Duck Dynasty’s Al Robertson
The Duck Commander Faith and Family Bible
The reason I am drawn to the Robertsons is because they’re real. What you see is what you get.
Al Robertson has been a minister for 22+ years, and he’s known to most of you as the Beardless Bro of the Robertson Clan. He has a lot to be happy about these days; he just celebrated 30 years with his wife Lisa, and he and his father Phil Robertson served as executive editors of their current project: The Duck Commander Faith and Family Bible (#DuckDynastyAE, #Duck_Commander, #WillieBossHog, #BossHogsWife, #JaseDuckman). This translation of the Bible has 30 testimonials from Al and Phil and 125 Set Your Sights Features. It also focuses on the Robertson’s core values — Faith, Family, Fellowship, Forgiveness, and Freedom — and it includes never-released-before personal insights from Al about the struggles in earlier years of his life. Learn more here.
It’s safe to say that the Duck Commander clan has utilized every gift they’ve ever gotten from God. When Al Robertson gets to Heaven, he can honestly say, “God, I wholeheartedly used every talent You ever gave me, and I have given it all to Your kingdom.”
What has always appealed me personally — and Duck Dynasty in general — is that they are God-servers, great people, true to their heritage of country folks, they take advantage of all of their freedoms, and they always are there to lend a helping had to family and friends.
And they look for ways to encourage others, even in the little things.
For example, during my discussion with Al, he did something that meant a whole lot to me. He complimented a previous article I had written about him, and it was authentic. It was deeply encouraging — more than I could explain in words. It means a lot when somebody you admire and respect takes the time to tell you they appreciate your efforts.
I hope to one day break bread with the Robertson clan, to sit and gather in the phenomenon that God has taken and utilized in West Monroe, Louisiana, to see the Duck Commander Headquarters, and just sit back and take it all in — a Bucket List task for sure:
You published a great devotional last year; what prompted a Duck Commander Bible?
Based on that devotional we have, because it was so popular and has done so well, the guys at Thomas Nelson up there in your neck of the woods, they approached us about doing a Bible. We had never thought about doing that, but we were really excited about the possibilities. I mean Dad and I, we have about 70 years experience between the two of us, teaching and studying the word of God and obviously we have a great love for it and great passion for it. That is really how I began my ministry here at WFR. It was a teaching ministry before I went on to pastor and preach. I have always loved it. It always inspired me. I love my time I spent studying in seminary, and so the idea of putting your commentary, your thoughts, your teaching right alongside the words of God — because that is a lot different from just writing a book — it is a little bit intimidating and daunting as you realize you are doing that; but at the same time, what better thing would you rather be doing than that? That was kind of our mindset going in.
You have some personal testimonies in this book. What made you decide to share this aspect of your life?
One of the things that has been, and you can tell from the show because especially if you are a believer and like-minded, is that we are very open and authentic about who we are, so that means not all of the good stuff we have done and do, but the bad stuff because everybody has got it. It has just always kind of been a family trait, to be honest, and that started with dad [Phil Robertson], and, of course, when he did his autobiography he just laid it out here. He said, “I was a heathen for 10 years,” or “the first 28 years,” he says, but especially from college to when he was 28. So we just all take our cue off of that, and that is what we want people to know is that the Bible, foremost, is about life change and about the ability to transform, and so if we can’t be honest about who we are and some of the mistakes we have made in our own testimony, then how do we expect anyone else to think it is real. They won’t want to approach it because they see us as the good people, and the perfect people, and the people they don’t fit in with. But I always tell people if you find the perfect church don’t ever join it because you will ruin it. We are not perfect, we have one perfect Person who has ever lived and that is the One we follow.
A lot of skeptics sit and wait to uncover some dirt or a scandal about your family, and as you continue to grow bigger in popularity they never find anything. Is that all accredited to your honest mindset to always be truthful?
Oh, exactly. Well, you have to start twisting and making stuff up, which is what they mostly do. I always tell people that secrets — especially sinful things and things you are embarrassed about — you don’t want people to know about it, and all us people have that natural tendency to not want people to know. But those are time bombs in the hands of Satan. And trust me, he will explode them when it does the most damage to you and other people. So the best thing you can do is do what the bomb squad does and self-detonate, and you just take care of that by just being honest and saying, “You know what, here are some of the things I have done, and I am not proud of it, and here is why I don’t want to live that way.” Or even when you stumble and fall along the way and we all do, you will find that Satan has very few weapons if you will detonate what he would use against you. We learned that early on, and we didn’t know we were going to be famous, but boy it has served us very well. Trust me, they have done a lot of digging. But we have talked about everything that you could possibly talk about.
I have to ask: how do you feel about Sadie’s performance on Dancing With The Stars. Do you think she will win? [This interview was conducted before the finale of the show.]
We have been very proud of Sadie. Of course, you can imagine the Christian community, people are saying, she is doing what?! You know, this show, the lascivious dancing, and all of this. But I really think she has approached it the right way. Her mind-set going into it, you know, she is 17-years-old, and her deal was: I want to be a Christian, I want to share my faith, and I want to show that Christians can have fun and have an impact. Isn’t that what Christianity is all about? To show that we can have fun and be who we are. We are not of the world. She has managed to do that beautifully, and we couldn’t be more proud of her. We are all headed out to LA next week for the finals, and we will see what happens.
[Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, Sadie did not win, but she finished second and did a wonderful job on the final episode.]
