Success and Service

God isn’t waiting for us to push the right prayer button so blessings fall out. We open with a bracing reminder that the Lord often builds His kingdom through people, which means your choices, your work, and your generosity matter more than you think.

We walk through an Old Testament pattern that still shows up today: some people do the direct ministry work of teaching and leading, and others make that work possible by supplying resources. That support is not second-tier spirituality. It’s part of how God keeps the mission moving, whether it’s a church, a missionary, a local outreach, or any Christian ministry that needs steady, faithful funding.

Then we tell the remarkable story of R. G. LeTourneau, born in 1888, a 14-year-old dropout who became one of history’s great inventors in earthmoving machinery. His life is a powerful example of faith and work coming together, guided by Matthew 6:33 and a simple posture: seek God first, then say a big yes. LeTourneau called God the chairman of the board, gave generously through a foundation, and lived convinced he could not outgive God, all while using his business success to spread the gospel and support Christian work around the world.

If you’ve been questioning your calling, or wondering whether your job can be part of God’s plan, this is your five-minute reset. Subscribe to Starting Right with Danny Mac, share this with a friend who needs direction, and leave a review letting us know: where do you feel called to build or supply?

Transcript

Welcome And Daily Five-Minute Start

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Good morning and welcome to Starting Right with Danny Mack. I'm going to be here every Monday to Friday to help you get a great five-minute start to your day. So grab your cup of coffee, sit back, relax, and let me help you start your day right. Hey, good morning, everyone. It's good to have you here with us again

God Works Through People

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today. I spent some time reading this weekend, and I came across this statement. Every Christian at some point must come to the full realization that God does not sit on his throne to magically answer prayers at our demand. God often chooses to work through people, his people, to build his kingdom.

Prophets, Priests, And Kings Today

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Well, in the Old Testament, there were two specific groups who God chose to help lead the people. One group was the prophets or the priests. That was their job to lead the people in what God's word said and in obedience with what he was directing them to. The other group was the kings. The kings were not only in charge of overseeing the governance of the people, but part of their job also included supplying the finances to the priests and the prophets so that God's work could be done. And those two roles still exist. The people who are doing the ministry and those who are helping to support that ministry so the ministry can be done. Both are still very important.

R. G. LeTourneau Finds His Calling

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Often here on Starting Right, I have said that God has a plan for each of our lives. There's a purpose for each one of us. And I know that sometimes people assume that what I'm talking about is God wanting and having a plan for you to be a Bible school teacher or a Sunday school teacher or a pastor or a missionary. And that's really only part of what I'm talking about. We need to have some of the aspects of all of that happening in our lives, but that may not be your calling. Your calling may mean something totally different. Let me tell you about a man by the name of RG Laterno. He was born back in eighteen eighty eight and lived a very remarkable life. At the age of fourteen he dropped out of school and began to work in an iron foundry, and over the next few years he developed a sincere passion for machinery, beginning with his love for cars. After serving in the Navy in World War I, he found himself with five thousand dollars worth of debt and no job opportunities when a farmer offered to pay him to level some land that he owned. Laterno said this was the turning point in his life. Working on clearing that land, he realized that machines could do the job far more effectively than could be done by hand. And up to this point in time there were no machines doing this job. Roads were built by road gangs working hard with picks and shovels and wheelbarrows. That's how they built the roads. But Laterno said there's got to be a better way. Well, he found a better way. He found many different better ways. Over the next fifty years, he would be responsible for over three hundred inventions, including the bulldozers, scrapers of all kinds, dredgers, portable cranes, rollers, dump wagons, bridge spans, logging equipment, mobile sea platforms for oil exploration, the electric wheel, and many others. And when World War II came along, he produced seventy percent of all the army's earth moving machinery. Not bad for a kid that dropped out of school at fourteen, huh? And you may wonder how could one young man come up with all of those ideas? Well, he gives credit where credit really is due. You see, he had a Bible verse for his

Seek First And Say Yes

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life. It's one that we've talked about. It's Matthew six thirty-three. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things shall be added to you. From that foundation, he felt that he was clearly called to be a businessman for God, and he often spoke of God as the chairman of the board. He began to create so many inventions that he had trouble keeping up with them all, and the money was coming in in huge quantities. He once said, You will never know what you can accomplish until you say a great big yes to the Lord, and he certainly proved those words true. His business efforts, although incredibly successful, never deterred him from what he felt was his reason to exist, and that was to glorify God and spread the gospel message. He shared his faith with millions of people during his life. He founded missionary efforts in Liberia and Peru. He and his wife founded Laterno University in Longview, Texas, which has a longstanding spiritual legacy, and it continues to hold to those foundations today, producing more than ten thousand alumni who are serving the Lord in fifty-five different nations. His attitude was always positive, looking towards the ultimate accomplishment. And he was known to say that the only difference between can and can't is a little extra effort. He was truly an amazing man.

Radical Giving That Fuels Ministry

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Oh, by the way, just one more thing. Very early on in his business he established something called the Laterno Foundation. That foundation was used to take ninety percent of his salary to give to Christian work around the world. He was completely convinced that he could not outgive God. Laterno is a man who knows what it meant to be a king in God's kingdom, not as a ruler, but as a supplier to the people who are doing the work of ministry. Now, he gave away ninety percent of his salary. That's not what I'm suggesting for anybody. But what I am saying is that every time we give to the ministry of God, we are the fuel behind the ministry. And God uses people, people like you and me, to become kings for the kingdom by providing those finances so the ministries can continue.

Blessing And Invitation To Return

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Be blessed, my friends. Have a great day, and we will talk again tomorrow. Thank you for listening today. And I invite you to join me Monday to Friday right here on Starting Right with Danny Mack.