Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 1016 | Jase’s Son Opens up About Being a Teen in the Limelight on ‘Duck Dynasty’

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

Jase’s oldest son, Reed, opens up about what it was like to be thrust into the national limelight as a teenager when “Duck Dynasty” became a hit. Jase is proud of Reed’s spiritual growth through the last decade, and Al points out the differences in perspective between being an adult who’s responsible for a duck call business and being a carefree young man during those experiences. Reed’s recounting of his spiritual journey with the I Am Second organization is still his favorite project to date. Check out the raw and moving spiritual accounts of Reed, Phil, Jep, and many more at https://iamsecond.com! — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashame. Happy New Year, everyone. Yeah. 2025 is here. We're still recording. Our recordings are a little, you never know what's going to come out. But we're during the holiday season, New Year's.

We got Reed in the house. And Reed, this is the first time on Unashamed. It is. This is Jason's oldest, Reed, one of my favorite nephews. for a lot of different reasons. He has picked up the mantle on dad's hamburgers, but way like with the cuts of meat now, you've taken that to another level.

So anybody that cooks for me, I like him. Reed has, he has surpassed my cooking skills. He's good. Which wasn't something I really bragged about. There's a few things I do well. But that's it.

Yeah. But he went on weed. Kind of like me. I'm a specialty cooking. Let me ask you a question about the hamburgers. Oh, boy. What is, well,

we had a, we had a debate on the podcast. This wasn't a debate. It was a really good discussion until the phrase processed cheese. I will say people have come out and support Zach. I've been surprised that I've got to have some supporters. Have you looked around now? What kind of cheese to use on your cheese?

American cheese. Yeah. Process. What kind of cheese? American cheese. So Reed does it too. Oh, oh, interesting. So the American cheese debate is one we're having because people have said,

Zach has said that's what he puts on his. But let me jump in it. Reed, you've fixed those burgers and it was not, when I partook, which has only been about twice. I had them on vacation. It was Kobe Jack. Kobe Jack cheese, yeah. Which, look, all cheese.

is processed to a degree. Well, that's true. And it's all oil because you can't get too fancy with the cheese because, well, nobody likes a pretentious burger for one thing. It's a hamburger. I went to a place. That could be a bumper sticker right.

Nobody likes a pretentious burger. Zach, well, next time you want to debate, I'm going to send my son. Check out his book. I like your son. I agree with him.

You're the one, like, what's funny is your dad, he gives me a hard time for the work. I use and calls me pretentious, but he, when it comes to food, and I, you're right, nobody likes a pretentious burger. And so I make, we go proceed. I don't want to hear what you have to say about this.

Well, what's funny is, I don't even know what that means, but. No, these people putting goat cheese on a burger, you know, and peach preserves. Blue cheese. Nobody likes that crap. Right. But you just keep it simple, Colby Jack or American cheese, if they got it, you know. Well, I like Reed, because he's saying either or. You could do either.

Well, read. Keep it simple. I like Colby Jack the best because, you know, we just ate Kobe. We grew up with Dad doing the red rind just Wisconsin cheese. That's what he always cut up for us, which was excellent. It's an excellent cheese. One of the reasons that I've moved to Wisconsin is, I mean, I love cheese. Well, we just had a guy, I was down here, the guy that was doing the thing on the gun, and he brought cheese, which I'm impressed.

Anytime someone comes to visit us from Wisconsin, just bring cheese because that's one of the reasons we love it. I miss that handoff. Yeah, I think old stone kind of knifed in under there, Jays, because I saw two wheels. I just went in and took it because technically it's still kind of my house. Well, we've, I've seen, I've seen a pattern develop here. It's, we go duck hunting, and then it's like the ducks know, oh, it's time for them to leave and go do the podcast.

Because the last time we had to do a podcast, they're not. duck season. You think the ducks are listening? Some of them are maybe listening to read what happened today. What? Well, we got out there, we jumped up a bunch of ducks and we thought, okay, here we go. They were there before dark, so illegal to shoot. They were there when we got there. Yeah, yeah. But you hate jumping them out when you come in, right? And it was a lot of them. We said, let's see how many came back. We sat there for three hours and he came back. One. One. Jay missed him, which I gave him.

a hard time about it he clipped him but and then down but we it's in the day's not over yet but we have one maybe but so we get out moving the decoys because after this podcast is over you're back we're going well because of what happened tell them what happened we're standing in the decoys picking up the decoys and here come seven teal fly right over our head if i had a gun we could have shot them yeah they just they were just floating i mean right when we we've been sitting there we've been sitting there three hours looking for death seeing one duck yeah here comes seven teal so then we started the uh the mud motor and look up here's four more coming teal which teal are usually the leading edge because there's a front coming through day yep you all may can get them today

well i'm just saying we need to factor this in when doing podcast during duck season that Sounds like this message is directed at you. You're our podcast maven. Or we got to move the times around so we're not patterned by the duck. Just in case they're listening and know when we record. It's kind of weird that the moment we got out there. I mean, the moment. Well, you know what I always said?

I said that they know because every time you go to leave, something's going to come in, which is not true. It's not every time. But it is a lot of time. I think they know. I used to hunt that. bald knob wildlife sanctuary, or the sanctuary was a white post. Well, that would be against the law.

I didn't hunt the sanctuary. I hunted the refuge, but you could hunt the refuge until noon. And you would see this up in Arkansas, the ducks would come up, I mean, thousands of them. And they would fly, and I'd be right on the edge of that white fence post. And they'd fly to that fence post and turn back around. And they do that all. And then as soon as 12-0-2, when you're putting up your decontes, They are lighting into decoys.

So I think there's something. Well, I do think. Well, there is. They do figure some stuff out. I hate to poo poo on your parade. But my dad had me and a few other hands because here we have blue line sanctuaries. And even though we're pretty far from the refuge and the sanctuary, he said, here's what we're going to do. We're going to paint our lines of our property.

with blue paint. Because if ducks come down in this area, they will think this is a sanctuary. Y'all are laughing, but we painted the trees. We have a blue line on the entryway of the flyway to our property. And that was the thought. You talk about paranoia gone to the heart.

I mean, that's got Phil Robertson written all that. That's hilarious, actually. I never heard that one. Did it work? Did it work? Well, I mean, it's hard to say because it's kind of subjective. I mean, we did have our better years.

If only we could talk to the Dugs, we could ask them. So anyway. I could see a new law will be getting past. You can't paint your fence posts. You can't. That's what I was going to tell you. You should have thrown some white paint right around where you were at. Yeah.

I mean, why not? It's not a bad idea. Well, the greatest is interesting, you brought this up, and I think we've told the story before on the podcast, but the greatest fight we ever had that had legs. It went a few days. People had, there were apologies made, was over us leaving early. And it wasn't really early. We were actually there for.

I was there for that. And I was blamed, of course, because we were at that time doing business. And so, like, I just tell dad, it's like. 1230. We hadn't seen anything in a while. No, it wasn't 12. I know the story in detail, Al. I have relayed. I know, but your memory of details, as your daughter confirmed on this podcast, are not always accurate. I said, you got that sigh ability to then twist things that fit your narrative.

We were shooting a few mallards. We were shooting a few mallards. And I said, we need to give them till noon. Yeah. And you said, that'll work because Phil has this At an interview. A couple interviews. Whatever at 12, so and so. Yeah, 1230, 1245. But what happened was at about 1145, because I was seeing the signs that I thought something magical could happen.

And I said, let's give them to a 12. And then Phil said, well, by the time I get the boat, I mean, because I got this thing I got to go to, which I didn't mind because. And he was not happy with me about it, but I was like, dad, you agreed to do it. I'm just your man in the middle. Like, I was taking the blame, but I was just the guy that set it up because dad said, yes, I'll do it. I didn't mind Phil allowing that time 15 minutes to go get the boat because I thought, well,

if some ducks come, he knows how to make himself hidden. Right. And we're in timber. Yeah. But when he left, it's like the authority left. And so it was a breakdown because then God was like, well, I, I need. need to, I need to. He had something.

He had a little project. I think his project was what he called, a nature calling. And so he started grabbing his waiters. And so he goes down, we had a staircase on this blind. Still do. El home. And so then Martin, he left for some rate. So everybody started leaving.

So I went down the decoys. So I said, well, I'll start picking up the decoys. Now that's where I objected. I said, no, let's wait till the motor cranks up. I fired that out there. Nobody listened. So then I look up. These ducks had done this pattern all day.

We would see them and we had a few milder. Up until about nine. We hadn't seen anything in a couple of hours. We hadn't seen anything in a couple hours. But they'd go down and work what we call the lake, which you could see them. But they would work around, not go in. And then they would come up there on us and we would get them in. So I looked up and here's a hundred.

Over a hundred mallards. One big bunch. This is the stuff duck hunters. Okay, so let me interject for just a second. I remember this story when I was 15 years old. I vividly remember it was 75. Well, sigh made it 75. But it is now 100.

Two months to the point. Although he's right about the time. Now it has grown to 100. So I called to alert everyone. There's ducks in the area. and I hollered out. You got three minutes. Find a tree because I knew they were coming.

They're going to go down there and work around and they're going to come, which I thought, no problem. And we had a cameraman documenting this whole story. So we can run the footage back. I'm going to say it's closer to 100. I mean, I'm not going to make up a story if there's visual evidence. For years it was 75, but you're right. So those ducks, three minutes, I'm thinking now everybody,

is there's only a couple men in the blind with you there's only a couple men in the blind i think jay was in there and the cameraman's filming this so those hundred ducks start coming towards us they flank out to the left i called and they locked in no circle straight in came straight down yep and when they got about 40 yards coming straight down so not broken down back paddling but just coming. Coming. I saw the lead group start going up. So what I did was,

I just looked up out in the decoys because I thought, why are they going up? And there's one man standing in the middle of the decoy spread with about 12 decoys behind him with his big, thick glasses on, looking right at them.

So I, I raised up. Now I'm mad. Because they're leaving now. And just shot one time and folded him out of Drake. He just folded him out of Drake. He just folded, didn't keep shooting. Put my gun down and said, what are you doing in the middle of the decoy?

And man, that's that torched into the biggest argument you've ever heard. Dad came back. He's mad. He's mad at me for having to do this thing. He's mad at sigh. Sye's, you know, you've been dry. I got tracks on my back where I've been... I will confess, I said things that I should not have said, that Jesus...

Apologies were made by people. And the worst thing I said is what really escalated. I said, I wish I had a piece of cane right now. And so I said, why is that? I said, because I'd whoop every one of them. It was bad. It was the worst, like, situation we'd ever had duck on. And it happened all the way back.

We get back. Dad calls a meeting in the yard. Everybody's getting ready to leave. Yeah, and I thought he was going to chew, like, everybody out, but he mainly targeted Si and Al. Yeah. Al for lining up the appointment. Me for being the interview.

In duck season. And Cy for not finding the tree. Si said, well, I was. He said, I am behind the tree where everybody was looking at him. He wasn't anywhere near. There were no trees, though. He said, I don't care. If you got to take a leak, you just squeeze it off.

Yeah, it was. I mean, it was bad. It was bad. And later on, he said he overreacted. So it was, but it was over a bunch of ducks that gave in. And I was like, whoa. So. Conflict.

So then there's that. But you think we've hunted 40 years and we've only had one. That's the worst one wherever. There's always been some jawboning, but that was one where like tempers were, tempers were high. That one lives in infamy. That one lives. I was mad.

I'm not going, you know, the old man reared his head. I was ready to fight. You still see my, you still see my, little bitter about it. It felt like you got a little... Well, you got to remember back then, we were... This is before Duck Dynasty

and all that kind of stuff. And so we were making a living by making duck hunting videos. And I just thought to myself, we just had a chance to get 100 mallards in one of the tightest timber holes in the world.

And they were coming. There's no... Everybody agreed with that. And there was one problem. There was a human being in the middle of the duck hole. Yep.

And he flared him. Yep. And it wasn't like we didn't even shoot any. I shot one just to say they were close enough. Now, if he were here, in his defense, if he were here, he has a totally different defense of his action. So I would have a totally different defense. He claims, a lot of claims that, and I was there, it was, you know, everybody has their

version of what happened. Well, that's why he got chewed out. So we've come a long way. But, you know, family, we're in this section in Colossus 3 talking about. you know, how, how families should operate. Yeah, because he only gave like four verses about wives and husbands, children, and parenting. But really, I mean, you think about it, we talked about it before.

Of course, reads here now, which is good. I want to get his take on some of this. But the idea is that the application of raising kids and then your kids raise kids and kind of what you guys are experiencing. I mean, you may only get a little bit of guidance and direction, but, I mean, there's a lot of application that goes on in people's everyday lives. Exactly. I'm pretty sure I quoted Colossians 320 to read at some point in his early age,

which is one of my favorite verses when you have parents and children living in your home, which is children obey your parents in everything. Right. which is where you get the saying, well, why do I have to do it? I think your mom did this more than me. He's like, because I said so. Colossian 3.20.

My kids are only three and I say it all the time. So it lives on. I will say this, read, and I don't know if I've said this for because we haven't been in the podcast. So Reed is also named Silas. So you got Silas Merritt, the original. You got Jason Silas, you got Reed Silas. Are there any more, Salas?

is in the other than y'all three my son is now named david silas oh boy so now we got four so we have a picture that we took last thanksgiving yep last thanksgiving with the four silas and i will say we don't know yet about david silas but we out of you three there is a something in there so it must be the name it must be something and re did it as a kid he would he would come in they'd be at the we'd be at the beach and he would come in, and he would have the most fantastical tales you've ever heard about what he saw, this shark, it came out,

it went for one of the kids. I mean, like, he would tell these stories, and we would all just be laughing because we were like, I don't know, Reed. Got that side.

It was that sigh. It was that ability to tell a story that you're just enraptured by it, but part of your mind is saying, there's no way this could be true. And so that seems to run that thread of the name. I don't know what it is about it, but read had that. See, during these holidays,

so David Zilis is out. About to be two. So he's not two yet. Yeah. And I haven't, up until this, literally since yesterday, he's been,

just like Maris, which is his oldest, and she's three. You know, when they see me, they're like, oh no. There's a bit of terror because Missy goes and visits more than I do, but I go.

And they say, hey, but if I start going toward them, it's, I mean, it just immediately. So they, I think Reed's wife, Brighton, was kind of, she's feeling bad for me. And so y'all had something y'all did, and y'all left us down here, Maris. And so, and I think I told that story on a podcast, when Missy had gone somewhere, you know,

she was still keeping her, distance but she had fallen and i was like i'm all you got and she she sat there and thought she's weighing it out in her mind and i forgot missy had had left or something for some reason and she just thought you know what if this is if this is where it's got to happen and she crawled up in my lap and it was like well we're good ever since then we've been good at the moment he has me you know bye-bye hugs and kisses and jay rock and she's a lot of little chatterbub. She talks.

She never stops talking. And so David is the exact opposite. He's like a grown man as far as the way he articulates in a little two-year-old body. I mean, he kind of, and then he'll say something, J-Rock. It's real low. So Reed had showed him of cooking. one of the cooking videos, and he was sitting there watching it. And he was, like, going, and Reed sent me one of these,

well, you call them where they keep repeating the same thing, like a meme thing. Yeah, yeah. But it wasn't a meme. He just kept saying, Gay Rock, Jay Rock. While he's watching TV. I thought, well, I may have a chance. So when they arrived a few days ago, it was like, no, he started coming toward him, nope.

And so I started going toward him. I was like, well, I thought we might have had something from him watching film. So, no. So they had this project. They're like, same kind of deal. We went to the, we got something local called the candy, what was it? Candy cane lane. Yeah, Candy cane lane.

And so look, for a nominal fee, you can drive your vehicle. This one in Cahoon? Yeah. Yeah, it's amazing. I'd never been there. Oh, it's amazing. And you can drive through. Well, Missy's got this little bug of a car that I got her on the little duck show.

And they'll see, some of that actually happened. You put the top down. Put the top down because there's no rules. I mean, the first sign you see is enter at your own risk. There's people hanging out of cars, kids. You know, you're driving one. And you wonder what that even means. I mean, is it duck?

I mean, a deer hunting woods. You know, what's going to turn your lights off, you know. There's kids standing up, hollering, you know. I mean, it's just kind of ever car for themselves. So we put the top down. Well, now, I mean, David Silas is right beside me. Well, as we're going through, he was just measured by all the lights. But every once in a while, I mean, every 15, 20 seconds, he would lean over my ear and go,

Jay, right. We'd go to a little bit. I was like, oh, look at the tractor because you like a tractor. because you like tractors. He leaned over, hey, Jay Rock. And we were getting so tickled. Now, even though we weren't really touching, he was closed, and he just kept going, Jay Rock.

That's his connector. Jay Rock. Just he knows who you are. So we go through that, and I thought, well, we tried. I mean, it's okay. So we get back home that night, and I think Missy had ordered pizza and everybody's, you know, we're eating pizza, everybody's fine. And then all of a sudden, he tripped and fell.

David Thiles did. And just, I mean, and he had a stranger, like, cry. He just laid flat down and was just like, bruh. So, of course, Missy runs over there, and she's like trying to get him up, you know. And she's like, you want Lulu? And he was like, no. and we were going through all the people. Mom, dad, he stands up and says, J-Rock.

And it was chariots of fire and music. He starts coming toward me, and I thought, is this really happening? Missy's mouth was this wide open, just like, and we just boom. And I put him on the hip. Quick crying. In that moment, the bond was established. Grandson to grab. Me, did that just happen?

And that night before he went to bed, he came over and gave you a hug, too. He gave me a hug. It's happened. The bond is been made. I couldn't believe. And it is funny. You'd think that was like that wouldn't happen, but it does. Like, out of all my grandkids' Doc was that way.

At first, he was hesitant. You know, he held back. And I would joke with all the other grandkids, and they would laugh. But he would always be like, mm. And now, whenever we're, he was. we're home, he's the first one there and he's always sitting right next to us. So it is interesting how they make those changes. So, yeah, I mean, that's part of that is, I don't know why that is, why some kids just react

differently. They're almost afraid of you at first and not sure. I don't know. Well, I thought it had to do something with the way I look. Well, that goes unsaid. We don't have to say that. I mean, I only have three basically views. I'm either homeless, a threat to society.

Or one of the duck people. Well, at this point, Jay's, we were all much more afraid when you shaved your beard off. Yeah, I was too. I was afraid of myself. Because, I mean, a lot changes. You look kind of scary. Yeah, a lot changes underneath there over the course of our age, you know, from that 45 to 60 stage. Exactly.

So before we get in the text, I just thought it'd be interesting because I think part of the problem, I mean, somebody, a preacher once said, which at first I thought, hmm, I don't know about that. But he said the hardest people to reach for Jesus are people who are raised in a church setting. Yeah. And his point was, you kind of ride on your parents' faith. But we all know this is, everybody has to come to the conclusion on their own that Jesus is the son of it. Well, I had a question for you, really, before we get into some of the textual stuff, but just a practical question. because a lot of people ask me about you guys,

about you and Cole, Sadie and John Luke. And obviously, you know, Sadie's out there a lot, so people kind of her public persona. But they ask about what our fears were doing a show on national television. And we had teenagers at the time all of y'all and preteens.

And were we afraid of that? And I was like, well, yes. I mean, I think everybody, every family member, especially who had kids, y'all's age, we're fearful about just all of a sudden thrusting ourselves potentially into the national limelight. Then it happened because the show was a huge hit. And even though the show was good and our fan base was amazing, it still puts a lot of pressure on people. So I wanted to hear from your perspective because I've asked Sadie about it before on here.

What that was like to go through that? Because you're a part of it. You know, as a teenager, how did you deal with that? Was it difficult? I mean, well, I probably have a different, different answer than you would expect. I mean, as an adult now, I'm an adult, I'm a, I'm a parent, I'm a business owner, I think differently than I did obviously as a teenage, right? But, you know, I was, I mean, I never even, thinking about the kids, I never even really

watched it, you know, but, I mean, all the episodes and new, I mean, I didn't really, I was chasing girls and playing football and, you know, doing whatever. So looking back at it now, I, I mean, I never really even critically thought. I just woke up one day and I said, man, this is cool, you know? I mean, it's just, I mean, that really is the, the crux of it. I mean, you know, obviously I knew what was happening and, and, but I mean, it, it, it surprised everybody for one thing, you know, nobody, nobody realized how huge it was going to be. I mean, I remember that first time, I remember the very first time we thought, oh, this is

something we were on the way to the beach and we stopped at that restaurant oh yeah we walked in there and ate and from that moment on that was it no more no more eating in restaurants yeah i mean it was where you weren't recognized we were there for like four hours you know and it's like it was just a bizarre phenomenon to us we were like this is insane right yeah people just lined up at our table right yeah we bought a few of those you remember later we tried it one other time And there was some, because somebody said, you got to eat here. Fantastic. It's on the beach.

And we went. And somehow we were waiting and we got separated. And I never could get back to y'all. Yeah. I mean, it just a mob form. I'm not complaining, but I was like, I need to go. I'm with my family, you know, but it just, I couldn't get away. Because it's unmanaged.

It's hard to be able to do that. Oh, Reed. I remember thinking, I'm just going to have to run off here. And Reed come up there and gave the crowd a speech. And since he was my son, he got away with it. He was basically like, this is my dad. We're on vacation. And we have a table.

So he's got to go. Sorry. And it just, that party died. Remember that, Reed? Yeah. I mean, it just got to the point where it's like, we're going to be here all night. And, and all that stuff is great, you know, awesome. I mean, there's no telling the lives that have been impacted, the number of lives.

I mean, I don't think you can quantify it, you know, by the show and this podcast. And, you know, so this, it's been an amazing thing. And like I said, looking back at it, I wasn't even critically thinking about it whatsoever. I was like, yeah. And too. I mean, we, we, we, I was in high school. I mean, I had all my friends. I was playing football.

I was doing whatever. I was trying to figure out my life, too, you know, so it was just kind of a, and we're in a small town. And after, after the first, you know, few months in my groups, at least, it kind of just like, hey, you know, that's pretty cool, you know, and that was it, you know, just move on about your life. Does everybody else is just, you're, you were a part of their lives before that ever happened, which is interesting, you gave me a new perspective I hadn't thought about that

when you don't bear the responsibility of someone, you don't bear the responsibility of something and yet you're a part of it, it does change your view of it. In other words, for especially, you know, your dad and willing Corey, they had a responsibility as we're doing the show to make it good. You had this weight of that. And forward thinking in terms of business and what's the next three years going to do. And how am I, you know, I mean, all that stuff plays a factor into it. But I think it, from my perspective, it bleeds into what you were saying with riding on the coattails of your parents. faith, I mean, that was me for years. I mean, since I, look, I was baptized when I was 12.

And from that point, I thought, well, I got it, you know, and I just rode on your coat tails for as long as I could remember, you know, and it was like, well, I'm going and I'm doing and I'm speaking and I'm singing and I'm doing all this stuff. And it was, it was like, well, I've got that all figured out. You know, that's a box I checked and I'm good, you know, but it's kind of the same thing with, you know, with the show, well, I was just along for the ride with that, too. So it kind of amplified that in a way because it forced me into a world that I was, no one's prepared for, you know, especially when it happens like it did. But I wasn't prepared for, and I, I didn't actively prepare for it. And I was just like, what am I doing next? You know, they're like,

oh, yeah, you're going to go over here and, you know, what are they going to pay me, you know? They're going to pay you $100. You know, it's like, whoa, cool. You know, so it's just, And I just show up. That's why I say you didn't really have a choice. You know, none of the kids have a choice. You had to be part of what was going on anyway. Right. And I was going to mention, and I want you guys to go, look, a lot of you probably

have never seen this, the very first thing we did on IM Second was a, we called like a prodigal series. And the reason they had approached us about it was going to be dad and me and read. And just kind of telling our stories from our perspective of what it was like to struggle with faith as a young person. and then come to a point where you figure out some things on your own. Dad was older than you and I were to read, but we were both teenagers and then figured some things out later.

But I felt like Jep need to be a part of it because I had been telling my story a long time, but Jep had never really told his. And so it wound up being Dad and Jep and Reed. And then Mom came in as well. But to me, like all of our stuff we've done with I'm second, has been great. I mean, I love all the stuff we've done.

But that was still my favorite because it was the first and I was involved in helping put it together. but if you've never seen that, go watch it because Reed has some really cool stuff that he shares on there. And I was going to ask you, I don't know if I've ever asked you about it because I've been a part of it now too

because we did a later series. There's something about sitting in that chair in the way the lighting is and everything that really just kind of. It brings it out of you. It brings it out. It's like a bear your soul moment. I was going to ask you about it.

It's been many years ago since you did it, but it was pretty powerful. No, I agree. I mean, I think that there's settings like that. You know, if you're, if you're around godly people, and I think the spirit moves and the presence of God, you know, blesses those things. Yeah. Because it just, you sit down in a place like that.

And it's, you know, and there is kind of a mission and an objective of like, hey, you know, we would like you to share your story. Well, it's like, okay, well, here it is. But it just has this feeling of you can just lay it all out there, you know, and it just happens. And, yeah, I mean, I love those guys. over there. Yeah, they're fantastic. And because they're based in Franco, which is where you're from, we've had now different dealings with them since then with Angie and all the crew. So I Amsecond.com is where that is. If you've never heard of it, go look it up. All of our stuff, we've done several since, but it's all really, really good. But that first one is still kind of my favorite. I get more people

come up to me and talk about, it used to be Ducked Honesty and I Am Second. You know, it was like neck and neck. I mean, they'd say, they'd come up and be like, hey, you know, I saw you. And I just think on Ducked honesty and they say I am second you know I loved it thank you so much for sharing and now it's the podcast and and they still people say people come up to me all the time and say I've watched your I'm second you know I mean it's it's a really cool really cool thing and the whole ministry is about telling the stories and a lot of them are people that have or athletes and people you've heard of or know but it's the idea is that we all got a story and the story is we all need Jesus that's what he gets back to that's how we ended that's how we ended the blind

I mean, I love that. Yeah. I was really one of his last, like, just things we got on video. Yeah. I mean, he was, he, yeah, he was, he, he was in his, his full film mode and had the greatest ending. What he said, I could be wrong. But I doubt. But I tell you what, is that just from sitting in the theater that first time I watched it.

And I didn't know, because I had not seen obviously how you guys were going to work that in. and when you're just a black, you just fade to black at the end, you're getting ready for the credits. And all of a sudden, you hear Dad's voice before you see him. And you know it's like, this is current Phil.

I mean, I got chills on top of chills. After watching the whole film, to then hear his voice and then to watch and hear what he said, I mean, it was powerful. Well, you know,

who his idea was, don't you? Jason, I think, wasn't it? It was Jason's idea. He had called me and said, Phil's not going to lie,

because he had, He watched the, I think Jason may have been one of the first people to watch. Well, I think, can we just be fully transparent now that it's been in theaters a couple of years or whatever it's been? You said, well, I really want you to help me promote this. And I said, well, I'm going to have to see it first. That was how it went. Well, Jayce always goes back to trust but verify. Well, I just thought, okay, because it's like, oh, it's a movie about your dad and your family.

Will you help us promote it? I'm like, well, after I see it, because I thought there's a lot of people that have good ideas. So you might not would have trashed it, but if you didn't like it, you weren't going to talk about it. I wasn't going to promote it. I mean, I hate to tell you that, but that was what was coming next. But I watched it and I thought, sure, it was, y'all did a good job with it. But when I watched it, I thought to myself, my dad is not going to like this, even though it's well done. and because I thought he's going to want to try to use this to get Jesus out there.

And even though it kind of has a few points about, you know, it's kind of a backdrop of his life. It doesn't get into detail about why. Like what was the actual message that he heard in detail? And so that's why I told Zach, I said, I think at the end, you should have him just let him talk. So what was it exactly that you heard that made you say, yeah, to that scene where he baptized him?

And so Phil basically shared that. It is perfect. Because you said, you said, you said, Phil is going to want, you have to say these words, the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus. And if you've been around Phil any amount of time, you know, I mean, if there's one phrase that we've heard him repeat over and over, it's that 1st, Corinthians 15 verse 1 through 4 passage. I mean, that's, that he's lived his life on that passage. And so that's really what he said at the end. I mean, that was the, that was the message.

Well, and I, so there's a couple of things about that. One is, I think dad has never realized just because of the, his name. nature about how powerful just a life change story is. In other words, it was way more powerful than he would have thought just by watching it on the screen because I've talked to way too many people before they ever got to that point that were like, as soon as I saw that, I was like, I knew I had to change the way I was living. Yeah. Well, there's a power in that.

Well, there is, but I just know. But he doesn't realize that. And I think it's out of humility, but he doesn't realize that. So he thinks, no, we've got to, we got to explain what that mean. I knew he would want that. You were exactly right. Well, when he watched it, he came to me, and I didn't pull an uncle sigh and said, yeah, I told him to do that. Yeah.

He just said, now when they put that last part in there, that was the key. And then I just thought to myself, yep, that's what I thought. And it was very much a late addition, and it just so happened that I am second was doing a thing with Rucker over in Dallas. And so Zach made it all happen where we could. get it in that format. I think Reed and I both realized in that chair, you say things that are just really. He called me that morning and we had that conversation. Did the podcast, Angie's in the room.

Yeah. And I said, this is too much to be a coincidence. And that's kind of why you had the thought. But I said, because that was like, well, the movie's done. And I was like, no, the movie's never done. I've been in show business enough to know when they say, that's it. It's a rap. No, it's not a rap.

O.J. Scorsese came in at the end and said, nope. I do want to tell you this, Reed, because I don't think I've ever told you this. So I did a, I got like a really insider, insider tour of the Bible Museum in D.C. And I didn't realize they had it there, but that original white chair is in there. Oh, wow. And so I was like, oh, the I'm second chair. And so I went up, I looked at the back of it. There was Reed Robertson, Philling Kay, because everybody signs the back of it.

It's in the museum. It's in the Bible Museum. The original white chair, which was now they've had several. Well, I've been to the Bible Museum. It must have been a late edition. Maybe so. It's there. And your name is on there.

I found it. I was just, I was going to ask for it. So when you started off, talking about, you know, kind of riding on, on the coattails of your parents' faith, which is a normal thing, which is why I think the guy made the statement, it's hard to find. your own faith in there. It was a lot easier for me, because I saw my dad just transformed. Then later found out why. Then as I was researching why,

I was like, huh, that's a pretty good story here. I mean, you know, I was in my own Bible reading. So I was going to just kind of button that up. So when do you think, because you've grown tremendously. I mean, I think Missy and I and Reed and his wife, Brighton, we have, what, a three-hour Bible?

study last night. It had been more than that. That maybe four. That just happened kind of organically, you know, after the kids went to bed, which is why we didn't get any sleep last night. But I thought, you know, if you sit around now with, I mean, you're almost 30 years old and just have a deep, meaningful, what we've been studying. And, I mean, it was, I thought it's fantastic.

So I'm saying, what was that, what were the key points you think of the transition? When did you wait? I mean, was it when you became a husband or was it just? Because it's all a growth process where at some point, because now I look at you, you're leading your family. I think better than I did when my kids were little. Sorry. But I mean, they did their little divo.

And we've done that many nights that they've been with us. And I, it's really impressed. Of course, it helps it really can sing so well. Yeah. Because it's more of a singing than we have a little. A little sarn. I wonder about that, too. We call it family worship.

Yeah, family worship. And we are, we're passionate about it because. That's why I'm bringing it up. Yeah, it is. You can tell. And we, we do it every night. You know, the kids, we do, you know, we do dinner, then they do the bath, and then we do something.

We don't let them watch, you know, a lot of TV or whatever, but then they, but they like to watch. I mean, when I said that I didn't really watch the show, it's fun now because now I'm going back and we're watching it all because they love watching you and mom and and and yo they'll see me on there too but they don't even recognize me yeah you're just a kid yeah yeah and oh we've watched when i fell off that boat we have watched that a thousand times i mean she's like coming out of the coming out of her chair like getting ready it's funny but and then i said that so many times can you imagine what just one of these little blessings you get being able to your kids now and think about when they get older than they're going to have children

to be able to have a television show where you can go back and watch and most people, there's one picture of dad's great-grandfather in existence. So you just look at that picture and you wonder what that man's life was like. They're going to have recorded things

that when you were a kid to be able to look. I mean, what a blessing that is. Well, and y'all sang some in there. I mean, I really wouldn't say this because, you know, he's humble, but I mean, he's a world-class singer. Very good. And a good thing.

And he's actually done a few events, which it's nice when you can speak about Jesus and sing about Jesus with equal enthusiasm. When you went to Nashville originally to try to pursue a music career, but I've always thought, and this is just your uncle looking in, but I've always thought that that move that you in Brighton made and she went to school and y'all went to building a life there has been a real benefit for you guys. I mean, it seems to have that independence has helped. We have always felt that way. just because, you know, both of our families live here. We're very close. Just with close families like that, you're always going to lean on your family. And that's great.

But it forced Bright and I, we got married young. You know, I was 21. She had, I was 20. Yeah, 21. She had just turned 21. And we moved off. And it was just me and her. You know, we didn't have any money.

We didn't have any life career goal. I mean, we were just like, we're moving an hour. Nashville because Reed wants to be a singer. Well, we quickly figured out that that wasn't going to make any money when I got up there. So I'm looking around like, now there's a lot of talented people singing, right? Looking around like, man, when you got to pay your own bills, this stuff starts to add up pretty quick. And so, but it was just us, you know, and we had to figure everything out on our own. And, you know, we struggled through.

And that's, that's really part of, you know, what is my testimony is that during that time, when we got on our own, well, now all of a sudden, I didn't have, you know, White's Ferry Road and you, you know, giving me to come to Jesus meetings

and not, you know, all that stuff. I didn't have any of that. It was up to me. And I was the leader of my household, but I wasn't being that, you know,

I wasn't being the spiritual leader that I need to be. Brighton lost her dad. You know, we were, we were going through hard times, you know, and I wasn't there for like I should have been

on a spiritual level for sure. And so we, we actually stopped going, going to church, you know, saying, well, we can't find one that we like, you know, and then and then it just turned into, well, it's been a year and we hadn't been, you know, it's like, well, we started saying, well, we can't find one we like. Well, it's like, well, we hadn't even been to one in a year. So it's kind of hard to find one, you know, if they ain't looking. Exactly.

So when we had, when we had Maris was the first time in a long time that I realized I thought, okay, this is all of a sudden way bigger than just me. And I started to realize like, okay, I'm doing whatever I want to do that makes me comfortable, you know, and I had started my business, you know, and I was just full-fledged in that, just worrying about myself. And Brighton was working as a nurse, you know. We were living kind of parallel lives. And we had Maris and she decided I'm going to stay home and raise the kids.

Well, we both decided that. And I just took a hard look and thought. thought, you know, I've relied completely on myself for the last few years here, you know, and it just, it, it convicted me. I mean, I think the Lord convicted me and said, you know, you think you're going to be a leader of this household and you think you're going to, you know, this is a gift of a child that I've given you, you know, and that's really the, the core concept that we strive to, um, to produce in our life. lives every day is our children are a gift from God and it's our job here on earth to steward

their souls for the kingdom. You know? Yeah. And so one of our main principles is to have them realize, almost force them to realize as they get older, their need for a savior. You know, it's not, I'm not just going to sit down and when they get in trouble and sit down and, you know, which is something we did a lot of, you know, we got in trouble and okay, it's time for come to Jesus meeting, and it would be a five-hour sermon.

It'd be 11.30 a night. I'm falling asleep on the couch. And I'm actually praying, Lord, let this end, you know? I know unashamed listeners would find that shocking that that would come from Jays, but, you know, I'm glad read it's confirmed. Hey, looking back, I'm thankful for them. Yeah, me too. You know, but I mean, my main objective is to have my children grow up and realize their need for a savior, you know. And so one of the things getting back to what we do every night is we we call it family worship and we we go through now they're they're too young to to really go through any any real scripture, you know, and that kind of stuff. But we try to make it fun, you know, we, you know, we've got like these little things where I say half the sentence and she finishes it, you know, and then I start and then I'll say the first word and she's gotten to the point where she can say the whole thing, you know, and we and we memorize, you know, a psalm or something like that, you know, and it takes her, I mean, it'll take her a solid.

month. And it's like 29 days of this child is never going to get this. And then I'll say, okay, Psalm and she's like, nine, one, you know, and just goes through the whole thing. It's amazing how they can pick it up. You know, what's really amazing is when David, I said after the, I picked him up, you know, because he wanted me. And I was like, who do you love? And he went, God. Yeah. I said, well, that's a better answer. Yeah. Yeah. He's learning. You know, he's learn the you know it's funny about that read my mom she would sit when we were small kids she would sit in the closet of our bedroom at night and she would every night and she would turn on the light she would pick up her bible and she would teach us the bible and it's funny that when i look back at my life and think

what was the most formative reason of why i love jesus today it was because of those early years of of spiritual formation that at the time seemed probably in my mind. I don't even know if I was, I didn't think, I mean, I wouldn't have these existential moments of like, wow, God is so amazing. But it was that.

And then, and too, I think that the worship with your kids in your own home as a repetitive liturgy that you do over and over and over again. And that speaks volumes to their character and their, and their realization of a need for a savior. So I love that you're doing. and I think that is, I mean, that is how you parent.

It makes me so proud that my daughter's three years old and I can ask her, what song do you want to sing tonight? And she'll say the song and I'll start it. And she will sing the whole thing. I mean, holy, holy, holy, she will sing the entire song. You know, and David, David's two years old. I mean, the kid knows, you know, 15 words. Yeah.

You know, and we sing, you know, Jesus loves me. And, you know, he'll start, he'll go, Jesus. And then he'll love me this, I know. everybody's singing it and then we go for the and he goes Bible you know I mean he he's got it you know and it's just it makes you so proud yeah and and you know so that that is one aspect of it is like I'm like man I mean it just it it softens your heart like nothing I have ever experienced well and it's nice to have a heart that's that is able to be softened so we're out of time um we will on the next podcast we will dive into liturgy and what that means because I saw jesus eyes

shoot up as soon as Zach said it so it's another one of those words we'll have to deal with so read thanks for being on yep thanks for you next time on unashamed thanks for listening to the unashamed podcast help us out by rating us on iTunes and don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes