First Person with Wayne Shepherd

First Person: Dave Zanotti

Called to the mission field of American public policy, Dave Zanotti of The American Policy Roundtable tells his life story. Send your support for FIRST PERSON to the Far East Broadcasting Company: FEBC National Processing Center Far East Broadcasting Company P.O. Box 6020 Albert Lea, MN 56007 Please mention FIRST PERSON when you give. Thank you!

Duration:: 23m
Broadcast on:: 10 Feb 2011
Audio Format:: other

Called to the mission field of American public policy, Dave Zanotti of The American Policy Roundtable tells his life story.

Send your support for FIRST PERSON to the Far East Broadcasting Company:
FEBC National Processing Center
Far East Broadcasting Company
P.O. Box 6020
Albert Lea, MN 56007

Please mention FIRST PERSON when you give. Thank you!

I sat there with tears in the dark, and I saw something in my mind's eye that I've never recovered from. I saw, if you will, a very vivid scene of the cross of Christ. And I heard a voice that said as clearly as any voice I've ever heard. I did this for you. Today on First Person you'll meet Dave Zanati of the American Policy Round Table. Welcome, I'm Wayne Shepard. Each week we take the time to listen to people tell their stories of God's faithfulness. Sometimes it's someone whose name you might recognize and sometimes not, but it always builds and encourages our own faith walk with Jesus Christ. First Person is found online at firstpersoninterview.com and I invite you to visit our website and learn more about today's guest, as well as browse the archive of past interviews. Again, you'll find us online at firstpersoninterview.com. Well, for the past several years I've been co-hosting a radio and internet program called the Public Square with a team of friends at the American Policy Round Table, and you can learn more about it when you visit our website firstpersoninterview.com. But I wanted you to meet the President and CEO Dave Zanati, who has an amazing story of coming to faith in Christ and then being called to the mission field of public policy. On a recent trip to Lookout Mountain in Tennessee and Georgia, I sat down with Dave at an outdoor coffee shop. We get to go to a lot of cool places. I mean, you and I have criss-crossed the nation from sea to shining sea. We've known each other what about five years or so, maybe a little longer than that now. I hate to admit it's getting closer to ten years, but I have known of each other for quite some time. You and I actually ran into each other in the world of attempting to raise funds for Christian radio stations. We literally met on the radio. On the radio. I do remember that day for sure. But this place, we are at Lookout Mountain, Georgia. We're on the Georgia side of the state line, which is right across the street almost here. But you brought me here. Why did you bring me here? Well, this is an extraordinary place. It surprises people that a couple thousand feet above the ground were actually surrounded by a Civil War battlefield. One of the most intriguing battles of any kind of war. It's become one of my favorite places to come Lookout Mountain. I've been here a few times now in the last few years, and there's always something new to discover. Well, that one time you got me right to the edge of that yellow line where the hang gliding gets done. We should explain that together we do a radio program called the Public Square. It's part of the American policy roundtable of which you are president and CEO. We'll get to that later, but I want to know about you. I want our listeners to know about you and how God has shaped you and given you the assignment that He's given you, Dave. Well, I'm very fortunate because He came looking for me. You know, I remember the old line, Jesus saves and the Boston Pumper sticker and Bobby Orr scores on the rebound. I am not coming at any of this from the traditional Evangelical Protestant point of view in the sense that I wasn't raised in a Protestant home. I was raised in a traditional Latin Mass Italian, Catholic home, Latin Miss. My family is all from the era of my grandparents all came over to this country legally and immigrated from Italy. They worked their way up through the steel mills and the coal mines. My one grandfather had a little grocery store that looks a whole lot like the scene in Godfather I. That little grocery store with the fruit stand and the green walls and the truck sector. Yeah, that's the world that I came from out of western Pennsylvania via Cleveland, Ohio where my dad moved and raised a family of six people and a 1,200 square foot house. So we sort of didn't come from anywhere and there's really no pedigree to speak of. The difference is that when I was in high school and really pretty lost, real lust, Christ Jesus came looking for me. And I am incredibly grateful for the grace of God because I sort of stumbled into faith. How did it happen? I was in high school old enough to realize that there were actually in the Catholic right big sins and little sins and I was into the big sins. Which meant that God was pretty mad at me and we were sort of mutually exclusive now. I don't speak down against Catholicism. That's not the point of my remarks. It's just that I didn't get it. I didn't get it. I didn't understand the concept of saving faith at all. And there was a group in our high school that was recruiting football players. You go to some conference. I was looking for a riot out of town and was seriously thinking about not coming home. About just running away. And I'm very alienated from my family, really confused. So I got on this bus with a group. I didn't know a single person on the bus. They called this thing campus life. I didn't know what that meant. I didn't care. You didn't sign up for that. All I knew is for a couple of days we were running around like running gates in Washington, D.C. and about day two in the process I got cornered into a hotel room with a group of young people that had Bibles out. They were reading them, talking about the verses, praying and crying. And I thought to myself, what in the world is this? And it's the first time I ever heard the words of John 3 16. I can't remember ever hearing that verse before in my life. Let's talk about the times in which this happened. This was probably what early 70s, right? Yeah, this was right at the height of the great American 1960s experience. Woodstock? Yeah, it was a mess. The country was a mess and it was very, very confusing. And I'm very fortunate that my father and my uncles who were all World War II vets frankly hadn't killed me and buried me in the backyard because I was definitely in the wrong crowd. So you're in this hotel room. Did you accept Christ at that point? Or did that just sort of pipe the sea? I didn't know any of those words. Wayne, I did no thing. John 3 16 bolded me over and I listened to their testimonies and they talked about their dreams and God forgiving them and their plans and their hopes for the future. And I thought, never heard anybody talk about God like this. I mean, I was used to the nuns explaining to me how not only were the chances good I was going to hell but I'd be first in the line. I mean, it was, you know, it was not a good scenario. And I just, I was baffled by what I saw. I'd never seen personal faith like this. I mean, I was a medieval person. You had no other person to look to who believed. I had no clue. Now, I don't mean, believe me, I have a lovely, wonderful family and they have a beautiful faith and a very mature faith in Christ now. It's come a long, long way from them. But at that time in my life, I'm in the dark ages, man. I'm really, truly lost as a matter of faith and disassociation from God. So I left that hotel room and they asked me if I wanted to pray right there. I was like, no, thank you. I left that little study group, went back and sat alone in my room in the old Sheraton Hotel in Washington, D.C. in the dark. And as I sat there, I began to think about all the awful things I was a part of and alienation from people and relationships and family. I truly got very emotional and I sat there with tears in the dark. And as I did, I saw something in my mind's eye that I've never recovered from. I saw, if you will, a very vivid scene of the cross of Christ and the crucifixion of Jesus. And I heard a voice that said as clearly as any voice I've ever heard. I did this for you. And in that moment, I understood something I'd never known before. And that is the concept of the atonement that Jesus Christ died for me personally. Time, date, stamp, in history for the sins of my life to bring me back to a peaceful union in relationship with God. What a story. I've never recovered from that moment. I can understand why. But what happens then? Because I mean, you've got to be discipled then. Who would God bring into your life to do that? I'm one of these guys who later that night went to my first prayer meeting with all these other kids in this Youth for Christ campus life thing, which I found out that campus life was code for Youth for Christ. I didn't know what that was either. And I went into this room and they started to pray sentence prayers in a circle. And I had absolutely no idea what we're talking about here. And I'm one of those people who literally prayed the first prayer out loud was "Hello God." Literally. I didn't know what else to say. So? And then, of course, the process began. They gave me a reach out New Testament. The living Bible. I can see that in my mind. I read that three times in the first month of being a Christian. I could not. I was slain by this living Word of God. I'd never read the Bible before. So you couldn't get enough of it? Oh my goodness. I just kept reading and reading and reading. And then I started bringing one to school. And then, you know, talking to people about it. And then, you know, it got weird. You turned into one of those guys, huh? Yeah. Because this was at the beginning of the Jesus movement. Oh, of course. Yeah. So we didn't know it was a movement at that time. We didn't know nothing. All we knew is we had longer hair. We didn't change our genes like everybody else. I was unable to continue to play football. The doctors announced me off the team because I was the little guy like Rudy that kept going against the big guys. They don't tell you in the movie. But sometimes, that hurts. Rudy gets so many concussions. The doctors say, "That's enough now." I was out of football, but we were into the Bible. And, of course, people were freaked out. Our high schools were freaked out. I went from, you know, all of my majors being go to Notre Dame, play football, become a lawyer to go to Bible college, find some places. These people in my counselors were like, "What has happened to this guy?" Well, what about your family? Yeah. That was pretty weird too for a while. My Italian grandmother came to town and said, "Why don't you believe in God anymore?" It was, in a way, it was hilarious because it was a true clash of cultures. Many, many years later, over 40 years later, I can tell you that God was having a blast with all of this. That the beauty of reconciliation, the beauty of faith and relationships has been the saving grace of Jesus is wondrous. More with Dave Zanotti, who will talk about being called to the mission field of public policy. That's just ahead here on First Person. Next time on First Person, the lead actor from the new movie, The Grace Card. As I've often told people, with all due respect to all the good programs out there that try to heal the racial divide, if Christ isn't part of it, you still have a problem. Christ needs to be the center of the answer to racial division or any other problem out there. Actor Michael Joyner plays a role of Mack McDonald in the new movie, The Grace Card, who will talk to him on First Person. Let's continue today's conversation with Dave Zanotti of the American Policy Roundtable. We're sitting at a Starbucks, an outdoor Starbucks on Lookout Mountain in Georgia, and Dave, even though I don't drink coffee simply because I never developed a taste for it, you drag me to the most interesting places all around the country. And this is my favorite Starbucks in the world on top of Lookout Mountain. We're right by the outdoor fireplace. The smoke is here. The beauty of coming out of the fireplace, and it's a beautiful, all the leaves are down. It's late autumn, sun through the milky clouds. It's gorgeous right here right now. We're sitting outside at the Starbucks. If this were summertime, there'd be thousands of tourists streaming into Rock City here, but it's pretty quiet today. It's a wonderful place. So we're just enjoying the ambiance here on Lookout Mountain. You can see a lot from this mountain. I mentioned earlier you and I host a program called the Public Square, and we actually recorded a program here on Lookout Mountain at Rock City yesterday, and that program's online, and I'll put a link to it on the website. But we're here to talk about you, one first person. So the Lord has saved you, and you've found a hunger for his word, and you begin to grow as a Christian, early 70s, Jesus movement. You get into music somehow. What's the story of the music, Dave? Well, it, again, God's been having a lot of fun with me. I mean, I'm the color, I'm the page in the coloring book. This is my dear, late philosophy professor, Helton, started to say, we're the checker on his board. I didn't know anything about being an evangelical Christian. I just know that Jesus Christ saved me. He came looking for me, and I was the one that was lost. I didn't find Christ. He found you. He found you. Yeah. And so it changed everything for me, because if the resurrection of Jesus Christ is real, then that changes everything. So, it began to read the Bible, and people began to say, well, you should tell folks what happened. So I told them what happened. The story hadn't changed much. And they said, well, come to this church and come to that church. And so I went there, and I told the story. And one of these churches, I met a group of guys and gals that were in a gospel singing group called the Acts out of Youngstown, Ohio. And I told my testimony there. I guess that's what you call it, a testimony. And they said, come with us to our next concert and do this again. I did. And it was just that simple. And the next thing, you know, I started to travel with them on weekends. I did the singing, fortunately. I did the talking. And that became a long-term relationship that still exists to this day where we're still in ministry, some of us together in different ways than we were then. So I started on the road and began to speak in churches and got out of high school early and went full-time with these guys. Actually, it was full-time in the sense that we were dock wallopers and truck drivers during the week and worked in body shops. And then we would travel in ministry. You got an old bus, rehabbed it for free will offerings. Right. For free will offerings every weekend in all kinds of states in the Midwest. And I ran out of material. Right. And when I ran out of material, they said, well, this is the point in which you're supposed to go to Bible college. And I said, okay, what's a Bible college? A few weeks later, one came to our church on a Sunday night. And made a presentation. And that was good enough for me. So I went forward. And next thing, you know, a few months later, I was in Bible college. And then from there, I was at another college and then a community college. And then on to theological seminary. And I kept pursuing the scriptures and ministry, but never felt the call specifically to the traditional congregational pastorate. And really wrestled once school for eight years. And in the process of that time, my wife and I got married. And in 1977, we met Francis and he is a Shafer at a conference in Indiana. And that changed again. That was the turning point. That was a big turning point because within 30 minutes of Dr. Shafer's first presentation of how shall we then live, we were raising our hands ready to start. Suddenly we realized our calling was to be missionaries to America. Now, it took us a very non-traditional missionary to America. It took us a long time to figure out how to go about that from 1977 until we came to discover the American policy roundtable in the early 80s. For us was a challenge. It was a number of years where we were very frustrated trying to figure out how to do this, how to go about it. But that's where the journey began into the field of public policy. Okay. Well, let's talk about that field. I know we're fast forwarding here, but it's so exciting to me. As I said, I've known you. Well, I've been working with you now for about five years. We've known each other longer, but you have opened my eyes to the importance of Christian involvement in the arena of the culture and public policy. Talk about that. What is this missionary venture into this world that you talk about? Well, when we rediscover American history, we find out if you pull the church out of America in the 1600s and the 1700s, there is no America because the founding concepts upon which this country began, all are based upon biblical principles. The very concept of liberty itself summarized in a simple statement in the scriptures where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. All of this public policy stuff flows from first principles and those first principles are biblical. As we began to discover that, we said, wait a minute. This isn't the America we live in today. This isn't the way I learned in school. It's not the way kids are being taught. We're losing the why of America. We've built a wall between the church and everything else. Yeah, we've divided the world up and it's not a good deal. And we're losing this, the whole concept. And no wonder we're lost, confused, wondering our economy is up and down like a roller coaster, like chasing prosperity is like chasing Bigfoot. We don't know where to go on public policy. We're messed up on questions of morality. And our kids are terribly confused, disillusioned and rebelling all over again. All right, in a whole different way than we did in the 60s because in the 60s, we didn't have the meaning and they don't have the meaning today. It's the same thing all over again. How does it manifest itself? No, I know, but I want to listen to know how does this manifest itself through the work of the American policy round two? Well, we do everything that you possibly can do to reach people and to tell them the truth about our history and the founding principles of our country which flow from the scriptures. So whether it's radio, whether it's internet, whether it's events, whether it's speaking engagements, whether it's a thing called the Franklin dialogue, the consortium, our union with pastors, whether it's getting involved in ballot issues or helping people start packs and find new leadership for political office. It's all about how do we go back to first principles and then walk that out in a practical application of public policy? Maybe praying for your congressman? Maybe advocating a piece of legislation or fighting against a bad one? Whatever it takes to do the work of responsible citizenship. Do you find it harder and harder to have the understanding of pastors and church leaders that this is the mission of the church? Yes and no. We've been through a very difficult time in Christianity. We have had a lot of isolationism for different theological reasons, but we're coming to a place where that's ending. One of the best books that's come out recently is Metaxis book on Bonhoeffer. As people are beginning to see that ideas have consequences, and if as a culture we divorce ourselves from truth. The church stops being salt and light. Somebody else will take that role, and the consequences are disastrous. That is what happened throughout Europe in the 1930s, which created the horrid totalitarian regime which cost all told the dictators of Europe at the end of the 20th century, over 20 million lives. That wasn't a coincidence that happened because the church failed to be the church. But do we understand that today? Well, that's our job, Wayne. That's what we're working on, and that's the mission field that we serve in, and that's the alarm bell, if you will, that we're sounding. That's why we need so many people to pray for us and to partner with us in whatever way they can to share that light. Now, you talked about this in terms of being a missionary. Let's talk about that framework a little bit more in depth because it's sort of outsider understanding of what a traditional missionary is all about. Well, whether you're in our corporate offices in Cleveland, Ohio, where we do radio, television, web production, or whether you're in our office in Florida or you're in our office here in Tennessee, no matter where you are, you will find these are missionary outposts where people gather around to figure out how we tell the truth in the legislatures, here in Nashville or in Columbus or in Tallahassee or on Capitol Hill, how we build relationships with people based upon truth, how we get tracks into people's hands. Wayne, it's just like being overseas. We've got to earn the trust in the marketplace and then communicate truth, the truth of the fact that Jesus Christ came to earth. He is real. He has risen from the dead. And His great commission that we are to go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. We've done a great job on the conversion part in this culture, but we've done a terrible job on the instructional part. So we've got people all across America who are saved, but they're lost on their way to heaven. They don't know how to live, let alone how culture should function, how education should function, how law should be written, and how we should govern ourselves. So that Bible that you picked up as a teenager and began to devour, that same Bible is living and active in your life today and guiding what you do in the arena, the missionary arena of public policy. The great undiscovered force in the modern world is the ancient and abiding Word of God. It is living. It is active. It is a life force. It is what's missing in our hearts, our minds, our homes, our families, and in our country, the Word of God. Dave Zanotti telling his faith story here on First Person. If you'd like to know more about Dave and the work of the American policy roundtable, we've placed links on our website, firstpersoninterview.com. You can listen to the public square radio program right there online when you follow the links. Again, you'll find them as well as an archive of past programs and the calendar of upcoming guests when you visit firstpersoninterview.com. Also, I hope you'll recommend our website to others and join our Facebook page, First Person with Wayne Shepherd. Well, part of my work as a freelance radio host is sometimes to connect with new movies coming out, which have a strong gospel message and reflect biblical thinking. And next week, I'm excited for you to meet a man who has one of the lead roles in the new movie, The Grace Card, which opens in theater soon. Here's Michael Joyner talking about making that film. I'm very skeptical about Christian films. I've not seen too many, if any, that were of good quality. And I think a lot of them preached to the choir. So I said, you know, send me the script. I'll take a look at it. And he did. And of course, you know, it's funny how when God has what he has for you, even when you're looking for it, there's several scenes. There's several, as you know, I won't give away some of the more. For instance, let me just say the chapel scene. You know what I'm talking about. I mean, we did that scene. It goes on for several minutes. And it's very intense and very dramatic. And it's a catalyst in the movie. But after we did that scene, there was just quiet on the set because we knew God's presence had just shown up and done something special. And we, David, the director walked in and said, "Okay, guys, that was awesome." People were in tears, even there. And he said, "Let's take 30 seconds to collect ourselves and let's do it again." And he did that about eight times. And each time, it was like the presence of the Lord just showed up. And I said to Mike after I said, "I know guys are going to show up that same way when he's in the theater and this is going to be incredible." We'll meet actor Michael Joyner, who stars in this movie next week here on First Person. I've seen the Grace Card and strongly recommend that you see it until others about this movie with its themes of grace, forgiveness, and racial reconciliation. It comes to theaters real soon. And now with my thanks to friend and producer Joe Carlson, I'm Wayne Shepard, asking you to join us next week at the same time for First Person. [Music] [MUSIC PLAYING]