On Fire for Jesus with Duck Royalty
WHAT IS A GOSPELER?
According to the Oxford Languages Dictionary, a Gospeler (gos-pel-er rhymes with feller or dweller) is a person who zealously teaches or professes faith in the Gospel. Willie says, “As a follower of Jesus, I believe we are all called to be Gospelers." Although he does not claim to be a Bible scholar or a pastor, he does claim to be a proclaimer of the Gospel both publicly and personally.
He began as a Gospeler in his teen years over takeout pizza and landline phones. These days he tries to share the Good News with people around him whether he is in a deer stand or a pro athlete’s hotel room because everyone needs to hear it.
GOSPEL GENEALOGY
Willie is the third son of Phil and Kay Robertson. Growing up, Kay was taught to be a good person, but she did not know what the Gospel was all about. Phil’s parents were Christians, but he rejected the faith for many years. He describes himself before Christ as a “rank heathen.” Without God in their marriage, things began to go south for their young family. After they separated, Kay became a Christian. She and her boys began going to church.
Phil’s younger sister, Jan Dasher, went to a church pastored by Bill Smith. She asked him to go to Phil’s bar (which was out of state) and have a conversation with him about the Gospel. Bill agreed to go and share the Gospel with him. After he gave it his best shot Phil replied, “I’ll keep that in mind.” Phil went back to his same old miserable lifestyle. Less than a year later, the seed that had been planted took root in Phil’s life. He made things right with Kay, became a Christian, and was even baptized. From that day on, Phil decided to share the good news of Jesus with anyone God put in his path.
Although Willie was very young when God restored his family, he does remember watching how Phil and Kay shared their faith with many people sitting at their dining room table. Willie can even remember countless people going to the river by their house and being baptized by Phil after he prayed with them.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the most important thing to their family. Willie recalled. “Not even hunting or fishing was as important to our family as the Gospel. “The lives of my siblings and their families, and all those who heard the message from Phil and Kay over these past fifty years, are forever changed because of the Good News. Changed because one man and woman acted on the Gospel.”
QUALIFIED TO SHARE THE GOSPEL
For many years, Willie was the CEO of Duck Commander. Then Duck Dynasty became quite the success, but with it also brought challenges. As the Executive Producer, he was pulled in every direction daily. Willie felt the weight of responsibility for his job, career, and his family. His faith was intact, but not burning hot as it once did. Willie was not in a good place and therefore neither was his marriage. His job and pursuit of money had shifted to the number one goal in his life. When Willie and his wife, Korie, realized they needed help they began counseling and slowly worked through their issues. During this time, Willie did not share this information with his close friends. He mostly talked to God and listened to worship music nonstop. Willie wants everyone to know that we all have baggage that could disqualify us from having a conversation with anyone about God. However, the message of the Gospel is not based on what we’ve done, but on what He’s done for us.
SHARING YOUR FAITH
Willie believes that “most people want to share their faith…but they believe that they just don’t know how.” He offers the following methods to help you share the Gospel with those around you:
• Listen to their story. Show people you care by listening to their story, but also offer hope. “Even though everyone’s story is different, Jesus has a solution for every problem,” shares Willie.
• Ask a question. In the Bible, the woman at the well shared her story after Jesus asked her for a drink of water. Then Jesus shared His story about water that springs into His gift of eternal life.
• Don’t be intimidated that you will say the wrong thing. Instead, start the conversation and go where their story leads, always pointing to Jesus as the answer.
• Don’t preach to people but have a conversation.
• Refrain from talking about how bad the world has become. Instead, talk about the hope that Jesus gives us.
• Keep sharing the gospel with someone, knowing that Jesus never gives up on us. “Aunt Jan never gave up on dad,” shares Willie.
• Don’t focus on a person’s past. We all have baggage. Willie shares the story of Ruck, a drug dealer for many years who spent time in prison. After serving his time, he always went back to what he knew, dealing drugs. When his grandmother got sick, he moved to Louisiana to help take care of her. He applied for many jobs but received no callbacks, so he was about to go back to drug dealing. Then he decided to apply at an old warehouse that sold duck calls. Duck Commander received his application and gave him a chance. The guys at work began bringing him to Bible studies and church and Ruck became a Christian. He went on to become an addiction counselor. Today, he leads a giant Celebrate Recovery group.
• Focus on what’s truly important (Jesus) instead of what’s not (religion).
He says, “The spread of the Gospel has depended on only one thing – people who love Jesus telling others about Him.” During COVID, Willie decided to become more intentional about sharing the Gospel with more people. He shared some ideas with his church and a new ministry called 99/One was formed. The idea behind this ministry was based on Matthew 18 and Luke 15 (the parable of the shepherd who left the ninety-nine sheep to find the one that was lost). The ministry was designed to help answer spiritual questions for anyone who came in to visit. Together they would go over scriptures, cover the basics of repentance, baptism, confessing Christ, and sin.
One woman who came to their meetings was always taking notes, but she never said a word and did not feel comfortable sharing her faith with others. About a month later, Willie was unable to fill in for one of the meetings on Easter Sunday, so he asked Shellie to fill in for him in case someone showed up wanting to know more about Jesus. Two people came to the meeting that day and Shellie not only shared the Gospel with them, but also baptized them. Since that day she has gone on to share her faith with many.
ABOUT WILLIE
Willie is the CEO of Duck Commander and Buck Commander and star of A&E’s Duck Dynasty. He has expanded his family companies, from a living room operation to a multi-million-dollar enterprise. Duck Commander is the best-selling duck call brand in the U.S. It, along with Buck Commander are popular trademarks on apparel, hunting gear, food items and more. Willie is executive producer of A&E’s Duck Dynasty and Buck Commander on the Outdoor Channel.
Discover more about Duck Commander and purchase Willie Robertson's book, Gospeler, here: Gospeler.