“My destiny is to lead God’s people to wealth,” he said. Sitting at the starters table, Hill noticed. A retired banker and a grandmother came up with a plan to buy bitcoin.
“I don’t want it to start climbing and I miss that climb,” he later told NBC News. For Hill, the crypto opportunity that led to wealth piqued his interest.
“I’m not hungry, but there are many things I want to do,” she said. She mentioned traveling with her husband to Singapore and taking a teaching position to give back as some of the ways she wanted to spend her days.
He prayed and after a while a member of the church told him about Renee, he said.
“I’m just emotional,” Hill said. “I don’t think it was just me going on my own, I have to trust God and pray about it.”
Months later, with the price of bitcoin below $70,000, he said he wasn’t buying, as he watched the market crash and the controversy surround the Trump family’s crypto projects. In the meantime, he continued to study and set aside money for when he was ready to start.
“I’ll invest what I can lose,” Hill said.
Although American churches are quick to adopt the new technology, it is still the case that the majority of Americans do not own crypto currency. Dave Ramsey, one of the leading Christian financial experts in the country, remains skeptical.
Churchgoers in the 2000s may remember a time when small groups met at Ramsey’s Financial Peace University in hopes of achieving a debt-free life. Some houses of worship helped congregations pay for the class.
On his radio show, Ramsey compared buying crypto to investing in Beanie Babies.
When a caller with a debt problem said God was the reason he invested in crypto, Ramsey seemed incredulous.
“It may have been a spirit, but it wasn’t a saint,” Ramsey admonished.
For decades, Ramsey, known for identifying personal decisions as the root of many financial problems, has advocated investing in mutual funds like 401(k)s, prioritizing the creation of an emergency fund and a strong debt repayment plan.
Some have warned that cryptocurrency creates something far worse spiritually than financial risk. On TikTok and YouTube, videos are dedicated to the question of whether crypto could be a symbol of the Anti-Christ.
Gatewood acknowledged that some Christians “are afraid of bitcoin. They think it’s the mark of the beast,” he said.
“Okay,” she said. “We were scared when we first heard about it. We thought it was a scam.”
Faith in the middle of the dip
While other churchgoers are confused about what to do with crypto, Renee has found that at least one pulpit is being accepted.
“I think I was drawn to him because of his faith,” Tappin said. “Because of my faith, I believe that God has put me in this space with him.
Tappin first heard Renee speak at a conference in 2021. He started buying Ethereum, but said he lost hundreds after his digital wallet was hacked. Ready to give cryptocurrency another chance, he started attending Renee’s workshop last year.
During one of the day’s breaks, Tappin won a gift bag, including a flat iron, after answering a question correctly. Another attendee, who won a silver coin, commented that he would have preferred to direct.
In the months since, Tappin has been busy buying bitcoin during the dip, as the price of bitcoin dropped into the low 60s.
For Tappin, who wonders what his crypto portfolio would have looked like if he hadn’t taken a break from investing, now is not the time to pause. “Talk to me in 2028,” Tappin said. “I’ll let you know how it goes.”
