“My destiny is to lead God’s people into wealth,” she said. Hill, who was sitting at the beginner’s table, took note. A retired banker and his grandmother set out with a plan to buy Bitcoin.
“I hate when the uphill starts and I miss that uphill,” she later told NBC News. For Hill, the potential for cryptocurrencies to lead to wealth intrigued her.
“I’m not hungry, but I have a lot of things I want to do,” she said. One of the ways she spends her days is traveling to Singapore with her husband and teaching instead to give back.
She said a church member told her about Renee a short time after she prayed.
“I’m spiritually sensitive,” Hill said. “I don’t think I was the only one who acted on my own. All I can do is trust God and pray.”
Months later, with the price of Bitcoin below $70,000, she said she still hasn’t bought it, having watched the market plummet and controversy swirl over the Trump family’s cryptocurrency project. In the meantime, she continued to learn and set aside funding for when she was ready to start.
“I’m only going to invest what I can afford to lose,” Hill said.
Although American churches have been early adopters of new technology, most Americans currently do not own cryptocurrencies. Dave Ramsey, one of the nation’s most prominent Christian finance experts, remains skeptical.
Church members in the 2000s may remember when a small group gathered at Ramsey’s Financial Peace University in hopes of achieving a debt-free life. Some places of worship helped members pay for classes.
On his radio show, Ramsey equated buying cryptocurrencies to investing in Beanie Babies.
When the debt-strapped caller credited God with investing in cryptocurrencies, Ramsey looked incredulous.
“It may have been a spirit, but it wasn’t a holy spirit,” Ramsay scolded.
For decades, Mr. Ramsey has been known for framing personal decisions as the root of most financial problems, prioritizing emergency funds and strict debt repayment schedules, and promoting investments in mutual funds like 401(k)s.
Some warn that cryptocurrencies pose more psychological risks than economic risks. There are videos on TikTok and YouTube dedicated to the question of whether cryptocurrencies could be a sign of the Antichrist.
Gatewood acknowledged that some Christians “are afraid of Bitcoin. They think it’s the mark of the beast.”
“That’s fine,” she said. “When we first heard about it, we were scared. We thought it was a scam.”
Faith in times of depression
While some churchgoers are confused about what to think about cryptocurrencies, Renee has noticed that at least one pulpit is welcoming.
“I think I was drawn to her faith,” Tappin said. “Because of my faith, I believe God put me in this space with her. It’s up to me to put in the work.”
Tappin first heard Renee speak at a 2021 conference. She said she started buying Ethereum, but her digital wallet was hacked and she lost hundreds of dollars. Ready to give crypto another chance, she started attending Renee’s workshops again last year.
During a break that day, Tappin won a gift bag containing a flat iron after answering a question correctly. One participant who won a silver coin said that the straight iron was better.
Even though the price of Bitcoin has fallen to the 60 yen range in the months since then, Mr. Tappin was busy buying Bitcoin during the Bitcoin crash.
For Tappin, who is wondering what his crypto portfolio would have been like if he hadn’t taken a break from investing, now is not the time to stop. “Talk to me in 2028,” Tappin said. “I’ll let you know what happens.”
