Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 530 | Phil’s Hilarious Reason Not to Mow His Yard & a Duck Commander Employee’s Moving Testimony

Episode Date: August 15, 2022

Phil doesn't like to waste time cutting grass, and he has the perfect excuse not to! Jase and Al are joined in the studio by a former Duck Commander employee, Bryan Rucker, to tell his shocking life story and how God intervened when nobody else would. Zach tells a funny story about his son's observation on the Robertson yard policy. Phil asks Bryan Rucker what exactly made him turn his eventful life over to Jesus. Watch the Unashamed overtime show, only on BlazeTV: https://BlazeTV.com/Unashamed - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So I want to mention again, Dad and I did a Talk Shop Live recently, and for your daily fill, you can get signed copies there. It's the only place you'll be able to get signed copies of your daily fill if you go Talkshoplive.com and check those out. So we got a special guest on today. I love it when the Holy Spirit gives me these epiphanies of people that we hadn't had on the podcast that need to be on the podcast. But he does it. He spaces them out just right. So we got Brian Rucker.

Rucker is, of course, what we call him. I don't know why people get the last name treatment from the Robertsons, but it's just kind of our way. So welcome Rucker to the Unashamed. Thanks for having me. The last name thing is actually been throughout my entire life, really. It wasn't just whenever I got around here, but throughout my life, people just, instead of calling me Brian,

would just call me Rucker. I did not know your name was Brian, and I've been running with you for, 10 years, I guess, or how many years? It's been about eight years. Eight years. I did not know your name was Brian. Until today?

No, I had no idea. If somebody said, you know Brian up there at Celebrate Recovery, I'd have said, never heard of him. It was like, I met this guy in the grocery store, and he said, I met him, and he said, hey, you guys play golf with my, with my nephew. I said, who's that? And he said, Justin. I said, no. I don't know any Justin's. He said, oh, no, he plays.

off with you all the time. And I was like, I don't know what Justin. Well, I left there thinking if somebody says they know us. And it was Martin. I never knew his name. I had the same thing. I had the same thing. You got to remember most of, I mean, I got that from Phil, I guess, because Phil has a, it's an undiagnosed condition. We need to, we need to put a name on it. He's incapable of calling someone by their actual name. It's a mental block. No, that isn't a mental block. It's from running up on thousands of individuals, and they say, remember me? And I'm like, yeah.

Yeah, but Phil, when I was a kid. Back 26 years ago, I came to your house on it. And, you know, you're one that I was like 26 years ago, or 41 years ago. So that's the reason I just started, I just get up. So now you're just like, it doesn't matter if I know your name because I'm not going to remember. Too many names. I've been with you for 52 years, and you've never called me by my actual. actual first name at any point.

Yeah. I'm trying to reel back my memory. Actually, you're right. We have all become our nicknames from dad. Which is my whole life. Because, you know, a lot of... We call Willie, Willie, before he started calling himself that. Yeah, I'll play cards.

I'll play cards to these people, you know. It's a buddy. Yeah, you play cards with my buddy. And they're like, say his name. I'm like, never heard of it. Yeah. And so then I start going through all. the farm animals.

I'm like, is a looster, chicken or pop? Oh, one guy's name SpongeBob, you know. Yeah,

yeah. And it just, oh, yeah. Everybody gets, the best one was Connor's nickname when he worked for us on the podcast.

Yeah. What Phil called him, no name. No name. No. Just don't even have a name for you. Yeah. He'd say,

hey, no name. And he said, you give me a cup of coffee, no name. What was funny is, People don't get offended by it. They're like...

Well, my wife did. She said, did I actually hear your dad call one of those camera operators no name? And I said, yeah, she said, I would think that's rude. But that's his name. His name is no name. You can't get offended by that. That's right. I guess it'd keep him humble.

Well, it's interesting because since, you know, hanging out with you guys so much, I started doing that. Like, that's just... So we had the guy at Celebrate Recovery and I ain't going to say his actual name, but he was coming around and he was supposed to come with us to the CR summit this year. And I literally wrote on his invitation, bicycle guy, because that's what I call him. Bicycle guy. Bicycle guy.

Does he ride a bicycle? Everywhere he goes, he rides a bicycle. Perfect. He rides a bicycle. And so, you know, people would say. I usually would say like bike man. Bike man, see, that's a lot easier. So you learned it from us.

We're learning the talent of nicknames. That's right. Well, it's like the guy who hollers Jesus. at Celebrate Recovery. I don't know his name. I just call him Jesus. And I thought, if you're a,

Kurt Lively. Is that his name? That's Kurt. Yeah. His name is Lively? Lively. Lively. And he's lively.

He's lively. He's lily. That's making my head spin now. That's it. We should call him lively. That's what I do call him lively. Once I call him Jesus, I can't turn my back on that now because I'm like,

he probably loves it. You got to keep that one going. Yeah. Well, every time I call him at, he clenches at fist and puts it. up. If you watch him throughout the service, he, he's slow builds. Like, he'll start and it's just like a, yes, yes.

And then he'll get into it. Then he'll start doing this move here. Yeah. Because he's getting excited. He's getting excited. And then it just comes out, just jesus. But it always comes out at, like, a time when you wouldn't expect it to come out. That's why it's always like, when he does it and he yells Jesus, it's, I mean, it's shocking.

Every time. Well, the first I like it. The first time it happened, I almost pooped in my pants. I called him, he's a human alarm clock. Because if you were missing the point here, he's a human spiritual, you know, when they say they teach you all, I slept through half the classes. But me and I took a class about you. Transitions. You start the speech, you know, and you're building.

It's like you're going up a mountain. You got to have the transitions to get them back into the. And at some point, you're at the top of the mountain, you know. But forget that. You just have a guy, like, lively. He lets you know. He's not doing it for our attention. Oh, no, no.

It's legitimate. He's saying everybody here, we're at the top of this mountain right now, and it's all about Jesus. The first time, the first few times that I heard him do it in one of our times together, he was like apologetic to me. I said, oh, oh, brother. Because he'd be like, I'm just so sorry. You know, I just get caught. So, whoa, ho, ho.

Don't apologize for that. I wish there were way more people doing what you're doing. Yeah. As a speaker, it made me think, Al, when I get back, when we get done, of this show and I get back to doing events, I just need to hire him to go with me. There you go. And I just say, you do you. That's right. And then at the end, you'll come up with me and we'll be, this is my partner. We'll be together. Right. Yeah. Because people don't want to take a picture with him. I love him in the crowd. Well, whenever I speak, I feed off the crowd a lot. So I'm all about like,

hey, somebody say something, make some type of noise, give me an amen. And Kurt never disappoints. Like he's just doing it every time. And so anytime I'm speaking at the church and he does it, I'm just like, love you, Kurt, can't help. Yeah, we get referenced. Well, Rucker, look, I've spoken for years all over the country. You're the, when you asked me to come speak at Celebrate Recovery, that was top 10 most raucous groups. I've ever been west. We get a little rowdy.

Oh, it was rowdy in a good way. Oh, yeah. It was awesome. You know, I've had the opportunity to go up. all around the country and speak to and experience worship at places. And I talk to people that have came to CR and stuff. And they're like, man, the worship at Friday night CR, WFR Church is just next level. And I'm like, man, it's because it's a bunch of broken people grateful for grace.

Yeah. Just showing their admiration for the father. Yeah. And that's what it is. And so, you know, when you come and you speak there and it's like rowdy and it's rambunctious and there's all this stuff going on. it's this atmosphere of just like broken people being grateful like you can't be quiet about it. Yeah. And so I kind of gave this idea one time like say we were at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge and LSU's playing Alabama for the state, I mean for the national championship. Nobody in there would be able to contain their excitement if LSU's just dragging them.

I mean, just totally just whipping them up and down the field. Nobody would be able to contain their excitement. That's what worship is like at CR. It's a bunch of people that have been beat up by life and the enemy and their sinful decisions. And now they're just like they cannot contain how they feel. Oh, it's a great illustration. Because, I mean, when Ellis you won a national championship,

I ran down our neighborhood street hollering to the four wins. We're thinking everybody just watch this. Where are all the other people? Where's everybody? My neighbor was standing out there with his dog. he was just looking at me. He said, what happened? Yeah, well, I think the lesson is that LSU fans are indulging themselves in idolatry.

I think that's the lesson. No, 100%. Well, that's what I would say if I was a Florida fan in LSU. I realized that they had won three national championships in the last few years, and Florida has been wondering around who's going to, you know, when I'm a little bitter. Wishing Tim Tebow would come back. little bitter because I went down to LSU game with Jeff in college and it ended up getting a fight with a guy who I didn't realize was on the swim team and I got jumped by like 10

guys at LSU at a football game and I've never I won't step foot in that place again. It marj. It's a, they differed down here. Was this before you came to Jesus? I would say so, yeah. I said before I was a I think they did you a favor I would look at them and say

thank you for saving my life he needed more beatings and guess who didn't jump in to help their cousin your brother I couldn't tell you that no because Zach that was that was pre-fillis he was still the little sister he wasn't going to

do anything but hold your purse usually when you're the last child your go-to move is to run and hide. Yeah. I think he was enjoying the show. But Rucker, I thought about, there's a preacher that said, I'm trying to think who said it, he said, nothing produces better worship than a repentant heart.

I think that's what you see in when you walk into, you know, what you guys are into, man, you get people that have repented and they've found deliverance. It does produce a gratefulness that's kind of hard to contain, doesn't it? Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, whenever I think about me. in my life and all the things that I went through. Like people are often like, man, why do you do what you do? And I'm like, because I know where I belong, right?

Like, there's no doubt in my mind. Like, I should be dead or imprison the rest of my life. And if I got what I deserved, then that is where I would be, one of those two places. Yeah. But because of Jesus, like, I get to experience heaven and I got the grace here on earth that I'm not in either one of those spots. And so I told a client of mine before. I said, to be honest with you, I was like, if I lose everything and, like, I have to go to flipping burgers or mowing lawns, which there's no shame in any of that.

But if I had to do that, I would do it like I was working for the Lord. Like, I would do it with, like, excellence because I'm just grateful to be here. Exactly. Well, if you have that choice, go with the flipping burgers because we've always kind of frowned upon mowing grass or beards. Yeah, yeah. Those are. But anyway. And you get free burgers, too.

I mean, you can... Chopping wood is good. Chopping wood, flipping burgers. Chopin wood, you can build a fire. Mowing grass? Crickets. I like it. To me, I like it because I get closure.

Every time I'm... Every time I do yard work and Jace calls me, he's all you doing, I'm doing yard work. Why would you do? It's so sad. I mean, we had an intervention the other day. By the time I got to the end of my intervention with that, I was like, your time is valuable. And I know you're making some money somehow and whatever various things. And you're out there subjecting yourself to frustration by mowing your grass and trying to follow this version of civilized society.

Because this man sitting right here instilled in us that somehow that you're not a man. Yeah, that's a bad. If you're working in the yard, you're not even a real man. So look, I give Zach, I give the speech. When are you going to mow that grass? I said the fall to get it. Yeah, that was the greatest line ever. So, Zach said, would you-

It would be about three months, it'll just shrink right on and down. Zach said, so what did you call me for? And I'm like, I'm so upset right now that I can't even remember. I'll call you back. Well, Zach, I hope you got all your equipment fix, because the word I heard was your in-laws came and looked after your place, and you were off to Costa Rica someplace, and they were going to mowler the arms,

his father-in-law and nothing worked the mower didn't work the weed ear didn't work the blower didn't everything you had was broken is with the word i got let me tell you what my son fred said to me yesterday and i'm not kidding you we were driving back from the lake and he said he uh he said dad we're like the robertsons aren't we so what do you mean like when we when we tear something up we just leave it out the yard we should didn't do it yeah it's pretty accurate oh man that's good no we're not like that side. And then I was like, yeah, we kind of are. Well, I did tell my, the guy that my yard guy and the southern layer is a good guy. And I told him the other day what dad said. And he said, and he lives as a podcast.

So I know he's going to hear this. Todd's going to hear this. And I said, well, Todd, don't take this the wrong way. But my dad said, because he was working in my flower bed, if your butt is sticking out of a flower bed, you have officially lost your manhood. And said, don't take that the wrong way. And so he was doing it for me. Let's take a break. All right, so just so the audience will know, Rucker is our Celebrate Recovery Director, because we've been talking about it, or I don't know, director, whatever the term is. But you do it with another guy, Derek, who's awesome. And what excites me about our Celebrate Recovery currently is so this is, you guys are like

the fourth generation. So Matt Owen, who's our old pal who sat in all the Bible says he responded one Sunday at White's Ferry Road, our church. and his father-in-law was an elder there. Wife, married, great person. And he came forward and said, I'm a drug addict. And, of course, everybody was shocked because nobody had a clue that that's where Mack was. And so he says that whoever was helping him with his response that Sunday night said,

well, you're our first one that we know of. So we don't know what to do with you. So Mack wound up starting Overcomers Anonymous, which was there for a few years, maybe 10 or 15 years. He went out to the summit at Saddleback the first time. He said he wasn't even going to go. Somebody had asked him to go. He's just going to go to the beach and blow it off. And he went in there the first time and heard what was going on.

And it changed him. So he came back home and he came in with Mike and I who were preaching at the time. And he said, I want to start to celebrate recovery right here. So he was the first generation. Then it passed on to his son-in-law and Matt moved away. Then it was another guy named Kyle who's amazing. And now you guys are our fourth generation, 20 years. we've been doing Celebrity Recovery, which excites me because you guys are the first ones that have

actually kind of been in it and experienced it and are now leading it. Yeah. So, Kyle was also. So Kyle came through it. And he's about a year ahead of me as far as whenever he got into CR there at White's Ferry Road. Well, how did you come to the Lord? I mean, what was that story about? Well, yeah.

I mean, so I guess we're, be careful with that question. Yeah. Because Rucker came through, he came through Asheville. You were speaking in a prison. And so he comes to church. We're visiting churches and he comes with us. And then we go out to eat with the pastor and everybody. And somehow on the conversation at lunch, I heard like the word capital murder, drug.

I mean, the whole thing. They're all looking like what in the way. And he's got the long ponytail. Yeah, Asheville was not prepared for that, I guess. But, but no, like, so like Zach was saying, I mean, I guess I'll just start with like where I'm from. So I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. Interesting enough, like my mom and my grandmother are originally from here in West Monroe.

And in the 80s, they moved to Houston because they had something going on. And we get out there and then I'm born in Houston. And so all I ever know is Houston. And right after I was born, we lived in this area of Houston called Greens Point. Everybody calls it Guns Point. Oh, real. And, yeah, just because it's, I mean, it's a sketchy spot. Yeah, I figured by the gun's point.

Right. You know, people that go to Greenspoint Mall, they, like, they, normal people don't go there. They're like, hey, I'll go to any other mall. I ain't going to that one. Yeah. And anyway, so I was born and raised in this atmosphere where, you know, there was a lot of gang activity. There's a lot of drug sales, prostitution, just things like that going on.

Matter of fact, first time I seen someone get shot, I was nine years old. old. And I came to this realization that you can die out here. You know what I mean? And that's stuff that at nine years old, you normally don't have to wrap your mind around. You know, I would watch shows like, you know, family matters, full house. And I'm watching how, you know, they, they conduct themselves as a family and everything. And I just, that just wasn't where I was at. We lived in a It's like it wasn't even real, right? I mean, it's not your reality at all. No, it wasn't at all. And And, you know, I'll get into this a little bit later, but that's one of the things that really baffled me whenever I first got around you guys and just being in West Monroe was seeing families actually operate normal. You know what I mean?

Because I had never really experienced that. And so, you know, not long after that, I started getting involved with the gang. I always, I looked up to people in the neighborhood. I just wanted to be a part of it. And so naturally, everybody that was there was either a job. drug dealer or gang member or both. And so that's what I wanted to be. At around 11, I started smoking weed and selling weed.

And then I got jumped into the gang. And then it wasn't long after that. Around 12, I was selling crack cocaine. Wow. And then in my mom, whenever I was 13 years old, she actually went into the hospital when I was 12. She's in the hospital for an entire year. She went into the hospital for tumors.

And they would go in, remove a tumor, and then another one would develop. and then they would go in, remove that tumor, and another one would develop, and it was just this, you know, repetitive process. And on one of the last surgeries that they did to remove a tumor, they actually sewed her back up with one of the towels that you wipe up blood with in the operating room inside of her. And so it caused the foreign body infection. I remember going up to the hospital and seeing my mom laying there in the bed,

and she had these tubes hooked up to her, just pumping this green fluid out of her. into this clear tub at the end of the hospital bed. And how were you then? I was 13. Yeah. And so then they send her home eventually. Well, when they sent her home, she still had IVs in her and stuff.

Required a hospital bed. And we stayed in a two-bedroom apartment in the back of the projects at the time. So it was... It was just you and your mom? It was me, my mom, and my grandmother. I never knew my dad, never had a relationship with him or anything like that. And so it was always just me, my mom and my grandma. Now, whenever I was younger, we had, I had a couple of cousins that, you know, would be around and their dad and stuff, but it was always, you know, it never was sustainable.

And so they sent her home. Well, at the time, like my grandma had a room. I had a room. And then before my mom went in the hospital, she would just kind of sleep in a living room, you know, and stuff like that. Well, we move in the hospital bed and everything. And we have to move everything out of my room, move in the hospital bed in there. and about a week goes by. And on December 18th, I remember her getting up that day and, you know, just being there in

her hospital bed and wanted me to watch this movie with her. And the movie was Chicken Run. It was like this claymation movie. I definitely didn't want to watch the movie. I mean, at this time in my life, like, we're on Christmas break from school. So, like, if you're born and raised in the hood, you know that, like, Christmas break, it's wintertime. We're in Texas.

like everybody's outside everybody's just doing their thing and so that's where i wanted to be i wanted to be outside selling drugs and hanging out with my friends and so she asked me to watch this movie with her and uh i would go outside come back in and the movie was coming on later that evening and like it was wild how all day she just asked me to watch this movie and i'd walk right past her hospital bed because it was in my room and i'd have to go in my closet to get more weed and like i would just walk past her bed and she'd say, hey, the movie's coming on. Are you going to watch the movie with me? And then I walk in one other time and she says, hey, the movie's on. You're missing it. Will you please watch this movie with me? And then I go back outside. I come back in the last

time and I remember hearing her snoring and I thought to myself, well, good, I ain't got to watch this stupid movie. And I go back out, come in and I just stay in the living room. Well, the next morning, my grandmother wakes up and she's like, hey, you need to go get your mom up. as Miss Diane, basically a friend of the family that was coming to tend to her IVs. And I walked up and as soon as I got to the doorway, there was just this stillness. Like, you know, it was just still. And inevitably, I just walked up to the bed, nudged her on her shoulder, tried to wake her up. And she had passed away that night.

So at 13, I found my mom dead. Yeah. And, you know, I wish that I could say I felt a lot of emotion. but I only felt too. I was sad for maybe five to ten minutes. I cried. And then after that, all I felt was angry. Like all I was was just mad at everybody and everything.

I remember the paramedic comes and sits me down and he's like, hey, we're sorry to tell you your mom passed away. And all that did was just ticked me off, man. I was like, man, I know. I know. And they had this police liaison officer that showed up because it was December 19. And, you know, it's just before Christmas, you know, family in the hood, you know, you lost your mom. So they show up with this box of like, it's got like a football in there, basketball, like some shoes.

Basically them just trying to, you know, just trying to console me a little bit. Yeah. And her bringing that box just made me angry. Yeah. I don't want no box. Yeah. And so I end up just leaving. And it wasn't long after that that I ended up getting arrested for the first time.

I actually, uh... You were just living on your own at that stage. Well, so my grandma was there. Hang on, man. Let's take a break. So I wasn't really like all the way. So my grandmother was there, but my grandma was, you know, she was doing her best just to, you know, figure things out for herself.

And so, you know, she was there, but she wasn't there. You know what I mean? And my grandma has always been the person in my life up until the point that she died. That was, you know, always made sure that I was somewhat. head above water, at least the best you could. But I was so angry and everything else that it, it was no talking to me. There was no. So less than six months later, while I'm still 13, I get my first gun.

And I'm like, it was a little 25 barretta. I didn't even have a clip. I just, it just had one bullet that you, that flip up barrel. You put it in there. And I got that gun and I just thought to myself like, man, I can make some money with this thing. Like, I can, I can really, because. successful with this gun. Wow.

And I come up with this plan to commit my first robbery. And I actually tried to rob a food truck that would come through the neighborhood. It drop off food to, like, elderly people and, you know, different things that they would order. Well, in my young, you know, 13-year-old mine, I'm thinking, well, he's dropping off all this food. He's got to have a stack of money on him. I mean, they're paying for this stuff somehow.

Yeah. And I didn't know anything about no. cash on deliveries or crap like i i was just like oh he's got to have a stack of money so i end up running up on him pointing a gun at him try to rob him i didn't get anything but two boxes of ice cream sandwiches i mean he just he literally he threw him at me as because he's in panic this short chunky hispanic looking kid just he throws the ice cream sandwiches at me and i pick them up take off running and oh my goodness it's not funny but it's not funny but i mean but it kind I mean, oh.

And so I end up getting arrested not long. I mean, it didn't take them long. And I get arrested for the first time, 13, with an aggravated robbery charge. And the judge actually kind of showed me some grace. But because of the severity of my charge, I had to go to TYC, which is basically Texas Youth Commission. It's kind of like prison for people under the age of 17. And so I go in there and, of course, I'm angry at everything. And I always had this ability to just talk.

Like whenever I would talk, people would listen. And I definitely utilized that in the wrong ways. And so I go into TYC and I start a gang, everything else. And I was originally supposed to be there for nine months. And I turned nine months into two and a half years. Wow. So I'm... Because of like bad behavior and all that kind of thing.

Right. Well, I started this little gang. And like in Texas, it's all about like what color, are you and what city are you from? And I basically was like, I don't care what color you are, what city you're from. Like if we pointed somebody, go beat them up. If you do, you're part of our gang. Yeah.

You know, and so, yeah. And so I end up being incarcerated from 13 to 16. I get out and I have these plans of like, okay, I'm going to go to high school, get a real diploma and everything, because I had already gotten my GED. They actually sent me to this place called. Gulf Coast, which was a program, and it was kind of like a last-ditch effort, like, hey, either you go to this place and you get your GED pass a learner's permit test and obtain a builder's trade or like, you're just going to stay locked up.

And so when they gave me goals, I was like, all right, cool. So I go in there six months later, I end up getting released. And I get out and I have all these plans of like doing the right thing and stuff like that and it just didn't work, you know, and I went back to selling drugs. I ended up making connections with some cartel guys, and that ultimately led to me making upwards of $60,000 a month selling drugs, had a pipeline from Houston to Columbia, South Carolina. And man, you know, everybody talks about selling drugs like that, but it's a whole different thing when you're living in it because you there is no comfort there is there's nothing called peace and at the time

you don't even realize that you know i think about it now looking back like living with the peace that i have in the comforts that i like i look back now and i'm like man i could never go back to that like it just you have to be a totally it's a high wire act right the whole time right somebody's going to shoot you or you're going to you know be in a situation like well and then you're surrounded by so much sin and I grew up not believing in God at all. And so I never made the correlation. I never realized, though, this is sin. I just thought this is life. You know what I mean? Like you just, you got to do what you got to do. And there's good people and there's bad people. And so anyways, I've seen a lot of stuff happen and it didn't last very long. It never does. Less than a year later, I ended up

getting arrested for a gang-related shooting in which a person died. And that whole story's, I mean, kind of crazy. But I'll just say that, you know, I'd been a part of drive-bos before. I'd been at, you know, parties where shootings take place and I may or may not have been involved in them. You know what I mean? And, but that day, I know what happened. That day, there wasn't a question in my mind as far as my participation in things and

how stuff played out and everything else. else. And from there, my life was never the same. I ended up going on the run for a couple of weeks. It was pretty obvious that I was involved in some way. And if you read the news article, it basically says that, you know, the suspected narcotics dealers and gang members. And I ended up getting arrested. Well, I'm originally arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon because the victim hadn't passed away. And then I, uh, I, I go to Harris County. I'm only 17 years old at the time.

So I'm 17. I'm walking into Harris County. And I'm basically coming in here for shooting somebody. And then about three weeks later, the victim died due to complications of the gun wound. And they re-indicted me and up me to murder too. And so now I'm sitting there and I'm basically, rest of my life is over. I remember I went into my arraignment on the new. indictment after and uh in harris county jail it's it's you know a large county jail in houston texas

which is a large city yeah um they connect the jail in the courthouse through these underground tunnels and you walk through them and whenever you go to court you go up into one of the holding tanks out by the courtroom and uh i was sitting there and there was this old guy that was in that holding tank with me outside the courtroom and uh my my lawyer comes in and he kind of, you know, tells me the situation and I hear it and I kind of put my head down and I walk back and that guy just, I sit down next to him. He looks over at me and he goes, youngster, your life is over, you know, and I just remember thinking like, you're right. Yeah, life is over. And I had never been in love. I had never like had a career or worked like

a legitimate job. Yeah. You know what I mean? And you're 17 and it's just all over. What a heavy burden to bear. Take another break. So when did the turnaround begin? Yeah. You got me on my edge of my seat now.

Not for some while. I mean, like, so I go, I get incarcerated and I start going on appeals and like trying to beat this case and ended up taking about three years. But I ultimately ended up beating the charges, getting acquitted of the murder. and because I was at the scene and they could prove I was at the scene, I basically ended up signing on two counts of what they call deadly conduct, which are also felonies. But, man, my mind was in such a disarray.

Like, I was just mentally all messed up. First, I had the PTSD from the life that I was living before I got locked up. Then being incarcerated for me was extremely difficult because I look Hispanic. A part of an all-black street. gang and I'm a white dude. You know what I mean? Like so you know what I mean? So it's like it was just like you know, being locked up was not fun for me. You know what I mean? It was I had to fight all the time and everything else. It felt like just whenever I was a kid being raised in an all black neighborhood, I just had to fight every day until I was eventually accepted. Yeah. And so I get out

and, you know, my mind's just all over the place from all of that. And the day I get out, I'm met with the arresting officers and some more on the original shooting case. And they're like, hey, no matter what we got to do, we're getting you off the streets. You was never supposed to get out. And I remember thinking, man, either they're going to like set me up or they're going to kill me. And so my next thought was, well, I got to get out of Houston. And in comes my son's mom. And she was this girl that I had messed with since we were kids.

and she shows up and, you know, we reconnect. And ultimately, I start moving further and further away from Houston thinking that that was the answer. So the next several years of my life is like literally I'd move somewhere, work a job, get laid off, move somewhere else, work a job, get laid off. I'd sell a little bit of drugs here and there, you know, just trying to get by. But telling myself, as long as I'm not, like, acting in any gang activity or selling, like, a lot of drugs, then, like, maybe I could pull this off. Yeah.

And long story short, I end up over in Longview, Texas, and I'm working at this Chicken Express. And, you know, me and her had split up. We had already had my son at that point. And I'm working out there. And I'm just thinking like, okay, I can do this. Man, there was a point in time in my life where I literally was like, man, if I could just get a job making $10 an hour, man, I could. I'd be set. I'd be set.

You know what I mean? And so I'm working that job at Chicken Express. and I ended up getting laid off from that job. And I'm like, well, that's it. Like, there's only one destiny for me. And so I'm like, I'm going to go back to selling drugs. And so I make a few phone calls, gets large amounts brought up to Longview, and I'm about to just flood East Texas.

And around that same time period, I found out about my grandmother's health. She had moved back here to West Monroe after all the shooting stuff and everything took place and some more stuff happened. Like she ended up moving back here. And I come out here as around Christmas time. I'm visiting her. I'm standing outside talking to my aunt, and they're telling me how they're going to put my grandmother in a nursing home

because insurance wouldn't pay for someone to be with her at night. And I was, for whatever reason, I was just like, well, I'll move out here. And I knew I didn't want to sell drugs no more because, like, after I beat that charge, I told myself, if I ever went back, they weren't going to let me out. Like, that was, right.

And after having my son, which you guys have met my son, like my son's exactly like me. Like he looks exactly like me. He acts exactly like. I call it mini me. Right. Yeah,

little rucker. You know what I mean? That's what Willie calls him. But he's like, you know, after I had him, I was, the only fear I really lived with

was like him having a life like mine, you know? Yeah. And so I knew that if I ever went back to prison or got locked up like that, that was going to be the case. And so I go back to East Texas, give the drugs to my roommate, give them the keys to the apartment, load up, and I move out here to West Monroe.

It was actually in Monroe at the time over there by Rite Aid in Lakeshore. And I live with my grandmother in one-bedroom apartment made for retired living people. I wasn't even supposed to be living there. I was like secretly living there. And I get her back on her feet. and I go everywhere looking for a job, like literally McDonald's and Taco Bell wouldn't hire me. I went into Taco Bell because they actually called me for the interview and I go in there and like I'm sitting there and I'm talking to them and they're like, okay, well, what are you doing out here from Texas? And I don't know what else to tell people other than the truth, right?

So I'm just like, well, this is what happened. She's like, yeah. She's like, I don't. She's saying we may have to call like a regional manager. something. I just don't know with your background if we'll be able to. The lead with I got out of prison and came here. It was not helping you at the job. No, not at all. Well, so interesting enough, like, so I end up driving down Thomas Road and I see this big brown building and it says duck commander on it. And I'm like, oh, I'll go ask those guys for a job. And at the time,

I'm telling myself, well, I'm going to put in a job application everywhere. That way, whenever I'm telling people how I have to sell drugs because society won't allow me to get a job, I could say I tried, you know? Yeah. And I go in there, put in an application. About another month goes by. And at that point, I was just completely crazy. Like, I mean, just totally insane.

My head, like, I can't even begin to go into all the stuff that was going on between the years. That was just. And I put in, and then randomly, like on a Tuesday, I get this phone call from a guy. I didn't even have a phone at the time. I was using my grandmother's phone. and I get a phone from a guy named Blaze Thomas. Oh, yeah. And he's like, hey, we, you know, we want to call you in for an interview.

And I'm like, okay. It was weird as I saw Blaze two days ago. Oh, really? It was kind of crazy. And so I come in to the interview, and I remember, you know, I'm sure you all remember, but, you know, there was that time after Doug Dynasty, like, blew up. It was crazy time. That it was crazy.

and it was basically like if you got a pulse and could put together a duck call, come on. Yeah. You know what I mean? That's right. Well, then. We hired like 120 people in a short period of time. I do remember walking into a room.

I was like Barney Fife. It was like all the recruits. I was like, now gentlemen, the duck call is more sophisticated. I remember doing that literally. And they're all looking up. And I'd walk out and I was like, number two and number seven.

they don't they got to go but the rest of them seem like they were getting it but go ahead hang on let's take care last break and so yeah so so so then blaze comes in and he's got that guy Brad Gilbo that's there managing the warehouse and they're basically trying to get some rain on it you know what I mean because what was found out was like you can't just bring in everybody because it gets real weird you know yeah and so probably was me over there saying quit bringing in y'all who y'all bringing I can literally scooping everywhere. We all getting these people, prison? So I end up going into the interview with Blaze, and he's like, you know, I didn't look like I look now.

I was, you know, it was pretty obvious. I wasn't from around there. And he's like, he's like, man, how would you like to work here? And for whatever reason, I said, honestly, I don't care if it's you or McDonald's. I said, I'm just trying to feed my kid and I don't want to sell drugs to do it. And he kind of, like, looked at me crazy. And then Brad was in there also. He's like, okay?

He goes, well, if you got the job, when could you start? And I literally stood up out my chair and I untucked my shirt. I said, I'll start right now. I said, you ain't even got to pay me right now either. He basically kicks me out the office. He's like, all right, we're going to call you. We'll let you know something. You know how Blaze is.

He's ready. And so a couple days go by and I end up getting a phone call. Missed their phone call five times. Miss Blaze's phone call five times. And I know at that time they weren't calling people more than once or twice. There's no way. And I missed his phone call five times. Ultimately ended up answering. And then I started that Monday, folding clothes there at the warehouse for eight bucks an hour. And I just went in there and I was just working. I remember the first time I met Willie,

like, Willie comes in. He's like, hey, Willie Robertson. I'm like, oh, cool. And I just kept folding. Like, I just didn't, I didn't really care who anybody was or anything. Like, I was just wanted a job. I just wanted a job. Like, I just wanted an opportunity because it would save me from me, you know what I mean? And, you know, I started meeting people like Lyle Sinky, Skip Cuvion, you know, all these guys. And they'd all ask me, well, where'd you come from? And I'd be like, well, I'm from Houston.

This happened, this happened. They're like, oh, well, where do you worship at? I'm like, worship. What are you talking about? I don't do nothing. You know what I'm saying? He's like, well, you should come to church sometime. I'm like, that's cool.

Just don't come me with no Jesus stuff. I ain't trying to hear none of that. I'm just here to work a job. And, you know, the whole me getting a job there was. an act of God in itself. But then, you know, long story short, I end up start coming to the church because Willie was actually giving me more and more responsibility. I ended up running Willie's watering hole for them. And then people found out I could sell stuff. So I started selling duck calls, selling coffee and everything else. And you were on the show. Yeah, I ended up being on

the show. But, you know, coming to come into the church, I originally was just like going to the church so that everybody'd see me going. And I'd be like, man, these dudes are going to give me a raise. They see me coming to church. And so I go to church and I was sat down and the more I went, the more I listen and the more I listened, everything that didn't make sense, made sense if I put God in the equation. You know, I didn't have this moment where it was like, oh, man, I instantly believe God is real. It's a lot like, you know, Abraham just over years, my faith has been grown and built.

But I couldn't explain my life. I didn't know why I was free. I didn't know why I was alive. And the only thing that ever made that make sense to me was if there's God and he's got a plan for my life. Yeah. And so, you know. You'd run up on some people at least who knew loves you. Yeah.

Well, and that was the thing. These guys, you never opened up a Bible, never pointed to any verses. All they said was, I love you. They said the words, I love you. And it just did something to me because I actually believed it. And then there's three weeks later, old Phil here is baptizing me. And there at the church. I wish I remembered it, but I don't.

Well, no, I know you don't. But it's on YouTube. You're one of a large group. Yeah. Well, the funny thing is whenever I'm getting baptized, Lyle took me back there. He's like, hey, Phil's going to baptize you. I said, okay, cool.

And he goes, Phil goes, he goes, what's your name? I said, I'm Brian. I work for you. He goes, ooh. He's a, he's a, we literally. walk into the baptistry and he's about to baptize he goes i came across brian back there he says that he works for us say i guess i'm going to have to talk to willy about that and then he and then he baptizes me and it's on youtube it's on youtube it's crazy that's on youtube and uh so ended up uh you know

things progressed for me quickly after that uh i really got close with willie got close with some of the Buck Commander guys and, you know, Jay Stone and just everybody that worked there. You know what I mean? Rucker, I gave you this. That's quite the conversion story. Yeah, yeah, it is. So looking back, now think about it, every rotten, filthy thing you ever did. It's gone.

Yeah. No future sins counted against you. You appeal to the blood of Jesus. You're guaranteed you be raised from the dead. Yep. All I'd say, Rucker is welcome aboard. I learned more about you in the last 35, 40 minutes. Well, I've only been around for eight years, Phil.

So you eventually left Duck Commander to go to work at an addiction recovery place. Yeah. And tell us a little bit about that because we've only got a few minutes left. And then there's a couple of things I want to ask you about it. Yeah. So, yeah, I was working there at Duck Commander. And at that time, I had, you know, I'd ended up being on the show and was going places, speaking, telling my story and stuff.

Your gifts were able to be used because of that. Right. Not for good. Yeah, yeah. People like the first time I led a devotional at the office, it was like, oh, man, you got a gift. And I was like, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just here, you know? And so, yeah, I started being able to go speak places.

And one of the place I spoke at was a treatment center. And the lady that ran the treatment center was like, I heard you speak for 30 minutes and I want to offer you a job. And I'm like, nope, not interested. And she just asked me several times. I was like, I really think you'd be a good counselor. And I ended up talking to Willie about it. And Willie, you know, Willie's got this way of just putting it in perspective. But he was like, he was like, well, you're family.

He said, you always got a job here. He's like, go try it. If you like, if you like it, great. If not, whatever. I'm like, all right, that makes sense. So. Well, he gave you a parachute. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

He gave me the like. Because you had found your life through this place. So, of course, I don't want to leave here. This is where I'm my piece. Well, it was my safety net. It was my family. And that's where, like, White's Ferry Road and Duck Commander, like, people didn't realize, like, I was like, no, that's my, that's my family. I don't, you know, that's who I lean on. That's who's helping. Like, so.

Well, even when you go back to your life, you know, he's 12 or 13, I mean, if you'd have had somebody like you are now, who could have intervened, you know. Right. So to me, that's what I seem like. It's like a breakdown of the, you know, the home and the system and you're in a place and you make much bad decisions next thing you know. how many now are you working with and through with Celebrate Recovery? So how many are part of that right now? 100, 200? Well, I mean, it's bigger. I mean, it's way bigger than that.

I can't tell you personally how many people I've been able to work with because through addiction counseling on an inpatient level and everything, and then, of course, celebrate recovery and all that. But I could say that on average, we have over 400 people at Celebrate Recovery every Friday night. Yeah. And, well, you're doing a good job, Erica. Well, and you know, it's interesting is, because, you know, Brian's stories like a lot of people, I'm sure a lot of our listeners have had some similar thing.

It may have been some other, you know, situation you were in. But the beauty of that is when you finally bent the knee, when you finally said, okay, I get it. You know, Jesus is Lord. The pathway he took you, because you had all these gifts and abilities that were used for evil. But now, you know, he's provided a pathway to use them for good. So when the conversation comes up with us, it's time for that next generation of leadership because Kyle was moving into another role. And so he says, well, my suggestion is, is Derek and Rucker together should lead this ministry.

And all of us who are leaders to the church were like, of course. Like, it was just, it made perfect sense. And so now to get to see that, so you sent me a note. And you were in my office studying or something, getting ready to. to speak at somewhere at the church. And you took a picture and you said, I can't believe I'm sitting in your office about to deliver the word of God

and where God has brought me to this place. And so I remember you and I talked back and forth. But it was touching to me, Brian, because it's exactly what God has done with all of us. Yeah. I mean, he took us from whatever sin, you know, had us captivated and then brought us into something new and wonderful. So, I mean, that's the blessing we get.

You know, what I finally came to realize is Jesus didn't come and die on a cross and be raised from the dead just to make bad people good. He came and did it to make dead people alive. And, you know, there was this sanctification process that ensued. Even after becoming a Christian, I screwed it up, ended up back in jail. Matter of fact, Jace, after I got arrested and it hit the news and everything, you probably don't even remember this. You walked into the church.

I don't remember, but tell me, I'm nervous now. Well, no, no. So you walked into the church, and I'm sitting there on the front row, and I'm just kind of being quiet because like everybody knows I got arrested. And this was after the show. It came out and stuff. So Jace walks up, he goes, well, you ready to do it right? And I said, yeah.

He goes, good. We love you. And he walks off. Which is kind of the whole good. All right. So hold on. I want to talk a little bit more about this. We're out of time.

So we're going to go over to overtime. A few more minutes with Rucker. If you want to follow us over, it's blaishty.com. slash 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.

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