From Making Money to Giving it Away

Profile on: Bobby Dobson, Tax Lawyer

Born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina – a town named by Entrepreneur magazine as one of the 30 best cities for small business in America – Bobby Dobson seemed destined for business success. Sure enough, he eventually rose to the top of his game as a tax lawyer. But Bobby’s achievements came at tremendous cost for both him and his family, eventually leading him to walk away from business for good as he discovered an entirely new way to define success.

Positioned well – in high demand

Choosing the unique career path of acquiring both a law degree and a CPA certificate, Bobby had positioned himself well from the start. “There were very few people around in those days who were both CPAs and attorneys, and I was in high demand,” Bobby says.

As Bobby’s business expanded, so did his family. But Bobby didn’t allow his six children to slow him down one bit. He often worked 18 – 19 hours per day, causing his family to brand him a workaholic. Says Bobby’s third son, Michael, “If I or any of my brothers wanted to meet up with him, we would call his secretary and make an appointment. He was just money, money, money.”

Involved in fraud

This situation seemed destined for failure, and fail it did. It started in 1980 when Bobby’s marriage fell apart. This personal crisis was followed by a major setback in Bobby’s professional life.

At the time, tax shelters were all the rage, and Bobby was helping a number of his clients take advantage of them. But when he accidentally got involved in a tax shelter that turned out to be fraudulent, one of his clients filed a grievance against Bobby’s firm that was to haunt him for the next several years.

What else, God?!

By 1991, this situation was still not resolved. But then came the big blow: Bobby received news that his adopted daughter had been killed in a car accident. Bobby finally broke. “I was a wreck,” he says.

The night of her funeral, Bobby lay in bed literally burning with anger and disappointment. In his anguish, he asked God to help him. “When I said that prayer, I felt a cool water pouring over my head, like all the anger and all of the bad feelings just washed out of me, and I instantly went to sleep.” The next morning, Bobby awoke a changed man.

After coming to Christ, Bobby wanted his second wife, Beth, to share his experience, so he prayed for her and tried to live his own life as an example, hoping she would notice the change. She did, and soon she also became a Christian. But Bobby wasn’t out of the woods yet.

A sign from God

In 1993, the verdict finally came in on the grievance filed nearly a decade earlier. Bobby was found guilty, and his law licence was suspended for two years. But rather than lament the fact, Bobby took it as a sign from God that he should do something different with his life.

The natural place for him to turn was a ministry started by his own father fifteen years earlier. It involved distributing audio Bibles and tape players free of charge to seniors’ homes so they could have better access to Scripture. “I decided to devote my life to making it bigger, to touching and reaching more people,” says Bobby.

Bobby threw himself into this new venture with all the gusto he had given his business. Today, funded entirely by the Dobson family, Dobson Ministries provides a wide variety of spiritual materials to thousands of elderly people in nursing homes and to 1,500 children per year in children’s care homes.

Instead of making money, Bobby is now giving it away. And he has never felt so good.

Has financial success taken on too much importance in your life? If so, perhaps it’s time you asked Jesus to reveal your true calling. If you don’t know Jesus, we encourage you to pray the following prayer:

Lord Jesus, I want to know You personally. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of my life. Make me be the person You want me to be. Amen.

2 Responses to “From Making Money to Giving it Away”

• Loading comments
• Prophet Jeffery says:

  September 30, 2009 at 11:52 am

  Thanks,

  I am very happy to read your testimonics, I am a young minister from Nigeria, and God has been using me to do great things. But I don’t know how to control my anger.I would want to get message from you.

  Prophet Jeffery

• Darren Hewer says:

  October 1, 2009 at 8:46 am

  Hi Jeffery,

  Thank you for your comments! Please contact an online mentor if you’d like to talk with someone privately about this, it’s free and confidential. Contact us here:
  http://powertochange.com/discover/talk-to-a-mentor/