The Earthmover Who Reversed the Tithe

Robert Gilmour LeTourneau started with a sixth-grade education and a rusted-out blacksmith shop in Stockton, California. By the 1930s, he was building the massive earthmoving machines that would reshape highways, airfields, and eventually the beaches of Normandy. But what distinguished LeTourneau was not his engineering genius — it was what he did with the profits. He reversed the tithe. Instead of giving God ten percent and keeping ninety, LeTourneau gave ninety percent of his income away and lived on the rest.…