Larry Burkett facts for kids

Larry Burkett (March 3, 1939 – July 4, 2003) was an American radio personality. He was known for giving advice about money from a Christian point of view.

Larry Burkett's Life Story

Larry Burkett was born on March 3, 1939. He was the fifth of eight children. After finishing high school in Winter Garden, Florida, he joined the U.S. Air Force. He served in the Strategic Air Command, which was a part of the Air Force that handled important missions.

After his time in the military, Larry and his wife Judy moved back to central Florida. He worked at Cape Canaveral in the space program. For several years, he managed a special test facility there. This facility helped with the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space missions. While working at the space center, Larry also studied marketing and finance at Rollins College.

In 1970, Larry left the Space Center. He became a vice president at a company that made electronics. In 1972, he became a Christian, which greatly changed his life. In 1973, he left the electronics company. He joined a group called Campus Crusade for Christ as a financial counselor. There, he met other money experts like Austin Pryor and Ron Blue. He started studying what the Bible teaches about money. Then, he began teaching small groups of people across the country.

In 1976, Larry started his own group called Christian Financial Concepts (CFC). This group was created to teach people how to handle money using Christian principles. In September 2000, CFC joined with another group called Crown Ministries. Together, they formed a new organization called Crown Financial Ministries. Larry Burkett was the chairman of the board for this new group until he passed away. He also helped start the Alliance Defense Fund. This is a Christian legal group.

Larry also helped create the National Christian Foundation. This foundation has given billions of dollars to charities since 1982. You can learn more about them at ncfgiving.com.

Larry Burkett passed away on July 4, 2003, after a long illness.

Larry Burkett's Books and Radio Shows

Larry Burkett wrote more than 70 books. Over 11 million copies of his books have been sold. Many of them became national best-sellers. He also started three radio programs: "Money Matters," "How to Manage Your Money," and "MoneyWatch." He also had short radio segments called "A Money Minute." These shows were broadcast on over 1,100 radio stations around the world. (Today, Crown Financial Ministries has different radio shows.)

In May 1996, Southwest Baptist University gave Larry Burkett an honorary doctorate in economics. This is a special degree given to honor someone's achievements. His last book was called Nothing to Fear. In this book, he shared his experiences with his illness and treatments.

Not long before he passed away, Larry started the Larry Burkett Cancer Research Foundation. His very last book was The Burkett & Blue Definitive Guide to Securing Wealth to Last. He wrote this book with Ron Blue and Jeremy L. White.

The Coming Economic Earthquake

In his book "The Coming Economic Earthquake" (published in 1991), Larry Burkett talked about how government debt and borrowing by businesses and families were growing too fast. He believed that if things didn't change, there would be serious economic problems after the year 2000.

Larry thought that certain economic ideas, which supported more government spending and less saving, could lead to big problems. He wrote that as the government had to borrow more and more money just to pay interest on old debts, there would be a temptation to print more money. He warned that this could lead to a financial crisis, like the Great Depression. Larry wondered if leaders would act in time to stop this financial chaos. He believed they would not.