Thanks
to the following for contributions to this article:Bo Pilgrim
“Oh yeah?” Bo made no attempt to tone down the belligerence in his voice. He stood with feet braced and hands on hips surrounded by several other young boys. “Watch me.” He hissed as he took up the dare.
Nodding to each other, the rest of the gang moved off through the aisles of the small grocery store in Pine, Texas. Young Bo was left standing with a boy he knew from school. Following the older boy, Bo quickly slipped a package of chewing tobacco and a couple of candy bars into his pockets and sauntered toward the front door. As he passed the counter, the shopkeeper looked his way. Bo’s heart beat like it was going to explode out of his chest and he paused, waiting for the man to recognize his thievery and call out to him. Instead, his partner poked him in the back and shoved him through the door.
Inside, the shopkeeper turned back to his customers with a frown. “That Bo sure is acting out a lot and running with some pretty tough characters. It’s a shame that his Daddy passed away like that.”
The two women shared his concern “Imagine that, seven kids left behind for his widow to raise by herself. She certainly has her hands full.”
“His father was such an upstanding man, we sure miss him. It’s hard to get used to a new postmaster, and all.” The grown-up’s conversation was cut off by the closing door as the boys ran off down the sidewalk.
The gang rendezvoused behind the bank to compare their loot. Bo tried to calm his breathing and rationalize his actions. Ever since his father had died, he found it easier and easier to forget about right and wrong and do just about anything he wanted. After all, He thought, nobody could punish him any worse than he already felt. He sort of thought that if he could hurt others, challenge their rules, he might be able to make some sense of his topsy-turvy life. It was hard enough to be a ten-year-old boy at the beginning of the summer without having to deal with the pain from losing his father.
Bo and his friends stole things here and there and stuck their noses into all kinds of mischief. But they never had any fun at it. It seemed the more they broke the rules and pushed their disobedience, the more trouble-making seemed just plain dumb.
One early night in June of 1939, Bo and half-dozen of his friends were deep in discussion in the shadows of the community church. Inside, the revivalist and his assistants were getting ready for the evening’s service. Musicians performed sound checks and early-comers and the devout were finding their favorite seats.
Outside, the boys were disturbed. “But what if it is like he said?” One boy put into words what they were all thinking. “What if God knows what we’ve done, but can forgive us anyway??”
“I just bet he knows what we’ve done all-right.” Answered Bo as he shuffled his feet, “I mean, he is God, and He sees everything. I vote we go tell the preacher what we’ve been doing and see if we can’t start all over, with a clean slate.”
“What if we get in trouble?” asked another, “Will they arrest us? I don’t want to go to jail.”
“I don’t know, but I really think we’d better come clean. This isn’t even any fun.”
It was a solemn group of young boys that made their way into the church and sat quietly through the service. Bo hung on every word from the pulpit and his calm manner hid the turmoil within his spirit. By the time the preacher gave the altar call, there was no way Bo Pilgrim could stay seated. Along with several of his buddies, he walked down the aisle to salvation and the beginning of his healing from grief.
Young Bo found that God could forgive him, and that the community did rally around the boys. They had a tough summer working off their mischievous debt, but their character was honed and strengthened as they learned to be accountable to God for their actions.
Three years later, Bo’s mother called her children into the living room and asked them all to be seated. “I have an announcement…” She began, “I am going to remarry. I hope you all will be pleased.”
As soon as the words sank in, Bo stormed to his feet. “Mom, how could you!” Bo could not believe what he had just heard. “You can’t get married again. You can’t do that to Dad, or us. I don’t need a new dad, No one can ever replace my Father.!
“Don’t you know what people say about your husband, why do you want any one else? They are always talking how honest he was. How he was such a fine community leader. People sold their cotton to him. He bought logs. People would shop in his store. I want to be honorable and respectable like he was. I don’t want a new dad.”
No matter how his mother tried to reason with him, this marriage just wasn’t acceptable. Bo stormed out of the house with tears of anger and frustration streaming down his face.
Bo’s mother did remarry and it was decided that Bo would go and live with his widowed Grandmother on her farm. He worked hard learning about farming and raising livestock. Soon, he was raising his own chickens and selling or trading them.
By the time he graduated high school, he had a successful business with his chickens and a solid foundation in business management. Bo always remembered what he had learned from his father and maintained high standards of kept honesty and integrity.
Bo was working for his brother, driving a truck for his feed store when his brother’s partner decided to sell out. One day in 1946 his brother approached Bo as he was loading an order of salt blocks and cattle feed into the truck.
“You know, Bo, I’m going to need a new partner in this store real soon. You are just like Dad; you work hard and treat people fairly. They respect you. You’ve got some great ideas. What do you say? Will you join me?”
Bo stood up and leaned against the truck. It was a fine clear day. The early morning sun streamed through the small grove of trees around the store and highlighted the front of the Methodist Church that stood behind the two men. It made a magnificent sight.
Bo bowed his head for a few moments in prayer. He was excited about the opportunity, but wanted to be sure it was part of God’s plan.
“Well, Brother,” Bo spoke after a few minutes. “I know God is with us, and He has a plan, and we don’t need to get too far from God and the way He will direct us.”
The brothers shook hands and Bo explained to his new partner. “I am committed to the Lord and I promise Him that if I ever amount to anything that I'll always give Him credit for it.”
Soon business was booming. In addition to feed, fertilizer and all the other supplies needed to run a farm, the store sold baby chicks from their “brooder” hens. Local farmers purchased the chicks and raised them in their backyards and then brought the market-ready chickens back to sell in the store.
From reselling chicks in a small feed store in an East Texas village to raising and processing them, to developing food-service excellence, Lonnie "Bo" Pilgrim built his Pilgrim's Pride into a multi-million dollar international Fortune 500 corporation and one of the largest chicken producers in the world.
He never wavered from his core commitment to honesty. He now has over 25,000 employees who respect that integrity and honesty.
And he always honored his original commitment to the Lord by giving generously and abundantly to others. “I’m a trustee of the Lord,” Bo says. “The Lord owns everything on this earth. When I give, I am giving what belongs to Him. I am sensitive to what the Lord wants me to do. My greatest joy is finding someone who can’t help himself or who doesn’t know where to turn and I can help.”
The Lord makes sure that Bo always has a lot to give, both financially and spiritually. He takes great pleasure in witnessing and introducing the plan of salvation to as many people as possible through his personal witness and distribution of his “Good News for Modern Man.”
That angry, troubled young boy who gave his heart to the Lord one summer night so long ago, knows where his success comes from and freely gives credit where credit is due:. “There's no doubt that God wanted me to exemplify being a Christian businessman. I have that feeling, and I am forever conscious of that. I'll go out and make lots of talks around the country. There's where I give Jesus credit for everything I am.”
“And you shall remember the LORD your God,
for it is He who gives you power to get wealth,
that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers,
as it is this day.”
Thanks
to the following for contributions to this article:
www.baptiststandard.com
Lonnie "Bo" Pilgrim
Pride of Pittsburg
by Coke Buchanan
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