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by Allison Carr, '06
Richard Cizik, '73, is doing the same job he began in 1980, and, by his own admission, he's having the time of his life.
Cizik, whom The New York Times calls "the earthy evangelist," is vice president for governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals. He recently wrapped up a national speaking tour, and during that tour he appeared on the cover of the
Oct. 17 issue of Congressional Quarterly under the headline, "Leap of Faith: Evangelical advocate Richard Cizik and other conservative Christians are moving beyond the culture wars into debates over the environment, trade and global poverty."
Cizik is working to re-frame the evangelical idea of national policy. He says he is "helping the evangelical world to broaden its political scope" by encouraging evangelicals to look beyond hot-button issues to a more comprehensive picture of activism. Cizik says, "God is calling us to shape and change the world according to His Word and His design, not by any secular priorities." Some current initiatives that NAE is pursuing, and Cizik is lobbying for, include the End Demand Act, designed to end sexual trafficking in the United States; the Advance Democracy Act, aimed at ending dictatorship worldwide by 2025; and the Climate Stewardship Act, addressing issues of global warming and greenhouse gases.
After Cizik graduated from Whitworth with a degree in political studies, he went on to the George Washington University School of Public and International Affairs, in Washington, D.C. He also studied in Asia and graduated from Denver Seminary.
Cizik's experiences in leadership during his time at Whitworth have stayed with him throughout his professional career. He was a student activist, involved in local Democratic politics and the United Nations Association. As a senior, he served as the vice president of ASWC. He also ran for a position in the state legislature that was left open when its occupant died in office. Cizik ran against both Homer Cunningham, who was then chair of Whitworth's history department, and the widow of the man who had died in office, who neglected to change any of her campaign signs to indicate that she, and not her husband, was running for the office. "I like to joke that I'm one of the few guys to run against a dead guy and lose," Cizik says.
When Cizik began his academic career at Whitworth, his future was anything but clear. "I didn't come to Whitworth with a firm set of Christian convictions," Cizik says. The Core program, he says, was life-changing for him; he also had a conversion experience between his junior and senior years at Whitworth.
Cizik says that it was a combination of his leadership experiences, the Core program, and professors who took a personal interest in him and his career that made Whitworth such an ideal place for him to grow into a Christian and an activist. Geography is the only thing that's keeping his kids from becoming Whitworth alumni, as well, he says: "If I lived on the West Coast I'd send my children to Whitworth."
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