardly describe; you have to really be there in person at Sight and Sound to experience the magic and the feeling and the way that it touches your heart and all of your senses.
The Value and Effectiveness of Entertainment dating back to Jesus
I really love that Sight and Sound upholds Christian values and that they are biblically based and telling these Bible stories in a live production way. So I want to dive deeper into that to talk about the entertainment piece and and how entertainment itself adds value to our lives.
For Katie personally, she shares that Jesus was a storyteller. That’s what he did. And he did live theater and he used things that were around him whether it was mustard seeds, or lambs or doves or flowers, whatever was surrounding him is what he used to help get the message across that he was sharing. And that’s actually where the theatre’s name comes from. Sight and Sound comes from the verse in Matthew 13 where the disciples go to Jesus and they say, “Why do you use parables to teach the people?” And Jesus responds to them by quoting Isaiah: “Because in hearing they don’t hear and then seeing, they don’t see. And so I tell stories to help them understand.” So basically, he’s saying, they’re hearing and seeing, but they’re not actually grasping these truths that he’s trying to teach them, and so he’s using stories to help them find their way. Katie paraphrased there but that’s really what he was saying in that verse. And Katie mentions that she has always loved that of all the ways that God could have left us something to know him more, the thing that he chose to leave with us was stories. Most of the Bible is actually a story. Yes, there’s some poetry in there, and there’s some teaching, and obviously, the laws and gender and genealogies and things like that, but the vast majority of it is stories. So entertainment or the arts is so near and dear to God’s heart, because it’s the communication method he seems to prefer, is teaching through stories. And that’s what they are so passionate about at Sight and Sound. They’ll be the first ones to say that when it comes to Bible stories, specifically, they can’t take credit for them. They have been changing lives for 1000s of years, but they do get to tell them in a really cool way. And Katie mentions that you only have to look around a little bit to see that we are a culture that is just obsessed with storytelling one way or the other for the good and the bad. It’s everywhere right now. And it’s something that people are so drawn towards. And Jesus seemed to know that and so at Sight and Sound, they hope to in their own way, the way they’re called to follow in his footsteps in that way.
I agree that storytelling is so effective. We homeschool over here and so we are going through and reading all four of the Gospels during the second semester of school. And so it’s been really fun to see Jesus doing all the storytelling, and sharing all those parables and kind of dissecting those and really getting into those stories and the meaning behind them and how we can apply those to our life. And so that makes so much sense. And I love that everything that Sight and Sound do is so intentional, even down to the meaning behind the name. And I feel like what they are doing is such a God-honoring thing.
The Importance of Values Based Entertainment
I feel like it’s so important to produce and take in content that is God-honoring and family-friendly that really upholds Christian values. As Katie shares, stories are a way for us to help find our way. And if they’re a thing that’s pointing us in a direction, the types of stories we’re bringing into our homes are influencing not just our children, but ourselves and that carries so much weight in our lives. As Katie’s parents and probably every mom on the face of the planet has said, what goes in is what comes back out. And it’s the same impact on our hearts and our souls and our minds as we are navigating this life that is full of its own uncertainties and challenges and difficulties. So being able to be intentional about what we are allowing to influence our homes and our hearts is just such a powerful force in our lives. Unfortunately, sometimes more than we even realize, a lot of times we don’t even realize the effect that it’s having. But I think we’ve all had the experience of sitting down and binge watching Netflix and realizing afterwards like, that was not necessary for my heart and my mind right now. Even as adults, we still have those experiences and so even more so for our kids as they’re in such a shapeable and forming season of their lives.
I could not agree more. I have said so many times to my kids, I’m sure they get annoyed with me but it is so true, that what we take in with our eyes and our ears does sink into our heart and our mind and it plants these seeds. I remember growing up if I would be exposed to something, some type of darkness with my eyes, whether it be it through movies or books or whatever, it would actually show up in my dreams. It would invade and infest my mind. And I look back and I remember that as an adult so I feel like I learned at a really young age that that matters. I don’t know that I was super discerning about it in my younger years and in high school years, but oh my gosh, I look back and I see how that was just showing up and planting seeds in my heart. The Bible says that out of the mouth, the overflow of the heart speaks. And so I just totally agree with Katie.
And I love how she mentioned just pouring into our kids with that awesome God-honoring content. And I think it such an awesome effect on helping our children to explore their faith.
As a mom of 3 kids, ages 10, 15, and 17, Katie has been a witness to this. She shares that it’s been fascinating to watch how Sight and Sound specifically has helped them respond in their own seasons of life. She says they don’t know anything different, they are just immersed in the world there. All three of her kids are currently in their cast in different capacities and they have been ever since they were little kids. So they’ve grown up in it.
Katie shares that one of her favorite moments was actually not too long ago and her oldest son had been dealing with some different anxiety things. They’ve been plugging through that together and he was in the show of David, and he came home one day and said, “Mom, I can’t believe this, because I hear this song like 100 times a week and something about it just totally hit me differently. And it’s making me process my own anxieties and how to give them to the Lord in a different way, when I don’t always know what the outcome is going to be.” Katie says that that was just such a cool thing for him, at 17 years old to be hearing these songs all the time and going through the motions of what is just in some his job right now, but to still have it be affecting him and be affecting the way that he’s processing life and seeing that immediate impact on his life was just a really cool thing for her as a mom. She says she is so humbled by the call that God has on their lives and the opportunity they have to steward this ministry. And they know that it’s affecting people, they hear it, they get letters and stories and read the comments and all those things. But it takes it to a whole different level when it’s personal for your own child who has been in this tough season of navigating a challenging thing in his life. And that was just a cool moment of bringing it home to Katie literally in a really different and powerful way.
Intentionally, Discernment & Parenting Mindset for Social Media and Children’s Entertainment
One thing that my kids and I talked about as we left the theater the last time back in December was that we were somewhat comparing and contrasting the entertainment and what we had seen there versus what is so readily available and popular content out in the world today that is just being served up so easily to kids and to families, be it through Netflix or Tik Tok, or Snapchat, in my opinion, the worst one. I mean, there’s just this yuck, this stuff that’s so readily available to the youth today.
Katie shares that one of the conversations she has with her teenagers, because they’re the ones that are old enough to be exposed to that more so than her 10 year old, but one of the things that she says to them is social media and YouTube, or Netflix or any of that, is a tool and it’s not necessarily social media in and of itself, that’s bad. It’s how you choose to engage with it, it’s how you choose to use it. It can be a wonderful point of connection for the relationships in your life and it can be a source of inspiration and personal growth and challenge and learning; it can be all of those things. But just like anything, how you choose to use it, how you choose to engage with it, how you choose to spend your time on it, that’s what’s going to dictate if it’s a positive or a destructive force in your life. And so, Katie shares that she will never necessarily be the person who’s anti-everything social media. For herself, there are some podcasters that she’s discovered through there that have actually changed her life. There’s pastors she’s discovered through there that have been so insightful and encouraging to her walk with the Lord over the last several years. And so that’s the position that she and her family have tried to take is that it’s not necessarily all bad or all good, but more so how do you in be intentional about it.
Katie goes on to say that her daughter is a social butterfly of their family on multiple different levels and brings so much brightness and joy to their family. But it’s been so cool to watch these 15 year old girls use social media in a way that is so uplifting. I even told her that I wish the world could watch how those girls navigate what can be such a disruptive force, but they use it for encouragement and it’s the place that their friends go when they need prayer, when they need encouragement for something and they are just using it in such a cool way. And so like we mentioned, just like anything else, it has the potential to be so redemptive if we choose it. It also obviously has the flip side of being very destructive if that’s what we allow to unfold in our lives too.
I think that’s a really great perspective and I think intentionality is key. Discernment is key. As parents, being vigilant and knowing what’s going on is key. And having honest conversations, deep, rich conversation with our kids about how to use it, how to use it well, letting them know that there is good and bad on those platforms, but that it can be used for good. I really love that.
Katie also shares that when her son was turning 13, for various reasons, they decided to get him an iPhone that was basically like an iPod that didn’t have actual phone service on it but he could do messenger and stuff like that. She says they realized that they were starting to leave him home alone and since they didn’t have a house phone anymore, they needed a way for him to contact them if something happened. She says it was very restricted, there were no internet browsers on the phone and he really could only message the people that were in their contacts, along with a few games. As they’ve gotten older, and they’ve gotten less terrified about it by being honest. They have parental controls on their iPhones, family sharing that makes it so they have to request permission to download apps and those apps, like Instagram, are also connected to Katie’s phone so that she can jump in there at any time if she wants to. Katie shares that they all put their phones together and plug them in downstairs in the kitchen before bed. They have done their best to give them the tools to navigate and shares that she always wants to parent with a mindset of calling them up into a space of being independent and taking personal responsibility and empowering them to make wise decisions.
Katie’s shares a piece of advice her aunt gave to her that as your kids enter their teenage years, go into it with the mindset that they are going to trip around and mess up sometimes like we all do. And so knowing that and giving yourself, even as a parent, permission to go, they’re learning and they’re going to miss it sometimes, so how do I have a graceful response so that I’m a safe place for them to continue to come? I think that is such great parenting advice.
Katie’s Favorite Show(s)
Moving on, I just had to ask Katie what has been her personal favorite live production over the years.
She says that it’s really hard to choose, and it’s really easy to go with whatever show is currently on stage. Right now, they have Moses on stage in the Lancaster theatre which first premiered all the way back in 2014. So it was there for a couple of years, it went out to Branson and then came back to the Lancaster stage. And even though it’s an older show, Katie says that sat down to watch it for the first time all the way through just a month ago when they opened and forgot how powerful it is. If you haven’t seen Moses, it follows him through all the different places he’s trying to find identity. He was torn away from his original family, he tried to find his identity in Egypt and in Pharaoh’s court. And when he didn’t do that, he tried to go live with his people. And then he failed there. And he runs away and he becomes a shepherd in Moab. And he’s trying to find identity there. And it isn’t until he encounters the burning bush and encounters God at the burning bush, and God says I am and speaks identity of who Moses is in the Lord, his life starts to change. And then the whole second act is Moses character arc of discovering who God has called him to be and finding identity in God. And Katie shares that the message is so powerful for society right now and for our kids and for ourselves of finding identity first and foremost in the Lord, in a season in a society that’s all about self discovery, which in and of itself, when rooted in the Lord is not a bad thing, like discovering God’s design for your life is awesome. But trying to self discover outside of God’s design for your life is such a painful journey to go down.
And so all that to say, Moses is absolutely her favorite show. And then she went out to Branson and watched Queen Esther again and that was her favorite show. So, David, Queen Esther, and Moses, for her are probably a three-way tie of her favorite shows. But when they premiere a brand new show next year, which they haven’t announced yet, she says she’ll probably say that one is her favorite.
I loved Moses. Moses is my favorite Bible story because I relate a lot to his story. And when we went and saw Moses, I don’t want to spoil the whole show by any means but there’s this part where baby Moses is in the basket and sent down the center aisle. I’m not going to say any more about it because you’re going to have to go see it in person. So if it’s playing out there right now, buy a ticket to see it because it’s so good. But I was just weeping because it was so real.
The Future of Sight and Sound Theatre
So what is ahead for Sight and Sound theatre?
Katie shares that 2020 was a challenging year for all of us. But one of the blessings that the Lord very surprisingly birthed out of that very challenging season was their streaming platform, Sight and Sound TV. So if you’re unable to come visit in person, or you missed a show, all of their most recent shows, the recorded versions of them are on there. And that has just become a really special and cool way to reach the world in ways that have just been so far beyond their comprehension. She says they had Jesus available for free over Easter, and it just was incredible to watch the international response and the millions of people from around the world that were watching that. And so they’re excited to see where the Lord is taking the streaming platform. They also released their very first film this past Christmas called, I Heard the Bells. And so last year, they launched their film branch of their ministry and are excited for the next film in production. As far as additional locations, Katie shares that there are no official plans right now. But it has become something that they’re starting to become more curious about what the Lord might have for them in the future.
It’s so incredible to see how God has expanded the Sight and Sound ministry. And so I will just be watching and waiting and and excited about what is to come. If you guys can get to a theater or you can find them on television, I highly encourage you to do so because I truly believe it will really bless you.
Connect with Katie!
- Hang out on Instagram and Facebook
- Watch on Youtube
- Visit the Sight and Sound Website
