Most people look at a massive
construction site and see dirt, sweat,
and heavy machinery. But for one man, a
grease stained workshop was a sanctuary,
and a welding torch was a tool for
evangelism. In an era when many believed
that true spiritual service required a
pulpit, a choir robe, or a mission field
overseas, RG LNO proved that the
Almighty is just as present in the clang
of an iron foundry as he is in the quiet
of a church sanctuary. He was a school
dropout, a self-described misfit, a man
missing a finger from an industrial
accident. And yet he would go on to hold
nearly 300 patents, reshape the global
construction industry, and give away 90%
of everything he earned. He became known
as God's businessman, a mechanic who
moved mountains of earth while building
a kingdom that would outlast steel and
concrete. Robert Gilmore Lo was born in
the year 188,
Richford, Vermont. His family valued
faith, hard work, and integrity. But the
classroom and RG never quite got along.
Books felt confining. Lectures bored
him. His mind wandered not toward poetry
or philosophy, but toward gears,
pulleys, and levers. At 14, he left
school. For many, that would have marked
the beginning of limitation. For RG, it
marked the beginning of apprenticeship.
He moved west and found work in an iron
foundry in Portland, Oregon. The roar of
furnaces and the glow of molten metal
became his education. While others
memorized equations, RG studied the
language of steel. He learned how metal
behaves under pressure. He learned the
rhythm of machinery. He developed a
craftsman's patience. He worked as a
molder, a machinist, a woodworker, a
brick layer. His hands became his
textbooks. His calluses were his
diplomas. But inside something was
missing. Though raised in a Christian
home, RG's early faith felt mechanical,
ironically, like a machine without oil.
Religion seemed like a set of rules. He
respected God, but he did not yet know
him personally. He was mechanically
sound, but spiritually unsteady. In the
year 1904, during a revival meeting,
something shifted. The message pierced
through his self-reliance.
He realized that while he knew how to
repair broken equipment, he could not
repair his own heart. That night, he
surrendered his life to Christ. The
conversion was genuine, but the
confusion remained. For years, RG
wrestled with a persistent question. If
I'm not a preacher, am I truly useful to
God? He admired missionaries and
pastors. They seemed to carry eternal
weight in their work. Meanwhile, he
built machines and laid bricks. He felt
like a secondass Christian, as though
his calling was somehow less sacred
because it involved grease instead of
sermons. This quiet insecurity followed
him into adulthood. By the late 1910s,
RG had tried his hand at several
business ventures. Most failed. The
economic pressures mounted. He
accumulated $5,000 in debt, a crushing
sum in that era. Bankruptcy loomed. In
1919, in a small garage in Stockton,
California, he reached a breaking point.
Surrounded by tools and unpaid bills, he
spent a long night in prayer. He told
his pastor he was considering quitting
business altogether to enter full-time
ministry. If business was so fraught
with failure, perhaps the pulpit was
safer, holier. His pastor's response
redirected not only RG's life but
industrial history. Robert God needs
businessmen, too. Those words dismantled
the false wall between sacred and
secular. RG realized something
revolutionary. His garage could be his
pulpit. His welding torch could be his
instrument of worship. His ledger book
could become a tool for advancing the
great commission. He didn't need to
abandon business to serve God. He needed
to invite God into his business. That
night, he made a covenant. He would
operate his company as though God were
his senior partner. Innovation that
moved the earth. At the time, earth
moving was painfully slow. Mules pulled
small carts. Projects that required
massive excavation took months, even
years. RG saw what others didn't. He
imagined machines that could carry
enormous loads in a single pass. He
pioneered the use of rubber tires on
heavy equipment, a concept critics
ridiculed. Heavy machinery belonged on
steel tracks. They insisted rubber would
never withstand the strain. But RG
understood materials. He believed
innovation was not rebellion. It was
stewardship of creativity. He developed
scrapers that could scoop, haul, and
level tons of earth with unprecedented
efficiency. He invented the electric
wheel. He refined power control systems.
His machines didn't just assist
construction, they transformed it.
Contracts grew. Orders multiplied. His
reputation spread. Then came World War
II. Letono's machinery became
indispensable. It is estimated that
approximately 70% of the heavy
earthmoving equipment used by Allied
forces during the war bore his
influence. His machines carved runways
and jungles, built military roads, and
helped construct the Alcan Highway. They
even prepared the terrain that would
support the D-Day invasion in Normandy.
While generals planned strategies, RG's
machines quietly reshaped landscapes. He
wasn't carrying a rifle, but he was
paving the way for victory. Success
brought staggering income. By
conventional standards, RG had made it.
He could have built mansions and hoarded
luxury. Instead, he and his wife Evelyn
made a decision that stunned even
committed Christians. Most believers
aimed to tithe 10% and live on 90%. The
Laternos reversed it. They chose to live
on 10% and give away 90%. It began
gradually, first increasing their giving
to 20%, then 30, then 50. Eventually
they reached the point where the
majority of their income flowed outward.
They established the Letoro Foundation.
They funded missionary efforts across
Africa and South America. They supported
churches, Bible schools, and Christian
organizations worldwide. RG famously
joked, "I shovel out the money and God
shovels it back, but God has a bigger
shovel." But it wasn't just humor. It
was lived theology. As he gave, his
business continued to prosper. Contracts
expanded, innovations multiplied. He saw
generosity not as depletion, but as
circulation. To him, the question was
never, "How much should I give to God?"
It was, "How much of God's money should
I keep for myself?" A university for
technicians for the Lord. One of his
most enduring legacies was the founding
of Laterno University in Long View,
Texas. He envisioned a place where
students could master engineering,
aviation, and technical trades without
divorcing their faith from their craft.
He didn't want graduates who
compartmentalized Sunday from Monday. He
wanted engineers who prayed, mechanics
who evangelized, technicians who viewed
blueprints as sacred trust. The
university motto captured his
philosophy, integrating faith and work.
RG understood something many still
struggle to grasp. The great commission
requires infrastructure. Missionaries
need planes. Churches need buildings.
Relief efforts need logistics. Behind
every sermon is a supply chain. He
believed that building excellence in
business was not a distraction from
ministry. It was ministry. Humility in
the midst of greatness. Despite global
recognition, RG never drifted far from
the factory floor. He often worked
alongside employees, sleeves rolled up,
hands blackened with grease. He
described himself simply, "I am just a
mechanic whom the Lord has blessed." He
traveled extensively, sharing his
testimony in churches and conferences,
yet he never claimed spiritual
superiority. His message was consistent.
You don't have to leave your profession
to serve God. You have to invite God
into it. He spoke of past bankruptcies
openly, of mechanical failures, of
nights when machines broke and orders
stalled. He saw each failure as
instruction from the great designer. To
RG, setbacks were not verdicts, they
were lessons. When RG LNO passed away in
the year 1969, the world lost an
industrial giant. But his impact did not
retire with him. His machines continued
shaping landscapes. His foundation
continued funding missions. His
university continued training
generations of engineers and
entrepreneurs committed to Christ. He
proved that success is not measured
merely in patents or profits but in
purpose. Lessons from the life of RG
Lerno with applications.
One, your work is your ministry. Lesson,
you don't need a pulpit to serve God.
Your workshop, studio, office or laptop
can become sacred ground. RG struggled
for years believing he was a secondclass
Christian because he wasn't a preacher.
The breakthrough came when he realized
that excellence in business could fund
missions and glorify God just as
powerfully as a sermon. Applications
A. Dedicate your craft to God daily.
Begin your workday with a simple prayer.
Lord, this business belongs to you. Help
me reflect your excellence today. Write
a short mission statement for your work
that includes your faith values. B. Make
excellence a spiritual discipline. Don't
cut corners. Deliver quality even when
no one is watching. View professionalism
as worship. C. Use your platform
intentionally. If you run a YouTube
channel, share testimony when
appropriate. a business. Treat clients
ethically and fairly. A tech project.
Build tools that genuinely serve people.
Ask yourself, if God were my business
partner, would this decision change?
Two, collapse the sacred secular divide.
Lesson. Argie's pastor told him, "God
needs businessmen, too." That statement
redefined his life. Many believers
unconsciously divide life into
spiritual, church, prayer, missions,
normal, business, coding, creating,
engineering. RG destroyed that divide.
Applications
A. Stop waiting to switch careers to
serve God. You do not need to quit
business, become clergy, move overseas.
Instead, bring God into your current
environment. B. Integrate faith
naturally. Display integrity publicly.
Support causes aligned with your faith.
Speak about your convictions without
forcing them. C. See your skills as
kingdom tools. Are you a programmer?
Build tools that solve real problems. A
content creator. Shape culture
positively. A healthcare worker? Show
compassion consistently. A student study
is stewardship. Ask, "How does my
current skills serve the great
commission?" Indirectly. Three. Don't
fear innovation. Lesson. When RG
introduced rubber tires to heavy
equipment, critics mocked him, but he
saw what others couldn't. Faith is not
passive. It often requires bold
experimentation.
Applications:
A. Take calculated risks. Test ideas
others dismiss. Pilot new models. Don't
let tradition paralyze you. B. Develop a
culture of experimentation. Ask weekly.
What can we improve? What inefficiency
can we eliminate? What tool could make
this 10x better? C. Separate criticism
from conviction. Not all resistance
means you're wrong. Innovation always
faces skepticism. Ask, "Is this
ego-driven or conviction-driven?"
Four, the bigger shovel principle.
Radical generosity. Lesson: RG and
Evelyn lived on 10% and gave away 90%.
Generosity was not their afterthought.
It was their strategy. He famously said,
"I shovel out the money and God shovels
it back, but God has a bigger shovel."
applications.
A create a giving growth plan. You may
not start at 90% but you can begin at
10%.
Increase by 1 2% yearly. Set a
generosity target tied to revenue
growth. B. Automate giving. Create a
foundation fund. Allocate a percentage
of every project to missions. Give from
profit, not leftovers.
C. View income as stewardship. Instead
of asking how much can I keep, ask how
much can I deploy for eternal impact. D
fund infrastructure for the kingdom. R G
funded schools, missions, technical
training, modern equivalent, sponsor
scholarships,
support ethical startups, fund Christian
media, invest in community development.
Five. Persistence through failure.
Lesson. RG went bankrupt. Machines
broke. Contracts failed. But he saw
failure as instruction from the great
designer. Applications.
A. Redefine failure. Instead of I
failed, say I received data. B. Keep a
failure log. Write down what went wrong.
Why it happened, what you learned. C.
Normalize iteration. Prototype quickly.
Improve relentlessly. Don't let
embarrassment halt growth. Ask, "Is this
a fatal flaw or just a refinement
phase?" Six. Solve real problems.
Lesson: Lerno's machine succeeded
because they addressed a massive need,
moving Earth efficiently. He wasn't
chasing trends. He was solving pain
points. Applications
a study friction. Ask where are people
frustrated? What is slow? What is
inefficient? What is unnecessarily
expensive? B. Build around solutions not
ego. Don't create to impress. Create to
relieve burden. C. Measure value by
impact. Does this product save time?
Reduce stress. Improve efficiency.
Empower others. Seven. Build
institutions, not just income. Lesson.
RG didn't just make money. He built the
LNO Foundation. Latero University. He
thought generationally applications.
A. Think beyond personal success. What
will outlive you? What system can you
build that serves others? B. Invest in
training. Mentor younger professionals.
Create educational content. Develop
apprenticeships.
C. Convert success into structure. Turn
profits into scholarships. Revenue into
reinvestment, experience into
curriculum. RG once reframed generosity
by asking, "The question is not how much
of my money I give to God, but how much
of God's money I keep." Today the deeper
question may be how much of your skill
belongs to God? How much of your
creativity? How much of your innovation?
How much of your time? Because the true
legacy of RG LNO is not just industrial.
It is theological. It is the declaration
that your Monday through Saturday
expertise is sacred. And when you decide
to make God your business partner,
something extraordinary happens. Your
work becomes worship. Your profit
becomes provision. Your innovation
becomes impact. Your generosity becomes
multiplication.
And no matter how much you shovel out,
God still has the bigger shovel.