Tony Zeiss – Executive Director, Museum of the Bible

Our Town with host Andy Ockershausen - Homegrown History

Tony Zeiss on the upcoming dedication and opening of the Museum of the Bible scheduled this November ~ Visitors will "want to have a pilgrimage back and forth. We have over 1,500 groups already have signed up. These are bus loads of ... Some of them up to 400 in a group down to 20 in a group that are coming. November, we open November the 17th, we dedicate it. We open November 18th of this year." Tony Zeiss, Executive Director, Museum of the Bible A Ockershausen: This is Our Town. This is Andy Ockershausen and delighted to have the executive director of the Museum of the Bible, Tony Zeiss. Now, I will guarantee you, Tony, that that is gonna be the first time that 80% of these people ever heard the word, "the Museum of the Bible." I am absolutely a native. I've been in here all my life. I did not know what it was 'til Janice showed it to me one day. So welcome to Our Town. We want to hear all about your museum. Tony Zeiss: Good. I'm pleased to be here, and I can't wait to tell you about the museum. A Ockershausen: To me, it almost like, I knew it was a design center. I had no idea what it was going on there, and went down Fourth Street 'til Janice point ... We were going to a baseball game. She said, "That's gonna be the Museum of the Bible." I said, "What Bible?" She said, "Our Bible." Tony, believe me. I did not know, and I'm so, so pleased to meet you and so pleased to hear about the Museum of the Bible. Tony Zeiss: Good. Well, I'm very pleased to be here, and we just ... My wife and I have been here about nine months, and we love this city. It's a large city, the most active city, probably, in the world, and yet it still has that small town feel. We like it. A Ockershausen: Our Town, to us, to Janice and I, because we were both from here, and we consider Our Town Annapolis, Vienna, Virginia, part of Fredericksburg, Frederick, Maryland. They all, everybody revolves around Our Town. This is the capital city of the world in a lot of ways, and we're so fortunate to have you here and so fortunate that you could bring this museum here. Tony Zeiss: Well, let me tell you about it. I'm an educator by trade, and I've been very, very fortunate- A Ockershausen: Community College. Tony Zeiss' Journey to the Museum of the Bible Tony Zeiss: Yes. I was a president for 32 years in Colorado and then 24 ... Eight years in Colorado, 24 or so in Charlotte, which is my home. And so I was- A Ockershausen: How'd you get from Charlotte to Colorado and back? Tony Zeiss: Thank you. Well, we went from Texas to Colorado to North Carolina, and then I was gonna retire as a Community College President. In fact, I did. Of course, I prayed about it, and said, "Lord, whatever you want us to do next let us know." Well, he did. In a day and a half I got a call and they said, "We need an executive director to come up and build this new world-class Bible. It's never been done before, Andy. World-class museum to the Bible. And so I was intrigued, but I tried to wiggle out of it. I said, "I'm trying to retire," and they said, "No. You don't get it. You're the person. We need someone with leadership background" and all that. A Ockershausen: Educational background. Tony Zeiss: Education background. And so I retired December 31st of this past year and January the 3rd I started my first day here. A Ockershausen: That was the next day. The impetus for the Museum of the Bible Tony Zeiss: Yeah. But what an honor and what a wonderful mission if you think about it. Now, this case started with the Green family. That's a Hobby Lobby family. And one of the Greens, Steven Green, began collecting biblical artifacts. And it became a passion with him like it does with so many collectors. And he began to say, "They shouldn't be just for us. They shouldn't be in a warehouse someplace. A Ockershausen: We shouldn't keep them hidden. Tony Zeiss: So he started some traveling exhibits to see if people would be interested in artifacts from the Bible.