Former Jonesboro Mayor Harold Perrin (from left), Intimidator Group, LLC founder Robert Foster, John 3:16 Ministries Director Bryan Tuggle, and owner of an original Bad Boy Mower Randy McNeil, stand together after the restoration of the first Bad Boy Mower that McNeil purchased more than 20 years ago.
John 3:16 Ministries helps restore men, but a few months ago, a friend of the ministry asked for help with a different restoration.
Randy McNeil wanted to restore the first mower that Robert Foster ever sold him. McNeil said he had purchased a lawnmower directly from Foster in 1999 from Bad Boy Mowers when it was a very early company, adding that this mower was cutting edge for its time when it first came out.
“Robert was in need of influential people to buy his mowers in hopes that others would follow their lead, and he was right about that,” McNeil said.
That discussion with Foster prompted his good friend McNeil to buy the mower so people would see him use it. Foster grew up in the small Independence County community of Thida and had known McNeil, a longtime farmer and the owner of Poinsett Rice & Grain, from seeing him in-and-out of farm shops. The two became friends, and so it was McNeil that Foster approached about buying the first Bad Boy.
The company began to take off as others bought the mowers as well, and as the years passed by, McNeil would go on to purchase other mowers but kept that first one, knowing that one day Foster was going to go places – and he was right.
Foster said he is just like everyone else, as well as all of the men of John 3:16 Ministries. He likes to say, “With passion, you can accomplish great things!”
But Foster is quick to add that “bumps and bruises” kept him in check as he learned to grow.
The mower that originally started out as one that he joked “looked like two drunk farmers built” would later be crowned mower of the year. In 2013, Foster founded the Intimidator Group, LLC, which has expanded its product line to include zero-turn mowers, accessories, and more, besides side-by-side 4×4 utility vehicles.
Both McNeil and Foster are longtime friends of John 3:16 Ministries in Charlotte, a spiritual-based boot camp for men with addictions, and McNeil asked the ministry to restore that early mower, explained Bryan Tuggle, director of John 3:16.
When the mower was fully restored, the camp presented it to McNeil, with Foster and another John 3:16 friend, Harold Perrin, on hand. Perrin, a Batesville native, served as Jonesboro mayor for 12 years and, before that, was on the Jonesboro City Council. He and McNeil have been influential in John 3:16’s growth in the Jonesboro and northeast Arkansas areas.
“The story of this mower is important because we knew who it was for and who it was going to – two men that are willing to make a difference in the lives of others,” said Todd Pierson, a John 3:16 instructor. “We are grateful to be a hub of restoration not in just things, but in the lives of anyone that we can.”
Article by Andrea Bruner / Images submitted
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