
Inside the ‘Duck Dynasty’ church
WEST MONROE, La. — Gasps of excitement wash over a…
What will Phil say?
“Duck Dynasty” patriarch Phil Robertson made national headlines when he described “homosexual behavior” as sinful in a provocative interview with GQ magazine.
Inside Story | Bobby Ross Jr.
Later this month, the 67-year-old Church of Christ elder will take the stage at his first major speaking event since the A&E Network suspended him over his remarks and then quickly reinstated him.
The March 21 event is one that needs no introduction to most members of Churches of Christ: the Tulsa Workshop in Oklahoma.
“I think it’ll be memorable, and I think it’ll be rousing for sure,” said Phil’s son Alan Robertson, a fellow elder of the White’s Ferry Road Church of Christ, the family’s home congregation in this northeast Louisiana town of 13,000. “Get Dad with a houseful (of people), and it should be good.”
Alan Robertson poses with the world’s largest duck call at the Duck Commander warehouse in West Monroe, La. (PHOTO BY BOBBY ROSS JR.) But the oldest of Phil Robertson’s four sons doesn’t expect his father to dwell on the subject that caused so much media attention a few months ago.
“Reaching the World is Worth the Cost” is the title of the planned keynote that the Duck Commander and his beardless son Alan will deliver in an arena that seats 7,000 souls.
“Of course, the regular workshoppers are pumped, but his presence will draw so many from the community and surrounding areas who are searching for a new hope,” Rush said. “He will communicate the sober need to surrender to the one who paid the price.”
WHAT IS SINFUL?
“Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men,” the Duck Commander said.
Then he paraphrased 1 Corinthians 6:9: “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers — they won’t inherit the Kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.”
(A mini-controversy was stirred in Church of Christ circles when The Associated Press attended a White’s Ferry Road church service and erroneously reported nationally that “the controversy barely resonated above the organ music.” Church leaders assured dozens of concerned callers from throughout the U.S. that the congregation still sings a cappella with no instrumental accompaniment, as do most Churches of Christ.)
“Dad’s going to be real open about what the Bible says about everything, but I wouldn’t foresee him bogging down and spending a lot of time talking about that,” the beardless bro added, referring to the controversy.
But then Alan Robertson chuckled.
“Then again, it is my dad,” he said in a joking tone. “If telling my dad to be more diplomatic in his approach to saying things worked, I would have done it a long time ago.”
What will Phil say?
Stay tuned.
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