Declining the Duck Commander

by Derek Bell

Excitement! After months of waiting, we had confirmed a fundraiser beyond anything we had experienced before. Willie Robertson, star of the hit TV show Duck Dynasty had accepted our offer to come to East Tennessee to speak on behalf of Free Will Baptist Family Ministries. We had secured a 5,200-seat arena and tickets were being sold. We were confident that we were on the way to raising nearly $100,000.

Then, in the middle of all the excitement, my dreams came splashing down around me. The Robertson family business, Duck Commander, Inc, made a business decision to partner with a wine company to market Duck Commander Wines. It was the moment every development person (fundraiser) prays will never happen.

A decision had to be made, and the questions and rationalizations began to circle in my head: “What should we do? Just ignore it? Pretend we never saw it?” “It’s not like they broke any commandments, right? They are still Christians.” “What will the people who bought tickets think of us?”

I wish I could tell you that I have achieved “Super Christian” status, that these questions were no struggle for me, that I boldly stuck out my chin and proclaimed my unwavering stance on truth and righteousness with a Bible tucked firmly under my arm. But the truth is, I wrestled with these questions and many others as I prepared to make my decision.

In the end, this was something I could not shake. You see, at FWB Family Ministries, roughly half of the young people we serve on our campus in Greeneville, Tennessee, are sent to us by the court system to go through a drug and alcohol program. How could we teach abstinence from alcohol and sponsor a fundraiser featuring someone selling wine?

Christians already have the hypocrite label as it is. Why would I want to pour fuel on that fire? I could hear the accusations of detractors wanting to tear down the church. “You preach one thing but do the opposite” or “You are just in it for the money.”

Our country and children need the Church to be consistent in its message. Sometimes, the right message isn’t the most popular message. In a society that claims truth is relative to circumstance, the Church should always stand on biblical principle and stop apologizing for it.

When we made the decision to cancel the fundraiser, the news went viral. I received requests to do interviews with Fox News, radio stations around the country, local television and radio stations, even a little homeschooled girl did a report on the subject. Most interviews wanted to pit FWB Family Ministries against the Robertson family. I told them we have no issue with the Robertson family. They have the right to make whatever business decisions they want. And when told that we were going to cancel the event, Willie Robertson understood the decision, and he didn’t have an issue with Family Ministries. Personally, I appreciated his understanding.

But we experienced something truly disappointing. It wasn’t the world that ripped our decision apart on social media; it was those claiming to be Christians! Now, I know “Christian” is a broad term today, but I couldn’t help but think, “No wonder the church has lost its power!”

No wonder the church has little influence on public opinion. God’s people lack the backbone to make a stand. If the comments I read on social media threads are representative of today’s church, it’s not surprising that the morals of our society have degraded to the lowest point in our nation’s history.

We don’t need revival. We need Romans 12:2 to wash over the church. Complete transformation is our only hope. It is sad to see Christians sit on the sidelines cheering half-heartedly for those “in the game.” Yet, those same Christians sometimes feel it their right to criticize and second-guess every decision when the pressure is on.

Please understand. I don’t advocate using the Bible as a weapon against the lost. I used to have that attitude toward the unsaved, but the Lord has convicted me and delivered me from it. But it is possible to remain compassionate toward a lost world while standing firm on biblical principles. We don’t have to be offensive to people, but we must take the offensive against sin. Pastor, lead by example, and congregation, stand with your pastor! Let’s work together in this inconsistent world to be constant—rooted and founded in the principles of the never-changing Word of God.

About the Writer: Derek Bell is director of development at Free Will Baptist Family Ministries. Learn more at www.fwbfm.com.