‘Duck Dynasty’s’ beardless brother visits OC

By Michaela Lawson and Leah Sikes

Oklahoma Christian University’s annual lectureship kicked off last night with keynote speaker Alan Robertson, the beardless oldest son of the Robertson family from A&E’s “Duck Dynasty.”

Robertson spoke on the book of Acts in his talk titled, “And They Became His Witnesses”. The Oklahoman’s Religion Editor Carla Hinton and the Talon spoke with Robertson before his lecture on Sunday night.

Oklahoma Christian’s lectureship continues through Tuesday. The schedule for the rest of the week is viewable here.

The Oklahoman: Why did you decide to write A New Season?

Robertson: Well, we had been doing our testimony for about 10 years and we had probably been about five or six years removed from Lisa’s affair and all the really difficult things. So, we had had healing. Quickly we saw that God was going to use us for other people, just because of all the people that kept sending them to us. If someone was having trouble they said, “send them to Al and Lisa because they made it.” So we started working with folks.

We kind of put our story together in a testimony form and we did that at our Celebrate Recovery at our church. That just led one to the other, so we went around doing that. People kept saying we ought to write a book, but we were focused on doing ministry. So it kind of always was part of our plan I think. When I made the transition to Duck Commander and had a little more time to focus on things like that, then that kind of afforded itself the opportunity to finally sit down and write the book. It was really the timing that was great and we were able then, because of the popularity of the show, to sort of get it out nationally. Whereas, otherwise, people might not have known who we were.

The Oklahoman: Can you share maybe a little bit about the message that you’re going to talk about with the OC Lectureship body?

Robertson: Yeah. I’m very excited. Their theme is Opening Acts over the book of Acts, and they have some wonderful speakers and things going. So, with me, I’m kind of the kick-off guy and I am an opening act. So I’m the perfect guy to give the overview because, you know, I was the opening act for most of the family.

I’m going to be doing Acts Chapter 1 tonight. Really, just to me, the most pivotal moment in our history as Christians was when Jesus left and basically turned it over to us, and had his disciples and said, “here you go.” That’s the opening act and that’s what I’m going to be talking about tonight. It was a thrilling, exciting time in history when you read about it in Acts 2, but the beautiful thing is in 2015, all these years later, we’re still doing it. I mean, we’re still reaching people and we’re still putting it out there. So that’s what my message will be. I’ll talk a little about the family and put some stuff in there too. They could have me as just another preacher. I’ve got to do a little “Duck Dynasty” in there too and I’ll talk about Uncle Si and all that.

The Oklahoman: How are things going with “Duck Dynasty”?

Robertson: Things are going great. We just finished airing season eight. Season nine will begin fairly soon, I haven’t heard an exact date, but someone said October. We’ve already filmed it, so we know we’ve got 10 more coming. Of course, now we’re kind of into that second generation on the show because John Luke and Mary Kay got married on the last episode. It’s been interesting to see that shift of that next generation being involved now on the show. Sadie is a huge star, you know, everybody loves her. It’s going to be interesting to see where we go from there. It’s not official yet, but we’re hopeful that we’ll probably hear soon about doing more episodes, hopefully, next year. So, we’re just kind of keeping on rocking and rolling.

The Talon: What is the main takeaway from your lecture?

Robertson: Probably the main thrust of it is that this, our movement of Christianity, started out witness-based. The apostles were selected, they weren’t that smart — they were unschooled and ordinary. … These guys were chosen because they knew how to look and how to listen, and ultimately how to live — you know they didn’t know at first. … So that’s that power of looking, observing, seeing, hearing and then acting. That hasn’t changed in 2,000 years, it’s exactly what we do. We have the Bible, but even if we didn’t have the Bible, those guys didn’t have the Bible — they had the Holy Spirit. They saw Christ and knew what he was about, they knew why he came and they were told to go tell other people about it. And so I think that it’s the same for us, I think sometimes we make it more difficult than it needs to be, and I’m talking about that tonight. …

The Talon: Why is it important to be a witness?

Robertson: The main reason is because if you don’t witness, someone else won’t see it. In other words, if you’re not witnessing and sharing that, someone else won’t have the opportunity to find out what you know. So when we’re silent, my last little close-out, there’s three things — one is you can’t show and tell what you don’t see and know, so you’ve got to yourself, not only be obedient to the gospel, but then compelled by it to do something. A false witness confuses people, that’s the second thing as I close. Because everybody shows something, but if you’re showing something that you’re saying you’re a Christian, but your witness is saying something else, then all you do is confuse people. … The third thing is, don’t be stingy with God’s victories.

That is the concept of when God does something, the main reason is that you saw that and experienced that because you need to tell somebody, because they’re waiting to hear that from you. Everybody’s got somebody who is waiting to hear something from you. That’s to me the most important reason to witness because someone is waiting to hear what you know, what you experienced, what God’s done in you. And if you never tell, and if you’re never a part of that, then someone maybe will have the opportunity to never hear and never be changed.

The Talon: Why do you think your family has had such a continued, strong relationship with Oklahoma Christian?

Robertson: You know, that’s a good question. Because I guess you’re nice people because we never really had anything in Oklahoma. I met some people here, I came here years ago and spoke at a lectureship with Mike, my co-preacher, and liked it – I loved the people I met. Jase came up here and spoke at chapel, I know one time, and has good memories of that. I think it’s just like anything else – you build relationships with people.

I really respect any Christian university, I’ve spoken now at every one except for Pepperdine, but every other one that is kind of affiliated with us, with our heritage. …. We feel kind of a commitment to any institution that is trying to teach young people about how to reach people for Christ. It could be any university. I was at Harding on Wednesday this week. I like the people in Oklahoma, they’re nice people. I mean you’re living out here in this windy, dusty place, and yet, you’re nice people, so it says something about you.

The Talon: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Robertson: You guys just keep doing what you’re doing, I love it. Don’t stop.