Billy Zeoli

Billy Zeoli (September 25, 1932 – May 22, 2015) was an American evangelical leader, speaker and media executive from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Zeoli served as the White house chaplain to U.S. President Gerald R. Ford and Betty Ford during the mid-1970s offering counsel on national spiritual matters, and acting as spiritual counselor to President Ford. In the 1960s, Zeoli was an early organizer of what would become Baseball Chapel, a Christian organization that provides professional Baseball players, and other athletes, Sunday church services in their locker rooms before sporting events. Zeoli was perhaps most remembered as the long-standing president of Gospel Films Inc, later becoming Gospel Communications Inc, a leading Christian media company that distributed media and promoted ministry outreach around the world. Zeoli held the position from 1962 until he retired from the organization in 2006.

Early life and education Zeoli grew up in Philadelphia, the son of evangelist Anthony Zeoli. He attended Germantown Academy, Philadelphia College of the Bible, and Wheaton College in Illinois. He was of Italian and German descent. Zeoli was ordained as a Presbyterian minister and evangelist in 1953.

White House Chaplain Gerald Ford was elected the Congressional representative of the 5th District of Michigan from 1949 to the time of his presidency. Zeoli lived in Grand Rapids, MI and was introduced to Ford by a friend. The two men became friends and Zeoli started sending Ford a devotional once every month in the early 1970s (these devotionals would later become a book called "God's Got a Better Idea", a twist on the Ford political slogan, "Ford has a better idea"). Ford and Zeoli would meet in Washington and frequent events such as the Presidential Prayer Breakfast, and at sporting events where Zeoli was preaching. It was in Washington D.C. at a pre-game chapel service for the Washington Redskins football team that Zeoli convinced then representative Gerald R. Ford to become a Christian. Ford would later become vice-president of the United States when Spiro Agnew resigned on October 10, 1973. While Zeoli was vacationing in Oberammergau, Germany, Ford called Zeoli and informed him that Richard Nixon had resigned and that Ford was now the 38th President of the United States. For the remainder of Ford's presidency, Zeoli would visit the White House and counsel on spiritual matters with the President. Zeoli's book "God's Got a Better Idea" described the many issues that the two discussed including; clemency for draft evaders, the U. S. withdrawal from Vietnam, the Mayaguez incident, and the difficult question of issuing a pardon to former U.S. President Richard Nixon, who had resigned following the Watergate scandal and the administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement.

Sports Ministry and Media Zeoli was well known as a preacher to professional sports teams and celebrities. He was one of the early advocates of the practice of preaching to professional athletes that were working on Sunday. The subject was controversial at the time in Zeoli's community of West Michigan, where he took criticism from many in the Christian Reformed church community. Working with Baseball Chapel founder Watson Spoelstra, and New York Yankee great Bobby Richardson, Zeoli helped to increase the frequency of these services in baseball, football and other sports. Zeoli was the minister for several Super Bowls, World Series, and All-Star Games services and received recognition as a minister for several American major league professional sport teams and athletes.

Gospel Films and Gospel Communications Zeoli was working as the director for Indianapolis Youth For Christ in the 1950s when he was hired to join a fledgling Christian film company in Muskegon, Michigan called Gospel Films. Zeoli became a central figure in the growth and transformation of Gospel Films, particularly through his emphasis on youth-oriented Christian media. In the 1950s, Gospel Films established a separate Youth Films division to reach high school and college students, and appointed Zeoli to lead the effort. Responding to the rise of youth culture and rock and roll, Zeoli broadened the company’s audience beyond traditional church settings. He also launched Free Films, a bimonthly publication that became an important resource for youth workers seeking to engage younger audiences through film.

A creative shift generated internal conflict with Gospel Films cofounder Ken Anderson, who favored explicitly evangelistic, mission-oriented films. While Anderson continued producing traditional evangelistic works, Zeoli argued that youth-focused dramatic films could achieve comparable spiritual impact. The disagreement culminated in a 1959 leadership struggle. After an anonymous board vote, Zeoli was elected president of Gospel Films. Anderson accepted the outcome and left the organization in 1960 to establish Ken Anderson Films. Zeoli helped to professionalize and expand the reach of the Christian film industry.

Over the decades, Zeoli would help guide several technological transitions in media format, from film to video to DVD. In 1995 he launched GospelCom, an innovative Christian website and partnership and hosting portal, where ministries could work together to reach out to their constituencies. In 1998, Gospel Films became Gospel Communications International Inc. Gospel Communications International developed the BibleGateway.com web site and also trained and hosted hundreds of evangelical ministries on the World Wide Web beginning in 1995. By the mid-2000s, Zeoli stepped away from day-to-day operations of Gospel Communications, and eventually financial woes contributed to the shuttering of the organization.