Christian Heroes

Early Years
Larry Burkett was born in Winter Park, Florida on March 3, 1939, the fifth of eight children. After completing high school in Winter Garden, Florida, he entered the U.S. Air Force where he served in the Strategic Air Command.

Upon completion of his military duties, he and his wife Judy returned to central Florida, where he worked in the space program at Cape Canaveral, Florida. He spent the next several years at the space center in charge of an experiments test facility that served the Mercury-, Gemini-, and Apollo-manned space programs. While working at the space center, Larry earned degrees in marketing and finance at Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida. Larry left the space center in 1970 to become vice president of an electronics manufacturing firm.

A Turning Point
In 1972 Larry put his trust and faith in Jesus Christ to guide his life—an event that had a profound effect. In 1973 he left the electronics company to join the staff of a nonprofit ministry, Campus Crusade for Christ, as a financial counselor. It was during this time that he began an intense study of what the Bible says about handling money, and he started teaching small groups around the country.

CFC Is Formed
In 1976 Larry Burkett left the campus ministry to form Christian Financial Concepts, a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching the biblical principles of handling money. Larry was also the long time host of the four radio programs, “Money Matters,” “How to Manage Your Money,” “MoneyWatch,” and “A Money Minute,” which were carried on more than 1,100 radio outlets worldwide. In May of 1996, Southwest Baptist University conferred on Larry an Honorary Doctorate in Economics.

Larry published more than 70 books, sales of which now exceed 11 million copies and include several national best-sellers. Publications by Larry include What Ever Happened to the American Dream, The Coming Economic Earthquake, Your Finances in Changing Times, Business by the Book, The Financial Planning Workbook, Women Leaving the Workplace, Investing for the Future, Financial Parenting, Debt-Free Living, Hope When It Hurts, and Great Is Thy Faithfulness. Larry also wrote four novels: The Illuminati, The THOR Conspiracy, Solar Flare, and Kingdom Come (with T. Davis Bunn). His last book was Nothing to Fear, in which he gave an update on his experiences with cancer and cancer treatments.

In September 2000, CFC merged with Crown Ministries, creating a new organization, Crown Financial Ministries. Larry served as chairman of the board of directors until his death.

His Legacy
Larry Burkett dedicated his life to teaching people biblical financial principles. He poured his life into serving the Lord through this ministry. He loved the ministry, he loved his staff, and he genuinely loved the people who looked to the ministry for help. Prior to his death, Larry founded the Larry Burkett Cancer Research Foundation.

Diagnosed with cancer in 1995, Larry continued teaching God’s life-changing principles for managing money while courageously battling his disease. Through God’s grace, he outlived by many years the predictions given by his doctors.

Larry was passionate about alternative methods of cancer treatment and in particular believed minimally invasive tumor ablation dramatically extended his productive years. The Larry Burkett Cancer Foundation accepts donations to help needy individuals receive ablation cancer therapy. Please send your tax-exempt donation to:

The Larry Burkett Cancer Foundation
1330 Old Woodbine Rd NE
Atlanta, GA 30319-1040

Larry’s memory is held dear by all those whose lives he touched: his family, his friends, and his ministry partners. He lived a life of Christian kindness and genuine humility. He was always extraordinarily generous.

Steve Moore, Crown's radio co-host for many years who spent so much time with Larry, related something that revealed a great deal about Larry. He said that while answering callers’ questions during Crown’s Money Matters program, Larry’s compassion was so evident. Listeners could not see, but could feel, his concern and even his tears for them.

One of the central principles Larry taught is that we don’t really own things; we are simply stewards and managers of what God has entrusted to us. In Larry’s case, that included the ministry he founded.

Until his death July 4, 2003, Larry and Judy Burkett resided in Gainesville, Georgia. He is survived by his wife Judy, four adult children, and nine grandchildren.