Billy Zeoli
American evangelical leader and media executive (1932–2015)

Billy Zeoli
Billy Zeoli speaking from the podium at the National Religious Broadcasters Annual Congressional Breakfast, January 28, 1975. Courtesy of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Born(1932-09-25)September 25, 1932
DiedMay 22, 2015(2015-05-22) (aged 82) [1]
CitizenshipUS
EducationBA, History (1955)
Alma materWheaton College
Philadelphia School of the Bible
L'Abri (circa 1972)
Occupationsfilm executive producer
professional sports chaplin
internet content producer
writer
Employer(s)Gospel Communications International;
Gospel Films, Inc.;
Indianapolis Youth for Christ
Billy Graham Indianapolis Crusade (1959).
Known forWhite House Chaplain to U.S. President Gerald R. Ford
(1974–1977)
Notable workHow Should We Then Live: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture (1977, film executive producer)
TelevisionHow Should We Then Live: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture (2005; television series)
TitleGod's Got a Better Idea
(book author)
Political partyRepublican
SpouseMarilyn Bruder (1955-1981) Ruth Zeoli (1984-1998)
ChildrenSteven Zeoli, Patresha Rohre, Dr. David Zeoli and Zachary Zeoli
Parent(s)Anthony Zeoli and Elizabeth 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[2] offering counsel on national spiritual matters, and acting as spiritual counselor to President Ford.[3] 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.[4] Zeoli was ordained as a Presbyterian minister and evangelist in 1953.[5][6]

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.[7] 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.[8][9]

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.[10][11][12]

Gospel Films and Gospel Communications

Zeoli was working as the director for Indianapolis Youth For Christ 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.[13][14]

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.[13][14]

One of Zeoli’s significant early projects was The Tony Fontane Story (1963), Gospel Films’ most ambitious production to that point. The film told the story of popular recording artist Tony Fontane, whose conversion followed a near-fatal car accident. Zeoli pushed for professional Hollywood production standards, hiring director Jan Sadlo and a full studio crew. He promoted the film through an extended conference and concert tour with Fontane and his wife, Kerry Vaughn, reflecting Gospel Films’ motto, “People reaching people reaching people,” and signaling a shift toward dramatic, testimony-based narratives.[13][14]

Under Zeoli’s leadership, Gospel Films became the largest Christian film production and distribution organization in the world. In 1965, Amway cofounder Richard DeVos became chairman of the board, with Zeoli continuing to serve as president. The company increasingly emphasized distribution and independent filmmaking, releasing influential titles such as The Gospel Blimp (1967), Peace Child (1972), and various end-times films. Known for his flamboyant public persona and connections to celebrities, professional athletes, and political leaders,[15] Zeoli played a key role in professionalizing and expanding the reach of the Christian film industry.[13][14]

Gospel Films and Zeoli were also the executive producers of How Should We Then Live: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture. The 1977 documentary film series was hosted by the American philosopher and missionary theologian Francis Schaeffer of L'Abri fame. The American distribution of the film, an accompanying book, and subsequent film tour in the United States by the Schaeffers' was responsible for bringing many evangelical Protestants into the then largely Roman Catholic public protest movement against the United States Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) that supported legal abortion in the United States. Francis Schaeffer's son, Frank Schaeffer, with the help of wealthy American evangelical donors (such as Amway co-founder Richard DeVos) would go on to make a successful follow-up, entitled What Ever Happened to the Human Race.[14][16]

Over the decades, Zeoli would helm the many technological transitions in media format, from film to video to DVD and in 1995, 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.[17][18] By the mid-2000s, Zeoli stepped away from day-to-day operations of Gospel Communications,[19] and eventually financial woes contributed to the shuttering of the organization.[14]

Death

Zeoli died on May 22, 2015, at the age of 82.[20]

References

  1. ^ "View Billy Zeoli's Obituary on Mlive.com and share memories". Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  2. ^ http://www.linkedin.com/in/billyzeoli Billy Zeoli – Linked-in.
  3. ^ Gibbs, Nancy (January 2, 2007). "The Other Born-Again President?". Time. Time Inc. Retrieved March 9, 2014.
  4. ^ Peterson, Karen (April 7, 1975). "Call Billy Anything but Spiritual Advisor". Dubuque Telegraph Herald. p. 9 – via NewspaperArchive.
  5. ^ Gildea, William (January 29, 1975). "And Now the White House Has ... Another Reverend Billy". Washington Post. p. B1.
  6. ^ Strober, Gerald (November 10, 1974). "Rev. Billy Zeoli: President Ford's Spiritual Advisor". Wisconsin State Journal. Madison, Wisconsin.
  7. ^ http://geraldrfordfoundation.org/centennial/oralhistory/richard-devos/ "Richard Devos". The Gerald R. Ford Foundation.
  8. ^ https://www.amazon.com/Billy-Zeoli/e/B001KHF912 Billy Zeoli. Amazon.com
  9. ^ Honey, Charles (August 21, 1999). "Advice Helped Shape Ford's Presidency". The Grand Rapids Press. p. B1. Retrieved January 12, 2026.
  10. ^ Berrett, Jesse (2018). Pigskin Nation: How the NFL Remade American Politics. University of Illinois Press. p. 206. doi:10.5406/j.ctv6p49k.
  11. ^ "They Met in '60, and Something Clicked: The Evangelist in President Ford's Life". Los Angeles Times. March 9, 1975. p. J1. Retrieved January 13, 2026.
  12. ^ "Rev. Zeoli Sees Pros as People: Understanding Through Sports Ministry". Benton Harbor News-Palladium. December 22, 1972. p. 16 – via NewspaperArchive.
  13. ^ a b c d Lindvall, Terry; Quicke, Andrew (2011). Celluloid Sermons: The Emergence of the Christian Film Industry, 1930–1986. NYU Press. pp. 125–127. JSTOR j.ctt9qfkzh. Retrieved January 12, 2026.
  14. ^ a b c d e f Lindvall, Terrence R. (2013). "A History of Evangelicals in North American Film Culture". In Woods, Robert H. Jr. (ed.). Evangelical Christians and Popular Culture: Pop Goes the Gospel. Vol. 1. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. pp. 37–58. Retrieved January 12, 2026.
  15. ^ "Billy Zeoli, Michigan Evangelist, Has Dinner with Arafat in Beirut". The New York Times. October 21, 1979. p. 12. Retrieved January 13, 2026.
  16. ^ Schaeffer, Frank (2007). Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back. Carroll & Graf. pp. 257–258.
  17. ^ Shellenbarger, Pat (April 23, 2000). "The New Disciples: Modern Methods with the Old, Old Story". The Grand Rapids Press. p. J3. Retrieved January 12, 2026.
  18. ^ Weber, Thomas E. (December 5, 1999). "Spiritual Sites Get That Online Religion: Profits". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. A10. Retrieved January 13, 2026.
  19. ^ "Leaders Change at Gospel Communications". Muskegon Chronicle. March 16, 2005. p. D1 – via NewsBank.
  20. ^ William Zeoli
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