Florida Evangelist Turning Defunct Vermont Campus into 'Christ-Centered University'

Tré Goins-Phillips : Jul 29, 2026
Faithwire

"When we forget that there is a God above us Who gives us the rules, we don't make them—forgetting that is what has caused this crazy culture to emerge of hopelessness, and selfishness, and crazy ideas." -Raj Bhakta

[Faithwire.com] One evangelist from Florida is hoping to pick up where the Puritans left off in New England. (Image: via Faithwire-Screengrab)

Tommie Zito, an itinerant preacher who spends much of the year traveling internationally, has reportedly inked a deal with whiskey maven Raj Bhakta, who told CBN News in March he wanted to give away a $200 million college campus in Poultney, Vermont.

The founder of WhistlePig Whiskey had only one catch for his eyebrow-raising offer: the recipient of the sprawling campus—former home to the Methodist-affiliated Green Mountain College—needed to be a Christian who shared Bhakta's view that Biblical principles are vital to America's flourishing.

"When we forget that there is a God above us who gives us the rules, we don't make them—forgetting that is what has caused this crazy culture to emerge of hopelessness, and selfishness, and crazy ideas," he said.

Zito hopes to turn the campus—a 26-building property with dorms, classrooms, athletic facilities, and more than 100 acres of farmland—into a "Christ-centered university," which he's planning to name "Z University," according to the New York Post... Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

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