Quaker Oats

Henry P. Crowell, affectionately called “The autocrat of the Breakfast Table,” contracted tuberculosis when a boy and couldn’t go to school. After hearing a sermon by Dwight L. Moody, young Crowell prayed, “I can’t be a preacher, but I can be a good businessman. God, if You will let me make money, I will use it in Your service.”

Under the doctor’s advice Crowell worked outdoors for seven years and regained his health. He then bought the little run-down Quaker Mill at Ravanna, Ohio. Within ten years Quaker Oats was a household word to millions. Crowell also operated the huge Perfection Stove Company.

For over forty years Henry P. Crowell faithfully gave 60 to 70 percent of his income to God’s causes, having advanced from an initial 10%.


1848 Rockefeller’s Testimony

Yes, I tithe, and I would like to tell you how it all came about. I had to begin work as a small boy to help support my mother. My first wages amounted to $1.50 per week. The first week after I went to work, I took the $1.50 home to my mother and she held the money in her lap and explained to me that she would be happy if I would give a tenth of it to the Lord.

I did, and from that week until this day I have tithed every dollar God has entrusted to me. And I want to say, if I had not tithed the first dollar I made I would not have tithed the first million dollars I made. Tell your readers to train the children to tithe, and they will grow up to be faithful stewards of the Lord. —John P. Rockefeller, Sr.

1849 The Colgate Story

A lad of 16 years named William left home to seek his fortune, all his possessions tied in a bundle carried in his hand. He met an old canal-boat captain. William told him his father was too poor to keep him and the only trade he knew was soap and candle making.

The old man then kneeled and prayed earnestly for the boy and advised: “Someone will soon be the leading soap-maker in New York. It can be you as well as someone else. Be a good man, give your heart to Christ, pay the Lord all that belongs to Him, make an honest soap; give a full pound, and I’m certain you’ll be a prosperous and rich man.”

Into the city, he remembered the captain’s words, and though poor and lonesome, he united with a church. The first dollar earned, he gave 10% to God. Ten cents of every dollar were sacred to the Lord. Having regular employment, he soon became a partner and later sole owner of the business. He made an honest soap, gave a full pound and instructed his bookkeeper to open an account with the Lord of 10% of all income. The business grew, so he gave 20%, 30%, 40%, 50% and finally he gave all his income.

This is the story of William Colgate, who has given millions to the Lord’s cause.

LeTourneau’s Bitter Experience

R. G. LeTourneau, the Christian earth-moving machinery manufacturer who died in 1969, failed often in the earlier years of his career.

Ironically, though, he made $35,000 profit one year in the middle of the depression. Puffed up with pride, he withheld the payment of his $5,000 annual pledge to the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in order to reinvest it in the business and give the Lord an even greater share the following year when he anticipated a net profit of $100,000.

God was not mocked by LeTourneau’s withholding of his tithe from the storehouse. Within a year, his anticipated $100,000 profit was turned into a $100,000 loss, and brought the erring servant to his knees. It was a thoroughly chastened and repentant LeTourneau who by much courage and faith pledged not only $5,000 to his church for the year he skipped, but also the same amount for the following year—in the face of a $100,000 debt and no money for payroll. On top of that, his bookkeeper was ready to quit.

From that point on, LeTourneau’s fortune changed and within four years, he and his wife founded the LeTourneau Foundation comprised of 90 percent of the stocks of LeTourneau Corp., the earnings of which financed evangelical Christian work world-wide. At one time, this foundation was worth $40 million.

LeTourneau often said: “It is not how much money I give to God, but how much of God’s money I keep for myself.”

1851 LeTournean Doing Well In Both

R. G. LeTourneau told Forbes magazine, “I like to do two things. One is to design machines, turn on the power, and see them work. The other is to turn on the power of the Gospel and see it work in people’s lives.”

He did pretty well in the first department. At his death he held over 200 patents. One of his monster earth-moving machines, weighing 200,000 pounds, can cut a thirty-five-foot swath through a jungle, knocking down trees five feet in diameter and chewing them up.

He did well in the second department, too. Besides giving up to ninety percent of his income to Christian work, he would fly anywhere to speak for Jesus Christ. He is the only man to have been president of both the Christian Businessmen’s Committee International and the Gideons International.

1852 Laidlaw’s Graduated Scale

Robert A. Laidlaw, the New Zealand businessman who wrote the famous booklet “The Reason Why” (translated into 30 languages with over 16 million copies) started tithing his $3 weekly salary at age 18.
Two years later, he covenanted with God to give 10% of his salary—up to a predetermined amount. Above that amount and up to a larger amount—15%. Above this amount and up to a still larger amount—20%. All above a still larger amount—25%.
At the age of 25, Laidlaw decided to change the above graduated scale and give God 50% of all his earnings.
Forty-five years later, he testified: “In spiritual communion and in material things, God has blessed me 100-fold, and has graciously entrusted to me a stewardship far beyond my expectations when, as a lad of 18, I started to give God a definite portion of my wages.”

1853 Story Of Mentholatum

Early in his career, young Albert Hyde showed ability to make money. Though he did lose money several times, yet his hands had a magic touch. Once he pledged God his tithe. Then he became interested in a salve or remedy for colds from which came “Mentholatum.” He did not forget his pledge, and as God shoved in, he literally shoveled out—until his name became synonymous with Christian giving.

He gave multiplied millions to the YMCA. At one time, all his income from Mentholatum in Japan was supporting a Japanese missionary work there. When he died at 87, this poor businessman had given a million-and-a-half dollars to missions.

1854 Tam’s Partnership With God

Young Stanley Tam had failed in his silver reclamation business—even though he had tithed since its beginning! “Why God?” he prayed as he drove homeward with numb disappointment.

Then an inner voice from the Lord seemed to say, “You don’t need to fail; turn your business over to Me and let Me run it. Remember the promise. “My God shall supply. …” “ Finally, Tam replied: “Take it God and if you’ll make it succeed, I’ll honor you in every way I can.”

He returned home and the business grew. Many months later, after he had married, he wrestled with his conscience once more and told his wife, “I feel God would have us take a bigger step of faith than tithing and make Him a senior partner in the business—50% of the stock belong to Him.”

States Smelting and Refining Corp. of Lima, Ohio, was reorganized that way. Soon a new corporation, United States Plastic, was added to God’s partnership. Growth was so phenomenal that the IRS audited their books for 10 consecutive years. Dividends from God’s 51% were put into the Stanita Foundation which helps overseas missionaries mainly. As the business passed the multimillion dollar mark, God’s share was upped to 60% annually.

Then one day the ultimate happened. Stan and Juanita Tam turned over the ownership of the entire business to God. They became just salaried employees. Since then, a new plant quadrupled its original size sprung up and the business continued to prosper.

1855 “Innkeeper” Dependent On God

As a teenager, Wallace Johnson was fired by a sawmill operator. Today, as founder of Holiday Inns, he is a multimillionaire and called “the innkeeper of America.”

Johnson started his business empire in 1939 with a borrowed $250. Since then he has helped provide jobs for 110,000 people. He is known nationwide for his Christian activities and stewardship as a Baptist layman.

“I am totally dependent on God for help in everything I do,” he declares. “Otherwise, I honestly believe it would start to fall apart in months.”