Bill Yeargin
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First Person is produced in cooperation with the Far East Broadcasting Company, who rejoice in the stories of changed lives through the power of Jesus Christ. Learn more at febc.org. So if we're going to work and we're going to spend so many waking hours somewhere, why not be part of something big? And yeah, let's build great boats and great customer service, but let's use our platform and our resources to also make a difference around the world. ♪

You've just heard the voice of Bill Yergin, CEO of a major boat building company and someone who follows Christ in his life and business. Welcome to First Person, I'm Wayne Shepherd. Bill doesn't just give lip service to his faith in Christ in the marketplace, he applies Christian principles in his company. He says that while many of his employees are not Christians, they've been impacted in a positive way by the resulting corporate culture.

Just before we meet Bill, please take note of our website, FirstPersonInterview.com, where there's a bit more information about today's guest. You can also find us at Facebook.com slash FirstPersonInterview. In addition to his role as CEO of CorrectCraft, Bill Yergin is an organizational culture evangelist who loves to share what his faith teaches him about success in business. His book is titled Faith Leap. Even more importantly, he loves to challenge Christians to know what they believe and share it faithfully with others.

In our online conversation, he told me that his faith in Christ is the most important thing in his life. Yes, absolutely. I have people ask me all the time about, you know, how do you separate your faith from what you're doing in the business world? And Wayne, I tell them I can't. It's just part of who I am. You know, I grew up in a Christian family. My faith's always been important to me, and I want to, with the Faith Leap book, you

use my business platform to expose people to faith and hopefully catalyze them to think about faith in a way they either hadn't before or wouldn't if it wasn't presented to someone they knew through the secular world. Yeah. We'll talk more about your faith and calling, Bill, but tell me about your company, CorrectCraft. CorrectCraft is a billion-dollar company. We are in the

recreational marine business. We have a number of boat companies. We have 46 companies altogether within CrackCraft. I'm the CEO of the holding company. And we build boats. We build Nautique boats, BassCat, YarkCraft, SeaArk, Centurion, Supreme, Parker, others.

And we build them all over the United States and we sell them into about 70 countries around the world, Wayne. And we also are vertically integrated. So what that means is we own our engine companies. We own our wiring harness companies. You know, we do our, we own a innovation company. We own some water parks too. So it's a, it's a great business. And sometimes we say that we're in the pursuit of happiness business, but, but

But it's so interesting, though, Wayne, even beyond just that enjoyment you have on the water, there's a lot of research that's been done that demonstrates that

That being in, on, near, or under the water is very healthy for us. Emotionally, mentally, physically, and even spiritually because it really draws, brings us to a higher place. And so we are excited about that. Being outside and on water drives creativity, innovation. So to us, it's way more than just that.

Building boats and hoping people will have fun. It's about building relationships. It's about driving creativity, innovation, making the whole world better through voting. Well, your book is sort of a combination. There's good business sense in this book, Bill. There's great apologetics in this book for the Christian faith, and there's your own personal story of faith. So tell me how does your faith enter into what you do as a CEO into your companies? Well, there's two parts to that. The first part is because it's who I am,

Every decision I make is done through the lens of my faith, my faith background. So I can't separate that. Sometimes people ask me, how do you separate that? And I can't. The second part is we have a very strong faith culture. Our mission is building boats to the glory of God. It's been our mission for 100 years, 99 years, 100 next year.

And so we provide a lot of opportunities to our team. We have, this is all voluntary. You don't have to be a Christian to work here. We've got a couple thousand employees. It's not any kind of requirement, but we do want to provide opportunities. So all of our companies have Bible studies. We do a lot of service projects.

I've taken employees, Wayne, all over the world. We've been to Cambodia, India, all across Africa and Central America and Caribbean. And we'll take, you know, a hundred employees and we'll go somewhere and we'll just transform a ministry or a nonprofit because these are people that are hard workers that want to have an impact, engineers, designers, you know, boat builders. And we can go in someplace and really have a big impact in just a few days. And so we want to use our platform for good. Yeah. And we want to,

help people however we can. Yeah. So for instance, when you have Bible studies at your company, it's all voluntary, right? Yes. Yes, sir. And what do people say who are, so to speak, on the outside of faith looking in? What do they tell you about this culture that you have at your company?

It's very interesting because, you know, with either the Bible studies or the service trips, it's all voluntary. It's very important to me that there be no pressure. You know, we want people to join us because they think it's good for them. But people will say to me, sometimes I'll be walking through one of our factories, and this has happened many times. Somebody will come up to me and they'll say, you know, I'm not into that. Sometimes they'll call it church stuff. Yeah.

But I want you to know that I really appreciate working at a company that has high values and a company that treats people right and a company that uses its platform to serve and help other people. So I may not be into the faith, which is totally fine. But.

I really appreciate working at a company that's got these values and it's a G-rated or, at worst, PG-rated atmosphere on the factory floor. It makes a difference, doesn't it? Yeah, it does. And so a lot of people have said that to me, Wayne, over the years. Yeah. And corporate culture is a big thing for you, right? You're very intentional about this culture that you've created at your companies. Yes, we are. Sometimes I call myself a culture evangelist because I've seen the impact of culture.

When I came to Correct Craft, I was the fifth CEO in five years. The company was losing money. It was just a mess. And one of the very first things that I did was I took 25 employees to Mexico to build a house for a homeless family.

Everybody thought it was a dumb idea. Everybody thought, you know, the house here is on fire. What are you doing? But, Wayne, it was a turning point for our company. And we've grown from a $40 million company in 2009 to a billion-dollar company. We had a billion last year. And that was the turning point because people realized –

hey, this is about something bigger than just building boats, what we're going to do here. And people want to be employees. You know, everybody wants to be paid fairly and get health insurance. And of course we do all that, but people want to be part of something bigger than themselves. They want to be part of something that's having an impact. And so it was a turning point for our company and it, it drives our success. You know, we're very successful company. You know, we, as I said, we do almost a billion dollars in revenue. We're profitable and culture is, is,

Really the foundation of that. You speak in business settings around the world. Is this the message that you deliver whenever you speak? Many times, yes. I've spoken hundreds of times on six continents, and people often want to hear the correct craft story. And so I actually have a presentation that I give. It's called The Economics of Culture, and it's the correct craft story. And I tell about how during World War II, while we were building military boats, the company wouldn't work on Sunday.

and the impact that that had. And I talked about the company, I went through bankruptcy because they wouldn't pay a bribe in the early 60s. So the inspector failed a bunch of boats. Then they spent 20 years paying that money back. And, you know, the company's got a very high, strong culture of, you know, of faith, of integrity. And so I tell those stories and I tell them how I believe that culture drives results.

Unless, Wayne, and this is the important part, culture drives results, including financial results, unless you put the culture in to drive the results.

And it's subtle, but if you just put in a culture of faith or serving because you think I'm going to get better financial results, people see through that. It's manipulation. And so, you know, we have the culture because we believe it's the right thing. And it just as a side benefit happens to also drive results. Yeah, that's amazing. Tell me more about these service projects. You said it started with one to Mexico, but you alluded to many others.

So, yeah, let me, I'll take you just quickly about the Mexico one. The very first one, we went to Tecate, Mexico, very, very poor community, about an hour southeast of Tijuana. And it was a very difficult situation. We slept on the desert floor. We took showers by taking lake water, pouring it over our heads, soaping up and rinsing off again with lake water. It was 109 degrees below. A few days we were there. Wow.

It was just very, I could go on and on. I write a little more about it in the book. Very difficult situation.

And we built a house and we handed the keys. It was a mother and dad and four kids. And we handed the kids. These are, there's a family that's living on the street. And when I say a house, Wayne, it was, it was not like a three bed or two bath suburban house. You know, it was basically a big shed with some rooms, but for them, it was like a mansion. So we gave him the keys. And at the end of the trip, I had everybody in the room and I said,

Tell me about this few days. And I knew it was hard. I mean, I was there. It was really hard. And people said, Wayne, I'm not exaggerating. I wish I had this on video. People said things like, that was the best few days of my life. Did you recruit just Christian employees to go? No, no, no. They're not evangelistic trips. They're service trips. We call them service trips. Okay, all right. And we go and serve. People said things like the best few days of my life. I mean, I can't wait to do this again. So since then...

We've been to Cambodia, India, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Haiti, every Central American country, the Apache Reservation here in the U.S., which has got big needs. And it changes people's lives. People will often say to me, they'll say,

You're not doing it. You shouldn't be sending people, you know, 100 people on a service trip. You just need to send them the money. It'll be a lot cheaper and more efficient. Yeah. You don't reach hearts, do you? I said, well, it would be less expensive, yes, and we can be proud of that. We can tell our employees, hey, we sent, you know, X amount of dollars to Haiti. But when you take people and they get to serve, Wayne, it changes their life.

And it changes our culture. And people here at CrackCraft know that we're about something bigger than building boats. And we're proud to build boats, but we also want to use our platform for good. And then the thing that really inspires me is that that employee will go home after the trip and they'll sit around the table and they'll tell their family about what they did in Haiti or Ethiopia or wherever we happen to be. And we're inspiring kids around that table.

And so some kid who just heard about mom or dad going on the trip then thinks, wow, I want to help you. I want to do something big with my life. And we've inspired many companies, Wayne. Many companies have told me that they've started doing local, usually local, going international is a little unusual, but have taken up service in their communities because they

They've been inspired by what they've seen us done. So I hope this doesn't sound prideful because I don't mean it that way. We just want to, it has such a big impact on our team and we know we can inspire people by doing what we do. Bill Yergin is a business executive and his love of apologetics is what we'll focus on next on First Person.

Here's Ed Cannon on a vision for FEBC's weekly podcast. The primary purpose of Until All Have Heard, of course, is to share the experience that FEBC has because we have staff on the ground in so many oppressive places. But in addition to that, we're trying to speak to you in a way that only the kind of testimonies you'll hear from around the globe can do. Discover how the gospel is making a difference around the world.

Search for Until All Have Heard on your favorite podcast platform or hear it online at febc.org. My guest is Bill Yerkin. Bill is CEO of Correct Craft, a very successful company, a holding company, as he said, and he's written a book called Faith Leap. So why do you believe that? As I mentioned earlier, it's a combination book about Bill's story, the story of Correct Craft and the company culture, and also apologetics.

Bill, apologetics are very important to you, aren't they? Yes, I grew up in a Christian family, and my dad was the best person I'd ever known, Wayne. He was just really an amazing individual, deacon in the church, volunteered for everything, was there at every event I was involved in. He got Parkinson's disease in his late 40s, lived about 15 years, and passed away young.

It was really hard, you know, on me. You know, I was a young adult at the time, and it was really hard. And I never questioned my faith, Wayne, but I did wonder why he had to go through that, because I believe God could have healed him if he chose to. And so I wonder why he had to do it. So it really started me digging into my faith and really understanding, you know, what the basis is of Christianity. And again, I never questioned my faith, but I just wanted to really understand more.

And so that led to a number of things, which eventually led to the book Faith Leap. And so I believe that it takes more faith if you dig into it and you try to learn. It takes more faith not to believe than it does to believe. So the premise of Faith Leap is that this is all the evidence. This is evidence that there's a God. This is the evidence that the God is Jesus.

And so we, there's plenty of evidence that,

but it still requires a faith leap. So it's not about a head knowledge, it's about a heart knowledge, right? And so we still have to have that faith. I mean, Satan and his demons have a head knowledge, you know, but how do we get really that faith leap? So, okay, this is all the evidence. The evidence is crystal clear that there's a God, crystal clear that it's Jesus, but he still wants us to take that faith leap. And so...

I call it a bottom shelf apologetics because anybody can pick it up. There's a lot of great, very deep apologetics books. This is not one. You cite a couple of people, Josh McDowell, one and Lee Strobel, another in your book as being influential in this area for you. So, yeah, those were writers that, um, that, you know, wrote about apologetics. And so, uh,

What I want to do is I want to take people who are either questioning their faith or people who don't understand why they should be Christians and make it just as clear as I can. And so I use at the beginning of the book, I said, this is the answer I would give. If I was on a game show and they said the contestant that best explains why Christianity is true would win a million dollars, this is what I would say.

And so I hope people enjoy it. But more importantly, I hope it really has an impact on people's faith. Yeah, I think it can be a catalyst for people in sharing their own faith. I really do, as you've written about your experience here, Bill. How do you keep fresh with the Lord? What are some of the personal habits that you have? You know, praying, reading. You know, of course, reading the Bible. You know, I love reading apologetics books.

And serving, you know, Jesus told us that we would, they would know us, you know, by our love.

And so serving is really, really important to me. It energizes me and inspires me. It gives me an opportunity to, because of my position and platform, to help other people see the benefits of serving. So that's very energizing. I read a book a few months ago that talked about being intentional. There's a lot of Christians, Wayne, that are willing to serve, are willing to help,

But don't really do it that much because they don't the opportunity just doesn't come up. Right. And so the book said, don't wait for the opportunity to come up. Go out and look for an opportunity. And that's it was really impactful for me because I think I did that. But it made me even more intentional about that because days, weeks, months could go by.

you know, I'd have a heart to help, but I just, the opportunity is. Well, in the busyness of life as an executive, you know, perhaps

perhaps the lower on your list of priorities unless you are intentional. Yeah. So, you know, I try to be intentional about the serving part and helping others. So that's really what energizes me. You mentioned your dad and his influence on your life. Who are some of your other heroes, people, mentors, I guess I'll call them? You know, I'm very fortunate to have had a lot of, you know, strong business leaders, you know, in my life. And,

that have been impactful for me. Pastors, I've had a number of wonderful pastors, all of which I consider good friends that have been in my life. But my dad is by far, I had an up-close front row seat seeing his life.

He walked the talk. He was a servant. He was happy to help anybody. As I said, he was a deacon in our church. He did anything they needed to do. And he was there at any moment.

There's nothing that my brother Doug or I did that he wasn't there being supportive. He coached our teams. He was, you know, whatever was necessary. He was really a wonderful man. So I know that not everybody gets that opportunity. And I'm very, very thankful for

that I had a man in my life like my dad who really demonstrated what it was like to be a man and to be a man of faith. Yeah, and we need people like that in our life, don't we? Yes, we do. And I talk about this sometimes. Dad wasn't flashy. He wasn't trying to draw attention to himself. He wasn't going to get up in the pulpit and just give a wonderful sermon. He was just there

to serve. And Wayne, I believe in, you know, I, and this is, um, you know, I believe for what it's worth that people like that are going to be the folks who are on the front row in heaven, you know, just the people that day after day, you know, that go by every Saturday and mow the grass at the church or somebody who for 30 years teaches that fourth grade Sunday school class. And, you know, it's, it's not necessarily going to be the people that,

I'm afraid people like me are going to be in the back. We're going to need binoculars to see those kind of people. Yeah, I understand. The Sunday school teacher who led me to the Lord was also the bus driver to take us to church. So nobody would know his name, but he's very important to me. So I get what you're saying. What kind of reaction? Well, first of all, who is this book for? Who do you intend to read this book and benefit from it, Bill? Well, it's really two groups. You know, Christians,

And there are friends and family who may be struggling with faith or people that may not yet be a Christian. Certainly, that's the broader category. But really, a narrower category is people who may respect or be willing to listen to what I have to say because of my business credentials that would never listen to a pastor.

And somebody may pick up, you know, faithfully because, oh, he's a CEO. We heard him speak at such and such place. I've heard about him. And people would pick up the book and be willing to read it. Who wouldn't, as I said, may not ever go into a church.

or may not ever pick up a Christian book. So that's my hope is, you know, I want to use the book as, you know, as a way to reach people who maybe otherwise wouldn't be open to a Christian. You are obviously following God's call on your life, Bill. Someone is listening and they're struggling with that call. They don't know what it is, or maybe they're resisting something.

or they just, you know, are lost. What is your advice to them? What should we do to find the Lord's calling and purpose for our life? That's a great question, Wayne. I think, first of all, solidifying your faith, what I'm trying to help people with, with Faith Leap, you know, start off, solidify your faith. Secondly, just get involved.

In something, if you're trying to find your call, just get involved in something. And, you know, if it's not what you're supposed to be doing, you'll figure that out and God will direct you.

don't sit back and waste days, weeks, months, or years trying to figure it out and not be doing anything. You know, Jesus was very, very clear. You know, he's told us to love God and love others, right? So how do you love God though? You say, okay, well, love others. I can help them. But how do I love God? Well, with Peter,

with Feed My Sheep, you know, the story. And also, you know, at the end, right before Jesus' ascension, Jesus taught us really clearly, I believe, that you love God by loving others. I mean, Jesus said when you fed the homeless or you visited the prisoner, right, you're serving me. I would encourage people, if you're not sure, just don't sit on, the one thing you don't want to do is sit on the sidelines and wait. Engage.

I'll bet God makes it pretty clear pretty fast once you get engaged. You've been listening to our first-person guest, Bill Yergin, explain why he is a Christian and encourages us to share our faith in Jesus Christ. Bill does that as CEO of Correct Craft Building Boats and Managing Companies, and he says that we can do that in whatever vocation God has called us to serve. Bill's book is titled Faith Leap. We'll place a link at firstpersoninterview.com.

Please thank the Far East Broadcasting Company for providing these interviews each week. FEBC is committed to the gospel message and agrees with our guests that it's the most important thing in life. If you're not familiar with FEBC, please take a few moments to learn about this broadcast ministry reaching millions of people every day through radio and digital media. Visit febc.org. Now, with thanks to my friend and producer, Joe Carlson, I'm Wayne Shepherd. Thank you for listening to First Person. ♪