How ‘The Chosen’ is Reaching the World – An Interview with Stan Jantz from Come and See Foundation

With the recent theatrical release of season five, the record-breaking series The Chosen has firmly established itself not just as an unprecedented success in the faith-based entertainment genre but as a global phenomenon.

We recently sat down with Stan Jantz to chat about The Chosen, the Come and See foundation, and an ambitious mission to translate the series into 600 languages and share the authentic Jesus with 1 billion people around the globe.

(Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Watch the full conversation above.)   

Daniel Blackaby: I’m honored to be joined today by a very special guest: Mr. Stan Jantz, the global ambassador for the Come and See Foundation.

Stan, this is a busy time for you. I appreciate you taking the time to chat about all you’re doing.

Stan Jantz: Thank you, Daniel. It’s great to be with you. This is Holy Week, and season five is in theaters.

Daniel: You’re referring to The Chosen. Obviously, people all around the world are familiar with the show, but they may be less familiar with the Come and See Foundation. Can you share a little bit about what Come and See does and your relationship with The Chosen?

Stan: Come and See is a nonprofit, and our vision is for one billion people to experience the authentic Jesus.

We believe the best way to do that is through The Chosen, the multi-season television series. To fulfill that vision, we are raising money to fund the production of the series all the way through seven seasons. Number two is for it to be translated into 600 languages. And that’s dubbed, not just subtitles. And third is to partner with existing global ministries to take it to the farthest ends of the earth.

Season five was fully funded, and now we’re working on the translation and distribution. And then on to seasons six and seven.

Daniel: I think you’ve touched on how unique The Chosen is as a work of entertainment. It’s thrilling. It’s captivating. But as you just alluded, it also has a missional, evangelistic component. I think the closest comparison is maybe to The Jesus Film, which is being used a lot, although that film wasn’t necessarily created as a work of entertainment. It’s more missional in its focus.

As you’ve followed it closely and heard the behind-the-scenes stories, how has The Chosen managed to balance those two priorities?

Stan: That’s a great question. And The Jesus Film is amazing. It’s been out for 40 years and been translated into, I think, 2000 languages, which is just incredible. Their purpose is evangelistic, and they have done amazing work to bring the gospel to the farthest ends of the earth. The Chosen is a bit different in that it tells the story without any kind of agenda.

So Come and See works with ministries and the church to then take The Chosen to people to start conversations and begin that journey of getting to know Jesus. I’ll give you a quick example. I was in Dubai about three weeks ago for Movement Day, which is a global initiative to reach the 500 largest cities in the world with the gospel. On an evening before the conference started, we showed The Chosen in two different theaters in Dubai. This is a Muslim country, and the government had to approve it. So they watched it. We had an Arabic translation dubbed, and they approved it. We showed it in two public theaters, and the response was just amazing. Most of the people there were believers, but some others came in who were not, including some government officials.

It really begins to open up conversations about Jesus. We say it’s telling the greatest story about the greatest person to the greatest number of people in history. We believe there is a place for both of these approaches. We’re finding that ministries like Alpha, for example, have used it in tremendous ways to spur on conversations about Jesus and to get people thinking about who he is and perhaps to begin following him.

Daniel: One of the amazing things about the show is how widely it has been received, even in unexpected places like mainstream Hollywood. People who aren’t believers are resonating with it or are curious. They’ve heard the hype. It seems like every month I’m writing about some new record The Chosen has broken, whether in the box office or in the way that the episodes are being distributed.

As someone who has had a front row seat to a lot of this story, do you ever stand back and reflect on how crazy this whole thing is?

Stan: I’m surprised on two levels. One is that, as I watch the show, it really drives me back to Scripture. A lot of season five comes out of the Book of John, where there’s a lot of red letters. Seeing that come to life kind of sparks your imagination. Like, what if I could have been there? What would that have been like?

But I think the other thing is the unexpected places. We’ve seen it in the Muslim world. The Catholic world has opened up in dramatic ways to the story.

I think it’s because they’re seeing Jesus as a person they can relate to. I grew up as an evangelical. I knew about Jesus in a really deep way. But it’s opened up for me to know him as a person and to realize he is fully human. He is fully divine. But in the evangelical world, we’ve perhaps overlooked the humanity of Jesus, which I think is coming alive on the screen in such a profound way.

Both The Chosen as a production company and Come and See as a nonprofit have an obligation to protect the theological integrity of the show, so there’s a great faithfulness to Scripture. Yet there are also those shadows that are cast that are not necessarily in Scripture, but they’re plausible. One of those would be the personalities of the disciples, and that’s been very interesting to watch.

Daniel: Like you said, this show has been reaching bigger and bigger audiences each year, with more people going to the theater, more people checking it out online. I know part of your mission with Come and See is to remove barriers so even more people can experience the show.

The ultimate goal is to translate this show into 600 languages, which is incredible. What is that process like, and what global impact has that had?

Stan: That is something that gets me very excited, because I’ve actually seen it in different countries. I think people are awakened to know this isn’t just an English show, an American show. It’s a global story. We have a really top-notch person, Rick Dempsey—who worked for Disney for 35 years on big franchises like Marvel and Star Wars—working with translation. He retired, and it was by God’s grace that we found him and he found us. So he’s directing that translation, making sure it’s faithful to the text and that it translates correctly.

So we’re just seeing people wake up to a story they perhaps haven’t seen in this way, and I think language is the key. The 600 [languages] we’re doing gets the heart language of 95% of people. Wow. It’s making it accessible to people and it’s like a reversal of the curse when God scattered the nations with languages. It’s like we’re bringing them back. It certainly happened at Pentecost. I think language translation of Scripture and experiences like The Chosen and The Jesus Film are bringing people together around the person of Jesus.

Daniel: One of the ways you are bringing this show to people is by making it available for free, at least after the theatrical releases.

But as we all know, nothing in life is truly free. Has there been challenges in maintaining that unprecedented business model?

Stan: It’s a challenge, but we are so grateful and humbled by the number of people who have given to Come and See. People can go to comeandsee.net. They can download the app for free and watch the episodes and choose what language they want to watch it in. There’s more than 50 available right now, and it’s growing. We are so grateful.

Season five was funded by more than 105,000 people from 150 countries, people bringing their loaves and fishes. It could be a $10 donation or something much larger, and that’s what’s making it possible for the show to be produced.

All the overhead of Come and See is covered. One hundred percent of everyone’s donation goes to the show, either for the production, the translation, or the ministry distribution. I wake up thankful for people investing in this particular media. We couldn’t do it without people giving in such a wonderful way.

Daniel: For someone watching this interview who has been inspired, moved, or touched by The Chosen in some way, what is the best way for them to contribute to this mission?

Stan: They can go to the app or to the website comeandsee.net and become part of the family of people who support the show. They can also join the prayer crew. 135,000 people have already joined. You opt in, and we will send updates of how to pray for The Chosen.

I’ve got to tell you. They just started production on season six. Season five covers one week, the most intense week in history, which is Holy Week. Season six is the most intense day in history, and that’s good Friday. So it’s appropriate that we’re recording this interview on Good Friday. It’s going to be ambitious and difficult for all the reasons you would expect. It’s difficult to think about, yet it’s the greatest act of love God could ever do. That story is going to resonate throughout the world. Season seven is the resurrection season.

 So we need people to pray, first of all. And if they feel God moving them to give, we’d love that. And then tell your friends about it.

Season five will be on Amazon Prime in just a few weeks after the theater run is done. Be praying for Dallas Jenkins, the actors, and all the crew as they are filming season six right now.

Daniel: It’s incredible the number of people I’ve heard from personally who have been touched by the show. For anyone who hasn’t had the chance to see it yet, all three parts of season five are in theaters at the time of this interview, so go check that out. And if you miss it, catch up on Amazon Prime or on the app.

But thanks so much. I know you’re busy, so I appreciate you taking the time to share your heart for this show and for the Come and See foundation.

Stan: Thank you, Daniel. Thanks for what you’re doing. Media matters, and you’re reaching people. Thanks for having me on.