Dave Ramsey is a well-known author, businessman, and media personality, but is he religious?
Dave Ramsey is a Christian. He began regularly attending church in his 20s when he was earning large sums of money but still felt that he was unfulfilled.
Read more about Dave Ramsey and his religious beliefs below.
Who Is Dave Ramsey?
Dave Ramsey grew up in Tennessee in what he describes as a “middle-class household.” His father owned a business and both parents instilled a strong work ethic in their children.
When Ramsey speaks publicly, he reminds his audience of their potential influence over their own children. This, he says, is a way of honoring his own mother and father.
Aged just 18, he decided he wanted to pursue a career in the real estate industry. He studied, gaining real estate qualifications, then enrolled in college, studying real estate and finance.
During his college years, he continued working in the property industry.
Shortly after graduating, he met Sharon, who would become his wife, and the two moved back to Ramsey’s home state of Tennessee. Though not financially wealthy at this stage, he recalls a happy period.
“We were full of dreams,” he explains. Continuing his career, he was soon making an impact in the industry and aged just 26, he was earning around $20 thousand per month.
Though he had a substantial income, behind the scenes, the couple were amassing huge debts. “The short version of the story,” Ramsey writes on his website, “is that debt caused us, over the course of two and a half years of fighting it, to lose everything.”
He embarked on a journey of discovery to find out how best to manage money, speaking to wealthy people to learn more. He continued to work on his real estate career in order to pay off his debts.
In 1992, he founded the company Ramsey Solutions, a business that had the goal of guiding people on how best to use and manage money. He wrote ‘Financial Peace’ a book about how people could avoid financial stress, and soon collaborated with a friend on a radio show.
‘The Money Game’ was a call-in show which offered guidance to listeners with money worries. The show ultimately became ‘The Dave Ramsey Show’.
The company now has more than 900 employees and has been responsible for a number of best-selling books. The services offered by Ramsey Solutions include live speeches, books, and budgeting tools.
Christianity
While his career was proving to be successful, Ramsey was missing a certain level of contentment. “Jaguars are great, diamonds are fun…but there was just something missing,” he says.
His spiritual awakening happened at the age of 24, with religion something that he hadn’t seriously considered before. His previous experiences of the church had seemed “boring” and of no relevance to him.
“A lot of people who were ‘church people’ didn’t seem to be having much fun,” he recalls.
At a business class, the speaker told the class that, no matter how much success they achieved, they would not be truly fulfilled without finding a connection to Jesus. “I came home and announced to my wife, who was a church person, that maybe we needed to check out a couple of churches.”
This suggestion came as a shock to Ramsey’s wife, who already regularly attended church, as her husband had not expressed interest in religion before. They visited several churches, and unlike his previous experiences, he found pastors and churchgoers who he felt were more suited to him.
“I found out that God himself…is crazy about me, that I am his beloved,” Ramsey says.
“The weirdest thing happened,” he says of finding his faith. “Over the coming weeks, a peace flooded my soul. My personality began to relax.”
Ramsey remains committed to Christianity and encourages his followers to read the Bible and find churches that suit their needs.