The business patriarch who rose to stardom in Duck Dynasty says he regularly baptizes men and women who learned of Christ through his popular Bible-themed podcast and that the crowds he attracts are the result of the Gospel’s power.
“I have never seen anything like it,” Phil Robertson told Christian Headlines.
Robertson and his sons Jase and Al host the Unashamed podcast, which launched in 2018 and is a combination of humor, family stories and Bible study. It was nominated this year for a K-Love Fan Award for Podcast of the Year. The awards are televised on TBN.
Robertson, 77, said he didn’t think the podcast would be popular.
“But we were told by God to go out and preach the Gospel. Jesus said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me – therefore, go and make disciples, baptizing them in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, teach them to obey everything and I’ll be with you.’ That’s what we do. So it didn’t shock us that it produced fruit. Jesus said it would. But we have to take the time and the effort to tell people the message. Love them, whether they hate us or not. We love them and we just carry on.”
The podcast was the idea of Robertson’s nephew, Zach Dasher.
“We go through the Scriptures, verse by verse and work our way through the Bible,” Dasher said. “I am surprised at how many people have reached out and shared with us how they’ve come to know Jesus through this. It’s thousands.”
Some of the podcast fans even trek to Robertson’s home church in Louisiana, where Phil Robertson himself leads an in-person Bible study and baptizes those who accept Christ.
“A lot of these people from all over the United States, they drive down every Sunday morning,” Robertson told Christian Headlines. “I’ve got a little class. All I do is preach the Gospel. … I never dreamed that many people would come.”
Baptisms take place in the church.
“It’s a little better on them when I baptize them [in the church] because I live right on the riverbank,” Robertson said, smiling. “And they don’t have to worry about alligators and cottonmouths if they just get baptized uptown.”
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Patrick Smith/Stringer
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.