TESTIMONIES: Young Entrepreneur Stayed on the Hill Just Long Enough to Hear the Lord

Editor’s Note: I first met David Tennent at a time when the halls of congressional office buildings were pretty much deserted because of the COVID Pandemic shutdown. We weren’t very far into our first conversation before it was clear to me that this guy was going somewhere.

The fact that CNCT was born out of that deadening isolation is a tribute to the insight and hard-work David put forth in his effort to realize the dream. It’s also an inspiring illustration of the fact that with God all things are possible. — Mark Tapscott, HillFaith Founder and Editor.

By David Tennent

It was almost instantaneous. As soon as I said “yes” to God when He told me to “move to DC,” a flood of business ideas came into my mind. Until then, I never dreamed of starting a business.

In fact, I was a 22-year-old who spent high school and college avoiding hard work at every opportunity. But, to be fair, I was pretty innovative in finding ways not to work hard — so maybe there were early hints.

Around that time, I started keeping an ideas journal. For the next two years, I wrote down every “there’s got to be a better way” annoyance and brainstormed how those ideas could become businesses. But nothing stuck.

By year two, I began forcing it. I even tried to launch a business—Capitol Creative Media. Ever heard of it? Of course not. Still, I couldn’t shake the pit in my stomach that told me I was supposed to create something.

During COVID, I would watch “Shark Tank” and I eventually had to stop because I would get so sick to my stomach knowing that these people were doing the thing I was supposed to be doing and I still didn’t have my idea.

That frustration fed into negativity. It was COVID, DC was shut down, and I was caught in the cynicism spiral of Hill staffer life. I told myself that if the GOP lost the presidency, the Senate, and the House in 2020, I’d pack up and move back to Pittsburgh.

And by January 2021, all three had happened. So, as I plotted my exit, there was just one thing left on my calendar I wasn’t going to miss: I had volunteered to work Joe Biden’s inauguration, and I wasn’t passing up being on stage for that.

To this point, I was deep in my GOP echo chamber. I only hung out with GOP staffers, went to GOP parties, and during COVID, it was mostly GOP staffers in the Capitol building.

So when I got assigned to work next to a DEM staffer at the inauguration, I had a choice: be a loner or make a new friend. We ended up bonding over what annoyed us about our own parties and what we liked outside of politics — and walked away with a genuine friendship.

At the same time, as I stood on stage and Joe Biden was sworn in, I felt an overwhelming nudge from the Holy Spirit: “It’s not time to leave DC.”

That new friendship became one of the sparks for CNCT. Just two weeks later, lying awake in bed, restless, I got up to jot down my thoughts — and that’s when the idea for Capitol CNCT was born.

One of the many confirmations that God was calling me to CNCT was as soon as I came up with the idea for CNCT, that pit in my stomach that I couldn’t shake for two years, went away instantly. As for all of the other prayer confirmations about CNCT, that comes next.

Proverbs 19:21 was often on my mind when I was creating CNCT: “Many plans are in a person’s heart, but the LORD’s decree will prevail.”

God keeps showing me that His plan is bigger and better than mine—I just have to be patient. And here’s the truth: So many of us want to quit right before He does something miraculous. Don’t give up too soon.

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David Tennent is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Capitol CNCT.

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This commentary first appeared on David Tennent’s Linkedin profile page. It is reprinted here with his permission. Photo Credit: Screenshot from Linkedin.