Kenneth Copeland swept Gloria off her feet. He was the life of every party. Charismatic, humorous, and a gifted singer, he topped national charts with a hit record, Pledge of Love. Ken appeared to be anything but a preacher. “I always said that I would never marry a preacher,” Gloria muses. “And Ken certainly didn’t look, talk, or act like one. But God had a master plan for our lives that we couldn’t imagine.”
Their courtship was full of romance and fairytale stories, but their walk of obedience was far from easy-street. “We were deep in debt, and could hardly pay for our groceries in cash,” Gloria confides. “The paint on the walls of our run-down and rented apartment was peeling. We slept on a rollaway bed, cooked in a coffeepot, and kept the food on the porch to keep it cold. But one day, as I read the Amplified Bible, Romans 13:8 jumped out at me. It said, ‘Keep out of debt and owe no man anything, except to love one another.’ At the time, we had very little money, and a lot of debt trailing behind us. So, I thought to myself, ‘Keep out of debt? How would we ever survive?’ But, somehow, I found the courage to show Ken the Scripture, and we agreed that God was telling us to stop borrowing money. And, of course, the devil began telling us that, without borrowed money, we would never afford a decent house. We also began to think about the ministry God had laid on our hearts. How would we afford it? Where would the money come from without a loan?”
Equipped with only their faith, Gloria and Ken were determined to live debt free, and answer the call on their lives. “Matthew 6:33 promised that, if we would seek and obey God, He would meet all of our needs,” Gloria reflects. “I can’t say we weren’t afraid, but we chose to be obedient. All we needed was faith the size of a mustard seed, and that’s about all we had.” When asked how they managed to get out of debt, Gloria responded: “We applied faith and discipline. We changed the way we thought and lived. We survived on our limited income — and it was very limited back then. We didn’t spend what we didn’t have. Sometimes it took a lot longer to get certain things, but we were committed to living without debt. The key was acting on God’s Word. As we [aligned] our actions with what the Scripture said about borrowing money, God sent supernatural provision. But we had to first walk in faith and obedience. It was so hard.”
During her interview, Gloria noted that she didn’t believe being in debt was a “sin.” However, her experience taught that debt-free living was a better way to govern one’s life –– and the way that God preferred. “It is always much, much better not to pay interest,” Gloria explains. “So many people pay two, three, and four times the purchase price. One day, Ken and I did an assessment of what we would have spent if we had borrowed money for all the things we had done in ministry. We estimated that, over the past 40 years, we would have spent around 40 or 50 million dollars in interest! So, there is a better way. It will take longer to do things without borrowing money –– it will require a lot of faith and patience as God makes a way –– but living and running a ministry without debt is a better way,” Gloria presses.
