BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (AP) — With the economy gasping for life last spring, about 1.3 million people gathered in 5,600 churches nationwide to behold the nation’s leading prophet of personal finance.

Televised live from a church in Edmond, Okla., Dave Ramsey’s infomercial-style “Town Hall for Hope” was a masterful mix of inspiration, humor, advice, marketing and the Bible from a man dressed in jeans, dark jacket and an open-collar shirt.

“Hope is a gift of the Holy Spirit,” Ramsey told a nationwide audience that included the Fox Business Network, available in 50 million homes. Later: “The Bible says the diligent prosper.”

At its core, the 90-minute show was a millionaire preaching to a struggling flock, and it raised anew the question of whether Ramsey’s hugely profitable, tax-paying business — which he describes as a ministry — fits with Jesus’ teachings.

It’s a question John Hoffman began asking as he immersed himself in Ramsey’s financial lessons for months. He listened on the radio, bought books, took Ramsey’s financial management course at a church and paid for a $10-a-month subscription to his Web site.

Hoffman came away from it all feeling like Ramsey’s intermingling of faith and finances was some sort of unholy alliance.

“It’s not a ministry. To me, it’s an insult to the word,” said Hoffman, who lives near Logan, Kan. “It would be nice if it got out of the churches and got into the mainstream.”

Ramsey doesn’t deny mixing religion and business, and he doesn’t apologize for getting rich doing it, either. Business is a ministry, he says, and good ones prosper by serving people the way God wants them to.

“Worship is work-ship, so I don’t separate work from ministry,” Ramsey said recently at his headquarters in suburban Nashville, where he does his syndicated radio and cable TV shows. Bible verses, crosses and photos of Ramsey decorate the building.

In the beginning, as now, Ramsey’s refrain was similar to the financial teachings of John Wesley, who started the Methodist movement more than 200 years ago: Earn all you can, save all you can, give away all you can.

Ramsey added a modern injunction to Jesus’ teachings about not being a slave to money or possessions: Ditch your credit cards and pay cash. Callers to his radio show scream “I’m debt free!” after paying off loans and Ramsey cuts up credit cards on his TV program.

Almost 4.5 million people listen to Ramsey on the radio each week; millions more watch his show on Fox Business or have read his best-selling books. Disciples — and they are legion — know his no-credit mantra and inspiring, riches-to-rags-to even more riches story.

It’s all a bit much for some of the faithful, such as T.J. Graff of Queen Creek, Ariz., a self-described “firm believer” in Ramsey’s basic financial ideas about living within your means. Graff was shocked to see Ramsey charge $5,100 for a three-day seminar for small businesses.

“It was a way to make money instead of deliver a message,” said Graff, whose Internet-based business sells truck supplies. “I think it’s no different than the money changers in the temple if you want to go biblical.”

There was a time when few would have paid for financial advice from Ramsey, 48.