Finish Strong #15 | Roy O. Martin III

Jeff Draughon talks about what Finishing Strong means with Roy O. Martin III.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

And that's just interesting. As you know, other small businesses, family-owned businesses, very rarely get past the second.

SPEAKER_00 0:07

I I read somewhere, well, I can't prove this is true, but only 0.15% of all businesses survive a hundred years and are private. When you walk into New York City as a as a hick from Louisiana, it's it's that confidence. Uh it's the peace that passes understanding. Yes. Yes. And that's the thing that, you know, Philippians 4, 6. That's the thing. When you walk into something like that, you have that piece. They think it's confidence, it's Christian.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Amazing. Welcome to Finish Strong. Today I'm honored to have Roy Martin join us. Uh Roy's the chairman and chief investment officer for Royal Martin, and that's a family-owned forestry and wood products manufacturing company based right here in Alexandria. Uh born in Alexandria, he's a graduate of Bolton High School. After high school graduation, he enrolled at LSU and earned his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. Uh, he continued his education at LSU, obtaining his MBA in 1985. Uh just a few of Roy's accolades, and we could be here all day if I listed all of them, uh, but he's in the LSU Alumni Hall of Distinction, the LSU School of Business Hall of Distinction, the LSU College of Engineering Hall of Extinct Distinction. Uh he's in the Society for Engineering Excellence. Uh, he's in the Tiger Athletic Foundation Hall of Distinction, and he's currently the chairman of TAF. Uh most recently, Roy was honored with the LSUA Distinguished Service Award, uh, following in the footsteps of his dad, Roy O'Martin Jr., uh, who was actually the founding member of LSUA Foundation, and he was actually the inaugural recipient of that award 29 years ago. So I know that was special for Roy. Uh last year in 2025, Louisiana Tech uh gave Roy the an honorary doctorate of humanities, and then in May of this year, just last month, uh Roy was recognized with an honorary PhD in mechanical engineering from LSU. Uh just a few of the organizations that Roy's been involved in over the years uh the Lions Club, the United Way of Central Louisiana, Habitat for Humanity, American Red Cross, Sin Light Vantage Partnership, Salvation Army, LSUA Advisory Board. He was on the Committee of 100. He was on uh chairman, he was the chairman of Governor-elect uh Bobby Gendal's Economic Growth and Transitioning Advisory Council. He was on the Louisiana Baptist Foundation, the Intercity Revitalization, Louisiana Forestry Association, the American Heart Association, uh Central Louisiana Chamber of Commerce, Greater Alexander Economic Development Authority, the LSU Health South Foundation, uh services health sciences foundation, and he was on the Louisiana Commission for Streamlining of Government. I'd like to hear more about that. Uh Workman's Compensation Board, the Advisory Council uh for the Louisiana Board of Regents, and their Advisory Council, Louisiana uh Business Business School and LSU Engineering Advisory Council. He was also a chairman of the American Panel Association. Uh Roy is also a member here at Calvary. Uh his impact on our church is absolutely immeasurable. Uh, in addition to being a deacon, life group leader, and serving on many committees, Roy was the chairman of a couple of committees that orchestrated two major building campaigns here at our church. Uh, first was the state of art uh state of art children's world and student center back in 2002, and then this fantastic new worship center that we're sitting in today, 1455 seat worship center, was in 2015. Uh Roy and his wife Kathy have two children and five grandchildren. So when you hear Roy's story, you may think, man, this guy's just got it made. He's just cruising through life. Well, just like everyone, Roy's had his bumps along the way. But it's not how you start, it's how you finish. And Roy definitely has a plan for finishing strong. Roy Martin, welcome to the podcast. Thank you. Thank you, Jeff.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

I certainly appreciate uh being asked to uh to uh talk about myself, which is not very interesting.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

I know. Well, I think it's very interesting, and that's why you've been on the top of my list uh ever since this started. But thank you for joining us today. And you know, Roy, you and I go back probably 25 years or so, back to our running days, running marathons together and uh being on building campaigns together for this church. Absolutely. Uh it's it's just time flies. It's crazy. Each of us have a little bit more.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

Absolutely. Everything disperses.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

But you and I have shared a lot of great moments together. We have, we have. And I remember those long runs we talk about our raising our kids and all that, and now all of them are out of the house and they have their own kids. Just crazy how time flies. Absolutely. Uh but Roy, just let's just start out. Let's talk about kind of your growing up years. You know, you grew up in here in Alexandria, went right here to Bolton High School. So, what kind of family did you grow up in? What kind of environment was that growing up?

SPEAKER_00 5:11

My family was outstanding. Uh, we had them I had a mother and father that loved each other, they loved, loved the Lord. And dad loved this business, and my mother was so supportive. So I had no bumps growing up. I did not have anything that many, many people that I see suffer through in their youth. I did not have that at all. My the only thing that I suffered through was having three older sisters that uh tended to be uh aggressive and drag me around the house but lovingly. Yes. But uh they were uh my my oldest sister uh who passed away in 2020 uh was 13 years older than me. I was I was her ring bearer in her wedding when she was 18. So and then my other uh my middle sister was 10 years older than myself, and she graduated from LSU in uh electrical engineering, one of the first women to ever graduated. And my uh and Carol uh is six years older than me, and she still lives in Alexandria, and she graduated from uh Northeast, now ULM accounting. So but yeah, I had a great supportive family. We uh had a great business back then, and uh you could feel that my father was not just pushing me, but was um having a pathway that I was going to go into the business regardless. Even in an early age, right? Or very early age, and he would always tell me that hey, you don't have enough time to learn everything. And he was I always had that notion that uh I couldn't let a day go by without learning something about that. And I was really into sports, and I was kind of the black sheep of my family because I was not musical. Uh interesting. I tried to play the trumpet for three months, that did not work. I played the piano a little bit, but all my sisters were in the philharmonic and uh and they went to interlocking music camp. Oh, wow I did not fit into that mold.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

I was more into baseball and tennis and um let's let's go back to the three older sisters. Were they very protective over their little brother? Did they watch out for the little brother at every every turn?

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Well, two of them did Marilyn was out of the house by the time I can remember. Yeah. You know, she I remember barely that she was in the house. And so she like I say she got married at 18 and and moved to uh moved to Rustin. And uh so they they were gone Rustin, Ring Gold, and Dubak, actually. Okay. And um so I don't remember her as being a motherly figure, maybe, but she was very, very nice and um uh just a great woman. Yeah. That that was she was one of those people that were in the church when the if the door was open, and maybe sometimes when it wouldn't and uh that kind of deal. And Joyce uh uh and read me, I remember Joyce and Carol both read me stories, and uh Carol, uh like say was the more aggressive of the of the two of those, and and I would get um pulverized a few times, but it made me tough and strong. You remind her of that today, right? Exactly, exactly. And now she's the sweetest. So yeah, uh they uh they and my dad uh I had a cousin, uh Robert, who is my age in the in this town, and he and I played together a good time. Okay, yeah, and I had a lot of family friends. A lot of things one thing that most people do not know about me, uh I am a quarter Jewish. And so my grandfather was uh from Poland, or my family was from Poland. They moved over in 1880. Not Louisiana, but Poland. Poland, like Warsaw. And so uh, and they had many relatives that were executed by the by the Nazis. And so their family way before that escaped from uh other regimes in 1880 and and ended up uh eventually in Chicago, and uh that's where he was a traveling salesman and met my grandmother in the metropolis of Bunky, Louisiana. That's crazy. She was Catholic and he was Jewish. How do you think that was that is crazy?

SPEAKER_01 9:09

That is crazy in Bunky, Louisiana. Bunky, Louisiana, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

So anyway, they ended up in the Methodist church, uh-huh. Yeah, and so that's where my mother grew up. Is that where you grew up? Did you you grew up in a Methodist church? I grew up Methodist, exactly. I grew up in Methodist until I was twenty-four, and then I was dunked. Yes, literally, at uh at uh Southside Baptist Church in Baton Rouge. Okay, because I wanted to be the same as as my my wife, Kathy. Yeah, and uh so we came and joined Calvary here in um 1986 and in June. 1986.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Okay, so y'all met in Baton Rouge. Baton Rouge. At LSU, Johnny did L S U, okay, and then moved up here in nineteen in the early mid-1980s, then, right?

SPEAKER_00 9:48

So or eighty six, yeah, June of eighty-six. I think Calvary had had moved from downtown about three years before. Yes, okay. And uh so they had they had a new sanctuary and portable Sunday school buildings. Yes. I don't know if you remember that, but I taught in those.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

Yeah. That was an that was an interesting experience. I grew up across the street at Grace, and so I graduated high school in 1986. Okay. But I grew up across the street, but I was had all my friends at Calvary, and we'd go we'd go on those portable buildings for Sunday school classes and youth and youth events and all that sort of thing. So I remember that very well. So, what was your introduction to Calvary? So uh so uh John Alley was the pastor. Yes. What was kind of your introduction to Calvary?

SPEAKER_00 10:26

John was a was a pastor, and we came and uh it was almost like we had already heard this is the best church, go there. And so we went to the Methodist church for a bit, uh, to make my mom and dad happy. And uh then um for a little while. And then uh and uh we went to I think uh downtown. Yeah uh and uh then we came to Calfrey. But I d I don't think there was much much uh doubt that we were joined Cowrie because they had the most spectacular music program. My wife, see I uh my wife uh graduated in music um from LSU. Yes. So that's the r that's the only way I could stay in the family is to marry someone because I wasn't see you kind of you kind of checked off the card there by marrying somebody else. So she she uh she she actually she and I got our MBAs almost at the same time. Okay, yeah, and I could sh well when we knew we were gonna get married, she had to go into get some business knowledge. She had some business, she was in a business family. So anyway, she um you know we we started with a bang here, yeah. Got into a lot of different things. Yes. I was traveling at the time uh from uh from Alexandria to Lemoyne, another metropolis in Lemoyne, Louisiana on Highway 71. Yes, and uh I ran the sawmill, uh sawmill there.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

Okay. So so what were some of your influences growing up?

SPEAKER_00 11:50

Like what my grandfather's uh notoriety uh uh and he was I knew him virtually a short period of time, not virtually a short period of time from when I was I can remember six to about twelve when severe dementia captured him. And so that we got I got six good years with him. I had a lot more with my grandmother who lived to 103 years old. And uh so that was those were definitely influential people. My father and mother were way more influential though. They were the rock uh that that I formed my life around. They had expectations and goals and love and and uh and acceptance about you know which way my sisters were gonna go, yes, and uh which way I was gonna go. You know, kind of pushing me toward the company. So you kind of knew at an early age that you were gonna be following your dad's sister along with them. Unfortunately, the second generation is not getting did not get along as well as the third generation of Martins. And so it was um it was uncomfortable uh when I first started uh in in that because uh they didn't get along and they were just perceiving me as the same personality as my father, which is pretty close. But uh I knew and Johnny knew Jonathan Martin is my first cousin that's 12 years older than me. She's um he was about Marilyn's age, and he was well ahead uh in the business when I got there. So I had to prove myself, which is okay. Yeah, and I had to prove myself in a condition that was uh less than um ideal. Less than desirable. I I graduated with good grades from from LSU and had a lot of opportunities to go to work for the the new and rising company IBM um in Exxon. So I had some I had some decisions to make. And my dad did not go to work for the company off the bat either, because he went he got out of L well, when he got out of it, when he stopped going to school at LSU, he never got a great degree, but he went to work at the shipyards in New Orleans, which paid a lot more. And the company was not as big or as uh uh tantalizing as it as it kind of is now. Yes, yes. And so he did that and learned how to weld and was a great mill wright, and so he went into the Coast Guard in the service in 1942, and he served until 1945. So uh that's his and then when he got out of service he came back to Alexander Dorne.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

That's right. Well, we often talk about on here, and we've talked about with just about everybody, the influence of just kind of how things got started and just how the decisions we make at as even kids today make it at an early age that changes the entire trajectory of their life. Absolutely. So your grandfather started the business. So how did how did he start the business?

SPEAKER_00 14:44

How how did that come about? My my uncle jokes that says he started the business through starvation. And uh, you know, to to to talk about you know what hardships I had, I didn't have any hardships compared to them. I not it's not even wasn't even close. And uh uh and they he was worth three hundred dollars in 1914. He was strong, he was starving to death. His sister loaned him fifty dollars to get back up uh to uh Elkart, Indiana. He was teaching school in um what is now uh Lamar University. And uh so he but they didn't pay teachers well then as well as now. And so he got back to Elkhart and the only thing open on a Saturday was a lumber yard. And he went in there and he got a job selling lumber. He didn't know anything about lumber, but he was desperate. So he worked whenever and whatever they wanted him to do. And he learned the business, he got a better job in Memphis, Tennessee, uh, and he worked there uh twelve years, Nikki Brothers, which was a relatively large company at the time, owned 300,000 acres of land uh and had um several sawmills, and he sold the lumber for that for about 10 years, saved every nickel, but knew he was never gonna run the business because it was Nikki Brothers, and so the brothers were gonna run the business and he was gonna be the he had he had hit the glass ceiling. So he bought a run-down uh sawmill in Alexander, Louisiana, uh that was in receivership, and so he's that's how he started. And he didn't know anything how to run run the mill, so he hired somebody to go be his partner to do that. So that's how we got into business. What year was that? That was 1923. So we have a we're 102 years old. And we're barely 102 years old because there were several times like the twenties, the roaring twenties were great for him, but the depression almost broke 'em. I have letters from him in 1933 begging the bondholders to skip interest uh payments so that we he could pay his workers and bylaws. And it's just the the the desperation you hear in those letters was something that impacted me and would serve me later when I went into the Great Recession, which was a depression for the lumber and panel business. Also in in 1944, I discovered this uh serendipitously uh by going through some of the old minutes that Roy O'Martin Sr. actually got his board of directors to approve a plan of liquidation over a three-year period in 1944. It's in the town talk. They my uncle, my uncle Ellis, who was 26 years old at the time, by himself running the Castor Sawmill, was appointed liquidator. And a month later, he declined to resign, saying, I want to tough this out. He had the grit and the faith and the determination to make that business work and not just sell it off and distribute the money. An incredible story uh of grit. Absolutely. Uh and then fast forward in 1973, Ellis then was faced with uh estate taxes that he didn't know what to do with and so he planned on taking the company public. Thank goodness he didn't we did not do that. We would be completely different or non-existent now. And uh but in 1973 they had a they went to the red herring phase of uh an IPO, I guess you call it at the time. Yeah, but they pulled back because the market crashed and they never went back. Back in the high inflation, seven years of the seven. Right. So those three uh those three things were decision points that were the saving of Royal Martin uh in those three things. And then then the Great Recession in 2007. Yes was that was my uh my uh uh problem to have because they never had my grandfather had that bad of a market in the 30s, my dad never did, my uncle never did. We had the worst market imaginable. That fifty-three percent of our business disappeared over a two-year period in North America. He ran straight through. We because we had timber and we had our own timber land, and we were sort of prepared for that great reckoning that we were able to survive.

unknown 19:20

Incredible.

SPEAKER_00 19:21

And some good uh business investments that we had made previously. So when did y'all start acquiring land? So when did the 1929 is the first? My grandfather had acquired 250,000 acres by the time he retired in 1962. My dad and uncle got another, we were up to 340,000 acres by the time they retired, and then I bought up to 500 and uh it was five hundred and seventy thousand acres. Now we're five hundred and fifty because I've divested some of the hardwood property.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

So um And did I hear that right correctly? Y'all are the largest landowner, private landowner in the state of Louisiana.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

Yes, we're the largest private landowner in the state of Louisiana. JP Morgan says we're 28th in the country. Okay. Yes. Now I see the SpaceX guy want to buy 550,000 acres of swamp land, but that doesn't count because most of it's underwater. Put a data center in the swamp somewhere. Is that what I think I think he's gonna put a rocket launcher in the swamp.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

In the swamp. That'd be it's SpaceX. That'd be very changing. Just amazing story, Roy. I mean, if y'all consider writing a book about your family's we have two books.

SPEAKER_00 20:26

Oh, is that okay? We have a book from 1923 to 2004, then we have another uh book that goes from 2004 to 2014, and I am very, very slowly working on a 2014 to 2026. Great. I can't stop because we keep doing things that are good, and I wanna I wanna uh memorialize that in our book.

SPEAKER_01 20:51

Yeah, well when you get that done, come back, we'll talk about the book and promote the book for you.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

Yeah, now my cousin wrote a very, very interesting uh children's book. And uh uh so that's out that's out on there. I forgot it's called Harvey or something like that. It's got a little about her little dog that passed away about two years ago. So she wrote a children's book. So we do have writers. Yes, absolutely. My my my cousin-in-law uh uh Maggie Martin's PhD in English. So she helped she helped me, she helped me a lot write uh write letters.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

Yeah, that's interesting. I'll have to I have to pick that up. I didn't realize that was out there. So um so tell us about where Royal Martin Company's going in the future. You know, we're sitting here in 2026, and you know, the world's changed a lot in the last hundred years. That's right. Uh so where where do we go from here?

SPEAKER_00 21:37

Where you know, you look at you look at the way mom and dad, uh my mom and dad uh positioned themselves with you know uh getting into hardwood, getting into pine uh with the same mill, which was unheard of at that point in time in the sixties. And my dad modernized our sawmill in the sixties and made it more efficient, and we went we had a small log mill. And uh they eventually sold that to Louisiana Pacific. But looking at that model, we wanted to have the most modern plants in North America, and we do. We have spent a lot of money modernizing everything for the future. And how many plants do you have? How many have three facilities? Okay. We have two Orient Strandboard plants in Texas, in Corrigan, Texas. That is the largest complex in North America for Orient Strandboard. We have a large OSB plant, the most efficient in North America, demonstrably, uh in Oakdale, Louisiana. And we have the largest uh plywood plant in North America and the safest plywood plant, I might add, uh, in uh Chopin, Louisiana in our corporate headquarters. Yes. We're out of the retail business. We used to have 14 retail yards. When Home Depot and Lowe's came in, that kind of got sold. Yeah. And uh, but we and we are no longer in the lumber business. We don't cut pine lumber or hardwood lumber anymore. I I switched to panels. Okay. That's that's better for us and and timbers initially. Yeah. Now we have also been in the um in the oiling uh natural gas exploration and production business, EMP business, with indigo natural resources that we formed in 2006 with a great management team out of Houston, since I definitely did not know how to drill our oil with uh and uh private equity. And so we sold that to Southwestern in 2021. Okay. And and uh we have always been a pipeline constructor too. So that's very unusual for a timber company to do that. But uh with all your land and just isn't it? Our land, yeah. So I take just a right-away, let's just build a pipeline too. So we're in the doubt with another private equity group that knows what they're doing.

SPEAKER_01 23:42

So any future developments of future product lines, anything like that down the road?

SPEAKER_00 23:46

We are kind of trying to remake how plywood is made and uh going away from the extreme manual uh lines to a more uh productive lines using you know automation robots, AI uh to see uh defects in plywood and repair them. Uh we're also uh have we developed uh different uh products with through with the Willamette Valley for concrete form. Another very exciting product. Uh we're not but I'm excited about it because everybody uh has to have uh some form to pour plywood, uh to pour excuse me, to pour concrete in. Yes. And so we have a we have a system that will last a lot longer than what is available. So we're very excited about that. And that's a uh that's a capital expenditure going on right now at Shopin. Yeah. So you got a lot of balls in there.

SPEAKER_01 24:39

So I now did I hear recently. So what's this about retirement or stepping down? Yeah, leadership.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

I was CEO since early 2016. Yes. And uh with my group, I had to get out of the way, is my way I say it. So that the horses gotta run. Let them let them lead. Now we were had our best, we've had our best 10 years, I'll say, over the last uh during that 10-year tenure, we've grown very, very well um and um profitable, and our charitable contributions have gone up a good minute too. So that's that's the name of the game. Absolutely right there. And so so the future for us looks very bright. We have great people. Uh, we have a great family. Now we do not have that brother-to-brother dissension anymore. That that's gone. And so our family, we have we've worked very hard over the last 25 years to have our uh family counsel for the shareholders and a lot of transparency, really nice shareholder meetings and nice places that they can come and intermingle with good speakers and and a lot of input to that. We have a fantastic board of directors with five shareholders and uh and uh four professionals. Yeah. So we have outside influence on our company, and they realize how how we value our riches uh values, they're respect, integrity, commitment, honesty, excellence, and stewardship. And those are the things that drive our decisions.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

Great, great. And so that leads me to my next question that you know, most small business or family-owned businesses don't survive like the second generation, where you are now going on like the fourth generation, correct? I mean, oh yeah, we've got well, I had sixth generation babies, and then in our last year, I was more last week. So how and so it sounds like there's some intentionality there, you know.

SPEAKER_00 26:32

Yes, yes. We want them to be pouring into future family members, things like that. So talk about one great thing. Well, our third generation is old like me. I'm I'll be 66 next month. So uh we are we are phasing out, shall we say? They're 21, they're they're they're 21 of us. There's uh used to be 40, now 38 in the fourth generation. They are very highly educated. They are all good educated people, and they're ready to take over. And and they uh we have um we only have two of us on the third generation in the on the board of directors. You know, we have the rest of them are fourth generation.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

And that's just interesting how that's not statistically, as you know, other small businesses, family-owned businesses very rarely get past the second.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

I I read somewhere where I can't prove it this is true, but only 0.15 percent of all businesses survive a hundred years and are private. I believe. Like Cargill and John Deere. Yes. And John Deere is really public. They have a they have a lot of ownership in um in family, but they're still I believe that.

SPEAKER_01 27:40

And so how do you instill that just you know, just because I work with a lot of small businesses myself, and it's hard to transfer that uh that passion that your grandfather had for building your business, your father you've had for building the business. How do you transfer that passion from one generation to the next? Because they didn't build it. Now they're caretakers of it, right? So they're caretakers, they got to take it in the future.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

How do you instill that in something? Well, now some of the uh the Maserati, you know, is a family business, and I don't make something that interesting. I make oriented strand board. That is boring.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

But everybody needs it.

SPEAKER_00 28:15

Not everybody needs a Maserati. Right, right. But that's a lot more interesting than a deal. And uh, but yeah, and you say that we're look look at our we're we happen to make oriented strand board and plywood and timbers. We could make anything. And so we were a timber company that happened to have manufacturing. In fact, that those things kind of swap back and forth because my grandfather had a manufacturing facility, even though it was a miserable little rat-infested thing uh that was probably incredibly unsafe back then. And then he started buying land, so then they became a timber company with manufacturing. So that went on for about 60 years. And with when Johnny and I came on, uh, the leadership, uh, we more or less transformed it into a a manufacturing company with a lot of timber land. So now that's where we are now, and a lot of different diverse uh businesses that we've been that you can. Like forestry services. That's a growing business for us. Hey, we we grow trees really, really well. Let's transfer that knowledge to other smaller landowners that can't do that. So we've we've expanded way off into um uh the the the uh the distant land of East Texas, North Louisiana, and all that. Where that that business is growing. Of course, the pipeline business is big and so is the EMP. We also have a uh 10% ownership in um Central U Louisiana Surgical Hospital. Okay, and that connects to something else very rare about us. We have a medical home for our employees. I have a doctor, three nurse practitioners, nine RNs, two LPNs, and a pharmacy with a pharma D and a pharmatech, and that saves my people a lot of money because we buy drugs wholesale, we don't mark them up, and they get the benefit of it. Yes, I've heard all about that. I just it's it's a great thing, and and it's something that um that's a that literally is a godsend because I had absolutely no idea what I was doing to go into that. I was uh I had uh Brian Elkins, our running partner, yes, that I talked into coming to work for us and building this thing out. So God puts people in my direction to do things that He wants me to do.

SPEAKER_01 30:38

Which is a great segue into my next question. You know, just you can't go anywhere in central Louisiana, talk to somebody that works for Royal Martin and doesn't say, just brag about how y'all invest in your people. How between the profit sharing plans, between what you're just talking about, the health care that you've designed for them. So talk to us about that was that just a part of your culture that always existed? Is that something that just came over in the last couple of decades where you say we have to invest in our people?

SPEAKER_00 31:07

Talk to talk to us about kind of how that's well you know, obviously 1923, yes, 1953. There nobody ever thought about that. Yeah. Maybe Ford Motor Company, you know, um, would um would uh invest in health care for the people. That was a foreign deal. But just every way you invest in your employees. Right. Back in 1956, my grandfather got the notion to have a profit sharing plan to incite better production and safer and that kind of stuff. They had a they had some goofy slogans about uh safety pays and dollars and hams back in then. And so you got a five-dollar bill and a ham if you work safely all year. And I guess that was a big deal because it, you know, it was yeah, uh we have a little better slogans than that. Yes, and a lot more dollars. A lot more um structural uh safety devices that uh that keep people safe because we you know we pride ourselves on being the lowest um or the best safety record in in the industry. Yes. Uh but that's one thing, that's one primary employee benefit is we are safe. We focus that very, very well. We call it I believe in zero is the mantra now, and uh that means that we want to have zero accidents across the whole line. We haven't we've achieved that in some in some plants, um, which is kind of amazing that you have no recordable, which means you can't have a cut that requires a stitch, you know, anything like that. So that's crazy. Um it's good. And um it it all has to do with being a people first company. And so we want our people to succeed as well as we succeed. Because um you know, the proverb is uh don't you know uh people take offense at this a little bit, but don't muzzle an ox while it's treading. What that means is is let the ox eat while he's doing the work. Yes. And so we want to not that our people are oxen, yes, but we want them to have a great standard of living. Yeah. And so through profit sharing, we have a we have the most generous profit sharing this side of history. I can believe it. I can believe it. You know, for a lot of people, and we have an incredibly affordable medical home uh system and uh with Blue Cross Blue Shield as the as the uh uh TPA basically. Yeah, it is the envy of every employee at JP Morgan because they tried and they they're not even close because we look at primary and preventative care first. Yeah, come get your vaccine for free. Let's get your flu shot for free. The clinic is open 40 hours, you know, 40 hours a week. You can bring your children in anytime without an appointment, you get access. The key is access.

SPEAKER_01 33:53

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 33:54

You know, a lot of our our plans have insurance, but you don't have access to it. Exactly, exactly. And that's the same thing in England with uh government-run health care, is you have you can everything's covered except you can't get access, exactly. Yeah, exactly. If you have the flu, you gotta wait six months. Exactly. Well, that doesn't do you. Yes. So we've common sense made us be patient uh centric on our medical home, and that's that's paid tremendous dividends. We have I think we're forty-three percent of the cost of large manufacturers in the South. Amazing. So not only, you know, you do the right thing, yeah, hey, it works economically as well. Yes, yeah, because I know it's not cheap. I mean, people respond to that. People respond to that. They say, you know, this company is taking care of me, I'm gonna take care of them. Yes. I'm gonna show them what they're doing wrong with this process, how they can do it better. And we listen to that, we implement that, and nothing is you can see the pride in their eyes when their idea made a difference and won themselves some money with the innovation award that we give every year. So that's that's something great. Yeah, that's that's that way. And um also vacation benefits. Um uh Laura uh had a lot of influence on me. Uh my daughter, uh, who's a licensed architect in Tennessee, my children are very educated as well. My son is a um engineer MBA and he works for a large uh uh uh petrochemical construction company in Baton Rouge. He didn't want to live in Alexander. She didn't want to live in Alexander. So that then and that's okay. You know, they're they're contributing members of society. Yes, yes, yes. But uh she said, look, you've got to figure out a way to uh to have uh paid family leave. And I went, well, and at that time it was uh the talk of of everybody. So how are we gonna do that? How are we gonna afford that? Well, so I did it. I just started uh paying uh uh short-term disability for everybody, and it's worked out fine. It's worked out fine.

SPEAKER_01 36:02

Yes. So obviously you're holding on to people for long periods of time. I mean, anytime I talk to somebody, they've been with Royal Martin 20 years, 30 years, 40 years. And so have any statistics on that, on longevity of your employees, on how many people stick around, what percentage sticky.

SPEAKER_00 36:18

Our average age is about 45, and tenure is uh uh tenure is above fifteen years. And how does that compare to that? Now we have a lot of people that are 25 and 40 years because we have another uh unique benefit that everyone thinks I am totally crazy for keeping, and that is post-retirement medical benefit. So if you've worked for me for 25 years, you're covered as an employee for the rest. My employees only pay like $15 a week. $15 every two weeks uh for their health insurance for themselves. I cover 94 or 5% of it. But you're covering them for life if they're covering them for life. Yes. And then they also have their spouse for life, and I and I pay for the uh Part C uh medic Medicare Advantage so that that basically they don't have gaps and holes in their coverage. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 37:11

Because they've given they've given their life's work to you.

SPEAKER_00 37:13

They've given their life's work to you, and I'm telling you, it works. Yes. No statistician would ever believe it works, but it works because we've already invested in them on primary and preventative care, and so they are healthier retirees, which is a lot better uh quality of life than a lot of times. Yeah, than a lot of people. Yes. So it works. Wow. When you take care of your people, they'll take care of you.

SPEAKER_01 37:38

Yes, yes. Well, amazing. Y'all, y'all definitely do that. And so uh so let's talk about uh y'all's company, y'all's family's investment in the community. Okay. Uh y'all are just known for your just charitable work. I mean, just all across all across Louisiana, but I know specifically you're in central Louisiana, what an impact. So again, talk to us about kind of how that I mean, it probably didn't exist from day one because they didn't have the the funds to do that, but where where where do you kind of feel like your place is in investing in our community?

SPEAKER_00 38:08

Second Corinthians 9, 7. Uh God loves a cheerful giver. Boy, I read that 3,000 times. You know, and um we got the verse right. Yeah, uh, and and that is and and uh another one is Luke 12, 47 is to whom much is given, much is required. And so you take those two things together, be cheerful and do a lot is what God's telling you to do.

SPEAKER_02 38:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:35

And are you not gonna trust God? It's right there. He says it. If you're sick, I'm gonna I'm gonna give you the assets to be successful. Let me see what you do with it. Yes. What did Nebuchadnezzar do with it? Yeah, it was a lot of pain, right? Exactly. He became prideful because he thought he could do everything. Yeah, and every time you think that you can do everything, that's when you fail. And um, so lean not into your own understanding. So God gives us has blessed us so tremendously with with uh with assets and no and no real. We've had some a couple of tragedies on young people in our fourth generation, but my grandmother, who lived to be 103 years old, never saw one of her descendants die. That is crazy. That is she had a bunch of descendants. So you think about that, uh that that's a blessing. Yes, that you don't have to go through that. Yes. And God's angels have been around us and my family that we haven't had to endure that type of that type of thing. Now we're all getting old and everybody dies. Yeah, that's yes, yes, but nothing like nothing like a lot of families, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:44

Yeah. And y'all have a foundation, the Roy Martin family foundation that gives charity. It's not really a foundation.

SPEAKER_00 39:51

Okay, it is it is not a 501c3. Okay. That's way too crazy. Yes. Um and we just it's just corporate money. Yeah. We just call it Martin Foundation Institute. And are there specific causes? So then not everybody calls it. Exactly. Exactly. We do have a charitable committee that's made up of um elected uh uh individuals out of our shareholders and non-shareholders and and their spouses. Great idea. So we uh uh we include the spouses in our shareholder meetings, uh and um then uh so that they they don't feel isolated.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

Are there certain initiatives that y'all are passionate about? Like certain initiatives.

SPEAKER_00 40:28

Education probably is is one uh uh feeding people. Yeah. You know, food bank, yeah, uh, you know, the harvest, uh those those type of charities. Salvation Army does that. We built a uh homeless shelter here and a in a kitchen for the Salvation Army, and that we did not have one here for homeless women or homeless families. It was they had to send them to Lafayette and or to Monroe, and I, you know, we just took it upon ourselves to do that. Yes. And uh so that's that's one big thing we have on on Murray Street. Yes there. Uh and LSUA. Yes, uh we've been behind them. We've been high behind LSU, we've been behind Louisiana Tech, the uh forestry uh uh innovations lab. We're the lead gift on that at Louisiana Tech. Yes, yes, and so and we have about oh, the other benefit we have that's that I think is very popular is we have a $3,000 per semester scholarship. We're the last, though. If you have uh you know $32 in your ACT and you have 15 scholarships, we're not just gonna give you $3,000 a semester, but we'll pay for books and stuff like that. But um or some books.

SPEAKER_01 41:41

Um only a $32, right? So that's well, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 41:45

I mean, there are a lot of people that don't have that. They have some tops, not all, but we'll cover that. That's great. But we have about 140 students on scholarship to public universities in Louisiana and in uh and in Texas.

SPEAKER_01 41:58

And that's for your employees as well, right? So that's that's where you're speaking of employees, yes.

SPEAKER_00 42:02

Employees and their children mostly for their children. Incredible. We do we do give scholarships to Louisiana uh Christian University. Incredible. I said that right. Incredible. So yeah, those are those are great things, and that helps them uh build their life better.

SPEAKER_01 42:17

Yes, yes, yes. Well, Roy, I mean your your impact, your family's impact on Central Louisiana, like I said, Louisiana, really all across probably southern United States for sure, is be felt throughout eternity. And and I know here at Calvary, you know, like I mentioned before, you're not just giving money, uh you're giving your time, your effort, your years of work on those committees to build these awesome buildings that we have here. I've worked on a few of those with you. And uh just you're not somebody that just writes a check. You get in there and get your hands dirty. And so I for one I want to see what you're doing. But I'm very thankful for you, and I know our church is greatly indebted to you, just of all your work, all your blood, sweat, and tears for for our facilities, working on our facilities all these years. Oh, it's been a huge blessing for us and my children. So it's uh sure. Uh so under the leadership of uh John Alley and then David Brooks and now Todd Strain. And uh so you're as you walked in this door, I was like, your fingerprints are all over this, all over this facility.

SPEAKER_00 43:16

Yeah, but I am so pleased of the two that you know, and and Jeremy um have just really taken the reins of this church tremendously. And for us to set that foundation and they just run with it, just gives me so much satisfaction. Absolutely. You know, absolutely you know, and and they also work, we also have another benefit called Marketplace Ministries in our company. And so we have we hire pastors that are part of an organization in in uh Dallas, a marketplace ministry, we've been doing that for 30 years now. And uh so we have 14 or 15 pastors or lay pastors that go around and see each one of our employees at least. Once a week. And they have counseling and spiritual. They have Sunday school in the in the in the plants. And we have a lot of lay leaders in the plants that that and that shoot emails all over the place constantly. Yes. So we're non-denominational. You know, we have they they can they can uh help uh Jewish families, Muslim families, or Hindu.

SPEAKER_01 44:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:23

Uh and they they do have access to that.

SPEAKER_01 44:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 44:26

Uh, but they're a Christian organization and we're a Christian company. Yeah. And so that's kind of our mission field. So when you look at manufacturing, we have 1,450 employees. You know, the Louisiana Department, if you can all development says a manufacturing job creates seven other jobs. So when you take 1450 times seven, you're right at 10,000 times four to a family. Yes. You know, you're you're right at fifty, you know, ten thousand something or some change, you're almost forty-five thousand people that we impact directly. And then you got a lot of indirect. So that's our mission field. Yeah. Our mission field is central Louisiana and each and around the corner area.

SPEAKER_01 45:06

And you put you put the stake in the ground early because that's been in your entire tenure as leadership of this company as a market brace ministries. And that's just the eternal impact. Not yours not making an impact on them economically. It's a spiritual impact, which will obviously it's just about eternity.

SPEAKER_00 45:23

We care. That's Orbato. We care. Yes. So whatever you whatever, and we have um uh we have counselors that we provide uh six sessions for free, uh, especially during COVID, that was absolutely necessary for all these teenagers that had such tremendous issues being so isolated. Yes. And social media just beating them to pieces. Yes, yes. And it was just terrible to watch. Yes. We also had a unfortunately I had a first row seat to how isolation just destroys those kids. Absolutely. Hopefully, you never do that again.

SPEAKER_01 45:59

Absolutely. So what would you say to the guy that's listening to this? Maybe he has a small business, owns a small business, works for another company. You know, obviously you've integrated your faith into your workplace. Right. And that without, and I know you, it's not you're not waving a Bible around every time you go to work, but it's in all these things you're doing to take care of people, the marketplace ministry. So what would you say to somebody that's in a small business? How can they make a difference internally in people's lives?

SPEAKER_00 46:26

You can preach to everybody with your actions. You know, they know they can see there's something different about you. You're happier, you're more content, your family's happier. There's something different about that man or woman. What is it? You can create that curiosity in somebody that doesn't have that. And so that's how you can you can preach without preaching. Yes. And being kind. You know, um if you're a small business, do something extra. You're not gonna regret it. You're not gonna go broke because you gave somebody a Christmas bonus. You're just not. Yes. And so uh that's the if you have that mentality, there's something else that's gonna give you. Yes. There's some bad decisions you make it. Exactly. So it's not gonna be that Christmas. And so uh that means a lot to a lot of people. Yes, yes. Uh that would be my advice in a nutshell.

SPEAKER_01 47:22

Absolutely. Um let's talk about before we move on to another topic, uh, before I forget, uh, what about the legacy of Johnny Martin? What would you have to say about Johnny Martin, you know, and his legacy? I know he had a great legacy at this church as well. Absolutely. He built y'all's company and y'all's family.

SPEAKER_00 47:38

He was the um in fact, he was the one that said, Roy, you got in on in on the construction committee because I'm tired of doing it now. Um I was actually chairman for 20 years, which is kind of crazy. But he was involved. Uh he was the chairman, I think he was the chairman, or he was heavily involved in the education building when we first did. So Calvary built the sanctuary first and then put everybody in trailers for everything else. Education, yeah. So uh but that was okay. It all worked. And uh he built that three-story education building. Yes, or he was uh involved with that. I think it opened in 1989, maybe about three years after they came out to that here, yeah. Three or four years. Yeah. Well, it was more than they came here in 82, didn't they? So it's seven years. But anyway, they opened the education building and he was uh integral part of that. Yes, yeah. Uh and uh they they have established uh MBA program at uh Louisiana Christian University. Yes. Uh you know, Johnny and I were, you know, uh responsible for the uh gifts to uh the business school at LSU and uh in the in basically engineering school there. Um I guess I was more in the engineering cycle than he was.

SPEAKER_01 48:49

But um, but what kind of man was he? What what kind of guy do you ever hear in your ear? He was everybody's best friend.

SPEAKER_00 48:55

Everybody's best friend. Yeah. He could be uh, you know, you didn't want to get on his bad side. No. You know, no doubt about that. And you know, when I was first there as a when I got out there when I was 23 years old, you know, he was he had expectations of 23-year-olds that I wasn't ready to meet yet. Yeah. So there were uh there were there was some there was some you know history there. Um but yeah, Johnny was uh loved the Lord and uh he was uh uh very dedicated to being the best absolutely everything.

SPEAKER_01 49:33

So which you saw is what you got, right? So I mean he was of no nonsense. No nonsense. He was gonna tell you like it is. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 49:39

That's right. He was uh he did not smooth anything over. He would not have been a good diplomat to a different country.

SPEAKER_01 49:47

But helping run a company was right in his lane, absolutely. Um Okay, so um we talked about the business, uh, talked a little bit about your faith. Um so you know, we often talk about on this podcast and at the quest all the time that that guys, when you're born, we just have a target on our back because our enemy knows that if he can take out the guy in the family, he's got the family. Yeah. And so there's a huge target on our back from the very beginning of leading a family, leading a company, leading others. Um how what kind of boundaries have you put in your life over the years just to kind of help you resist temptation? You know, because again, there's targets on your back. I saw that question.

SPEAKER_00 50:26

So how what kind of things have you done in your life to Well look listen to Billy Graham and I think Billy Graham gave some great advice. And then, you know, he said he said there's some sins that you resist, and there are some sins that you flee from. One of them is sexual immorality that you flee from. So don't put yourself in that position to be tempted. Yes, you know, don't go to dinner by yourself with a female uh companion. Uh don't just don't do that. Yeah. And you never will have to worry about that. I take Kathy almost everywhere. I drag her to everything, and she goes, she she's glad she went, but she doesn't want to go at first. But anyway, she she is um she gets over-socialized for sure. But uh, but she is with me almost every business trip I'm on. Uh that's that's great. And that's intentional, right?

SPEAKER_01 51:21

That's an intentional.

SPEAKER_00 51:22

Intentional. Yes. And just um it it that's that's a that that's a big one. Um do your business honestly, regardless of the cost, because it's gonna cost you sometimes. You're gonna miss some opportunities by being honest. Yes. And but you know who's in charge is do be obedient and see what happens. Yes, yes. Good things will happen. Absolutely. Don't lie, don't cheat. Absolutely. You know, leave some meat on the bone, as they say, with with some of your business deals, and you will have a better reputation and you will have more uh more things. Yeah. And I've seen that uh I have seen that in my life more times than not that something good happened because of something I didn't do before. Interesting. It's connected. Yes. The other thing is God, if you're obedient, God's going to put ideas in your head that are really, really good that you didn't think of. Now, what are you talking about? That's are you trying to trying to say you dream them? Yep. Holy Spirit getting involved there. There are things that I have done that have worked out extremely well that I know I didn't think of. They they were inspirations.

SPEAKER_02 52:43

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 52:44

Now you oh no, no, you did that. You thought of that. Not really. There are inspirations that the Holy Spirit puts in your head that really work. Well, yes, in fact, they work every time they're trying.

SPEAKER_01 52:56

Because God knew that you were gonna be a good steward of those as well.

SPEAKER_00 53:00

Those decision points.

SPEAKER_01 53:01

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 53:01

Like during the during the Great Recession, there are things we did that worked out that were not exactly what an expert would say. And so uh I I didn't think of them, but they worked. You know, building indigo, building uh uh that that uh pipeline business and all that that happened to coincide with some really dark times in our business, and that came up. You say, Well, that's diversification. Well, maybe, but who started that seed back then, and who, when you walk into New York City as a as a hick from Louisiana, it's it's that confidence, uh, it's the peace that passes understanding. Yes. Yes. And that's the thing that, you know, Philippians 4, 6. That's the thing. When you walk into something like that, you have that peace. They think it's confidence, it's Christian.

SPEAKER_01 53:56

Amazing. Well, I hope y'all here heard that just now. He talked about uh sexual temptation, he talked about being honest financially, uh, and those were all things out of Billy Graham's. We talk about the Modesto Manifesto. I don't know if you ever heard of that, but it was uh it was a conference that Billy Graham had with his leadership team in Modesto, California back in the 50s, and he basically said, we're gonna lay out some guidelines for this ministry. And it was financial guidelines, it was avoiding sexual temptation, that he was never alone with another woman. Right. Uh it was pride things. We're not gonna overinflate our numbers for our uh for our crusades. It was um it was financial that he was just gonna take a salary from the ministry, he was never gonna take any of profits above and beyond just his salary. So he kind of created those guidelines and you just hit on just about every every one of them.

SPEAKER_00 54:46

Well, the the seven habits that well it the seven habits of of successful people, that's a good book. But the seven, what was it? I'm sorry, the um The Leadership Lessons of Jesus Christ. That's a book that everybody ought to read, whether you're gonna be uh in charge or not. Yes. That is that is a great book. Yes. And it's biblically based and it and it expands a lot of uh a lot of scripture that uh that makes a lot of sense, like you know, don't shred, you know, don't uh muzzle knocks while it's treading. Yeah, that kind of thing. Yes. Well it's it's evident in your own. That's in the New Testament also. It comes it comes uh for what I'm gonna have to look that one up. Deuteronomy, I think. Um that that has it, and it's also a problem. Uh, but it's in the New Testament as well, First Timothy.

SPEAKER_01 55:30

Well, I can speak to, and I know there's probably hundreds and thousands of these stories, but I can speak. I think I've told you this before, but I had a a friend tell me the story years ago. Uh he didn't even know that I knew you. And we talked about Roy Martin companies and all that, and he said, Let me tell you something about Roy Martin. He said, uh he said, uh uh, he bought a piece of property for me. Um and um and and after the property was done, um he picked up the phone call. The the the it already closed, the sale had already closed, and I guess maybe a month later or whatever, but you picked up the phone and called him and said, Hey, we bought this piece of property from you, uh, but we underpaid you. Uh we did not include this other piece. I won't say who it is, but but he said we didn't include this other piece, so we we need to send you more money. And Roy, that still gives me chills to this day telling that story because it's the right thing to do. Yeah. You didn't have to do that. Uh this man, there's no telling how many times his made has told that story, but it comes down to you're doing the right thing and you're always gonna do the right thing. And so I'm not I'm just gonna brag on you on that. It's probably not the first time a Louisiana survey has come back wrong. So we can blame a survey, but I'm gonna talk about the integrity of Roy Martin. And that comes from a relationship with Jesus Christ. I mean, that comes from that relationship. And so Well, you're not gonna go broke doing that. Yes, absolutely. No. Um so um guardrails. Yes, and so guardrails in your life, obviously. Um are there people that just continue to pour into your life today uh spiritually? The things you can balance, there's people that can grab Roy Martin and say, Yeah, I think we need to be going this direction or that direction, or in your personal life, do you have men around you that pour into you spiritually? Or wives. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 57:16

My wife definitely is uh great um she's not a theologian, but but she she knows how to how to be a spiritual woman. Yeah. And so she's she's gonna keep you on the right track. You know, you got David Brooks, who's always been a spiritual um mentor of mine. Uh I think Todd's done a great job. Yes, he and I don't interact a lot, but but uh but David Brooks and I did, and Jumpin' Alley back back in the day. Yes, yes. Um but uh that um and I and I read some good, you know, Franklin Graham and uh Billy Graham, the old Billy Graham. Yes, yes, that that makes a big impact on me. Yes, because they it's so such good common sense kind of uh okay.

SPEAKER_01 58:00

Well we'll close up here. Just we'll do a little lightning round of a couple questions for you, real quick. Let me get my notes in. All right, so who are three people, living or dead, that you'd love to have dinner with tonight?

SPEAKER_00 58:13

There I can't narrow it down to three besides Jesus Christ. Yes. All right, uh mortals. All right, so I would love to talk to the Apostle John. What were you talking about in Revelation? Yeah, I would love to ask that question. What did you see? What's coming up? Yeah, what's the future? That was that was one. I'd like to talk to my mom and dad again, say, look at what's going on here. I'd like to talk to uh my um grandfather as well. I'd like to talk to Clarence Thomas. I'd like to talk to Ronald Reagan, you know, and ask them questions about how did they, how did, how did they, you know, Clarence Thomas is such a creek story. Yes, rags to riches. Yes. Kind of story, and so is Ronald Reagan. Yes. And uh and how did you how did you thwart being an actor and go into politics? That that's always because I never got to really I I went to his 1980 and 1984 convention. My dad was delegate, and I got to shake hands with him and never got to talk. Oh, yeah. I was 20 and 24, he didn't have anything to do with that.

SPEAKER_01 59:19

So wow, wow. Okay, so what would you like to hear from your mom and dad if you sat down and had dinner with them tonight? What would you like to hear them say?

SPEAKER_00 59:27

How am I doing? Yeah, that's the main thing. How am I doing? What what would you change, you know, and and my grandparents too on her side. You know, what would you uh you know? We got grandchildren now. You know, we're we're seven years in this grandchildren thing, and we're we're I think we're doing a good job. What's gonna happen? You know, we're gonna have five and we're we're we're probably gonna stay with five. That's what I like to ask them. I like to ask my grandfather, did you think you'd ever do this? Well, I can tell you what you think did you did you ever think that your work in 1923 when you didn't had no idea what you were doing, starting this business, was gonna come become this and look at all the people you've helped.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:17

Well, I can tell you what they'd say. They'd say, We're extremely proud of you. And uh that's what I hope my dad would say. My dad died at 57 years old, and I'd love to hear him say, Son, I'm proud of you. And I know your mom and dad will say that same thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:31

See, I only got I only I was only 33 when my mother passed away. That's probably the most tragic thing that's ever happened in my life. Uh she died of cancer in 1993, and she only got to see Laura for you know three years, and Laura doesn't ever remember her, you know. But that was uh that was really the only tragedy I had in my family. And you know it happens. And my dad died at 85. Not you know, I'd like to have had him uh longer, and but he married a wonderful woman, Benita Johnson, after two years or so after my mom died. And uh they were that was a godsend as well. So God's blessed me beyond what I deserve.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:09

Well, I I know they'd be proud. I know they are proud. Yeah, uh, just like when Jesus was baptized, yeah, you know, and and God the father said, Yeah, this is my son who I'm well pleased. Yeah, you know, that's the same thing they'd say about you. I know I do know that, Roy. And uh so who's your favorite athlete of all time? You're a big sports guy like I am.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:27

Joe Burrow. Yeah, that's it. Joe Burrow, I mean, he's my he was my hero. I got to actually talk to him a while at the work college world series in twenty twenty-three. And uh the the interesting story about that, I think it was interesting, was that uh I'm a big UP railroad uh customer. And uh it's and and they love me because I send rail cars, uh A-frame rail cars back to the Northwest. And and so fit into their gunk later for race very, very well. And uh and so they always host me when LSU goes to the College World Series. They're always open. I they say, Roy, you you're here every every day. It's not whenever you want to call it. I was in there and the governor of Nebraska came in and they were introducing me to him, and and and I said, Oh yes, and I won't name names, but you were the quarterback with Joe Burrow's father, right? Uh and he said, John Burrow. And he says, Yeah, I hadn't seen him in ten years or so. And I said, Well, would you like to see him? He's in the LSU box. So me and all his state police went over to the LSU box and I said, Hey, you're uh these guys are with me, you know, the governor's with you. So I can go anywhere he wants to, but I kind of was joking about that. But it with the entourage went in there, and those two guys, when they saw each other, it was like two brothers coming together for after all those years. Because he was the tight end and he was the quarterback, the governor's quarterback. Great story. So I we got to, and Joe Burrow was in there with his with his uh parents. Yeah. And at the time, his Joe Joe's girlfriend from Ohio, which is not his girlfriend anymore. But uh, but we got to talk to him a lot. Fine young man. He just said yes, sir, no, sir. And I no, what are you saying yes, sir, yes, sir? That's awesome. Best quarterback in the history of college. That's awesome. Here you are. You just went to the super at that time, he just gone to the super. Yes. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:31

So it's quite good. Well, that's two weeks in a row. Our last guest, Blake Shawlain, that was his favorite athlete of all time as well. Joe Burke. Yes. So we're two weeks, we're two for two in the last two weeks. So um what is your biggest fear? What's Roy Martin's biggest fear? You got you got the world by the tail. What's your what's your biggest fear?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:51

It's definitely not dying. I I'm I'm way past that. Um I wrote down when I thought of that, I said that I missed how many opportunities did I miss for God's plan. Because that's something I don't know. You never know how many stars that are in your crown that could have been. You know, what what how do you do that? You just gotta have to constantly pray about it. You know, what did I miss? Which which road should I have taken that I didn't listen? That's that's really my biggest fear that I'm gonna, you know, when I look back after I die, that this is the opportunities I could have had. Yes. You know, right in front of me. Who is I mean to that made their track go to the left instead of the right? That's that's really the fear that I have, and I I don't know how to do anything like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:49

But what a way to live. I mean, because now you're cognizant of that that I don't want to miss those opportunities. Right. And what a what a great answer.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:55

Yeah, it's um that's what we're called ditch. It's it's something that is it's impossible to achieve. Yes, but it's something that you're always fearful that you'll know when you get to heaven of all the opportunities that you miss. Yeah. And the people that you could have positively infected that you either negatively infected or you absolutely all that so but that's the only that's the the fear I have.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:23

Wow, that's a great that's a great fear though, because that's a motivating fear. That's a that's a let me look for every opportunity, everything that comes along. Let me be cognizant of how I'm reacting, how I'm treating people.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:34

So that's a that's because as I gotten older, I've gotten slower, you know, both physically and mentally, and I don't want to take on more and more and more challenges. And you know, you mentioned Paul. He didn't do that. He went right to the ink. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:51

You know, fought the good fight. Exactly. That's what we need. So finish strong. That's what that's what he was all about was finishing strong. There's no doubt. Accelerate to the finish line. So last question. So many guys are listening to this podcast, do have some women that listen to this podcast as well. But you know, they may have started out on their faith journey, but they may not be where they need to be with the Lord right now. What would you say to somebody that right now that just maybe they're not walking as close with God as they have need to be, or they heard something inspirational today? What would you say to them about saying, hey, it's okay. Now you can finish strong? What would you say to that person? How do they get to the world?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:28

Somebody that's not following God is out of the way. Yeah, yeah. Maybe they've fallen aside, fallen away. What were their next steps? My first, and I've people I've encountered like that, I said, look at what you're missing. I mean, you want to be you want to be selfish. Look at what you're missing. You are missing out on the best times of your life because God can make your life so wonderful if you just let him. That's what he wants. What what do you want for your son? You want bad things for your son or good things for your son? God wants great things for you. You just have to obey. And that that's that's that would be the first thing that I would tell somebody, or and I have told people that are astray. Yes, yes. Uh that you know, your your path is destructive. And I've been on destructive paths too. You know, I'm not gonna say that I've I've always made the right decision. I absolutely have not. And when I correct that, uh it it is to my benefit. Yeah. Yes. So that's a good icebreaker for them. And you know, some people, and I have some people in my family, uh, especially in the East Coast, shall we say, uh, that are they are humanists and that don't work. Those people are miserable because you're never satisfied. You can never get to a point of luxury, you can never get to a point of of um, I don't know, alcoholism that that's gonna make you happy.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:03

Or that brass ring you're trying to great reach for.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:05

This is not attainable. This is what I if I had this, uh it'll make me happy. That's not.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:10

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:11

Nothing will make you happy besides yourself and other people. Yes. And so get rid of those things and start reading the Bible and following the Lord. And you don't have to read all the Bible, run it first. You just have to read a few passages and you say, hey, that makes sense. So that's what I would say to people that um are climbing that corporate ladder and thinking, if I don't get this promotion, then I'm not gonna be who I need to be. Maybe God's telling you or will tell you the road. He will tell you the road. You know what? He knows the future, and you don't.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:51

Yes, yes. So what great wisdom, what great wisdom, what great stories. And uh did not disappoint. I'm so glad that you came in today, Roy. And I know we finally connected, but man, just uh just inspired by your story, inspired by your faithfulness all these years, inspired by your family, your family's investment in the people of the company that will last into eternity, just like we just talked about.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:15

Look what you've done with the Friday morning class. It's been incredible. What a great ministry.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:19

Well, well, so so thankful for a great church like this that gives us opportunities to do things like this. And just so thankful for you, Roy. So thank you so much. I appreciate it, Jay. Always. In 2 Timothy 4 7, the apostle Paul's in prison. He's in facing his impending death, and he says these words as a final reflection on his life in ministry. I've fought the good fight. I've finished the race, and I've remained faithful. Needless to say, Paul's life didn't start out strong. Persecuting and killing Christians isn't exactly the blueprint that God has for a man's life. But God had other plans. God said, I want that man. So Paul switched jerseys and made it his life's mission to spread the gospel, no matter the circumstances. He made the decision that he would never give up, he would never back down, and he made the decision that he would finish strong. So as you just heard from Roy, life's not easy, but if you're a follower of Jesus, God has said the same thing about you. I want that man. So how will you respond to that? The purpose of this podcast is not to give you just another to-do list or to heap guilt or shame on you from how you started or where you've been. The purpose of this podcast is to inspire you to action by hearing how godly men like Roy don't just make lofty goals, they make commitments. Because I think the commitments are actually greater than goals. Finish strong is a daily decision that requires a daily commitment. It's not how you start, it's how you finish.