$600 and a Garage
In 1970, David Green borrowed $600 to buy a frame-making kit. He and his wife Barbara started assembling miniature picture frames on their garage floor, selling them to local shops. That was the beginning of Hobby Lobby.
Fifteen years later, the company had grown into a chain of craft stores. But in 1985, a devastating debt crisis hit. Interest rates spiked. Inventory costs spiralled. The company was bleeding money. Green faced the real possibility of losing everything.
Under the Desk
One evening in 1985, alone in his office, David Green crawled under his desk and wept. He wasn't performing some religious ritual. He was a man at the end of himself, lying on the floor of a failing business, talking to God.
"Lord, I don't know how to run this company," he prayed. "If this is Your business, You're going to have to show me how."
That prayer became the pivot point. Green restructured the company around principles he felt God was leading him toward: close on Sundays, pay employees above market rate, avoid unsustainable debt, and give generously even when the numbers didn't make sense.
From Crisis to $7 Billion
Hobby Lobby didn't just survive. It thrived. The company grew to over 1,000 stores across the United States, with annual revenue exceeding $7 billion. Green became one of the wealthiest people in America.
But the giving was what defined him. Green gave hundreds of millions to Christian causes, education, and Bible distribution. In 2022, he did something almost unprecedented: he gave away his entire ownership of Hobby Lobby, transferring the company to a trust that ensures it will continue to be run according to its founding principles.
"I chose God," Green wrote in an open letter. "We don't own Hobby Lobby. We never did."
What This Means for You
Green's under-the-desk moment is one of the most honest financial prayers ever prayed. No performance. No theological language. Just a broken man admitting he was in over his head and asking for help.
If your finances feel overwhelming right now, Green's story says: that's a legitimate place to start. Get honest. Get low. And get specific. The man who crawled under his desk in desperation built something worth $7 billion — but he'd tell you the real turning point wasn't a business strategy. It was surrender.