Exchange student Maggie Swanson always loved her morning runs through the streets of Seville, Spain. This one almost cost her - her life. Maggie was crossing a street when a bus, traveling 37 mph, hit her - throwing her 80 feet. Seven hours later and over 4000 miles away in Minnesota, Tad Weiss, got the phone call at work that his 19-year-old daughter was in the hospital fighting for her life. Tad recalls. “Our life just got turned upside down in the matter of moments with one phone call.” Tad immediately called his wife, Wendy. She says, “It was almost like an out-of-body experience. Packed the bags, grabbed the passports, made my way to Tad's office, picked him up, got to the airport. I know that that was the Holy Spirit that was guiding me.”

Wendy and Tad say despite full flights, God paved the way for them to get last minute tickets to Spain. They spent most of the journey praying. Tad says, “Praying to God during that time was probably the only thing that we felt we could do that made a difference.” Wendy says, “Maggie was a believer in Jesus Christ. And if the Lord chose not to save her life, we knew that she would go to Heaven.”

In Seville, they rushed to the hospital where they found Maggie in the ICU in a medically induced coma. It had been 25 hours since the accident. Tad recalls, “We were in shock. Due to all the swelling from the accident, it just didn't even look like Maggie.” Wendy recalls seeing Maggie that morning, “Those first moments of seeing Maggie, we just knew we had a long battle ahead of us.”

Through translators, they learned that Maggie suffered a traumatic brain injury, pelvic fracture, and broken ribs. Their main concern was the possibility of her brain swelling. The first 72 hours were critical. Wendy recalls, “They never told us that she would live or that they had assurance that she would live. And so, we went through the first four days wondering at any moment whether or not we would hear from the hospital that she had taken a turn for the worst, and we would be called in to say ‘goodbye’ to her.” 

Now it was a waiting game. Tad and Wendy spent every moment they could at Maggie’s bedside. After a week, Maggie was stable enough for surgery to repair her fractured pelvis. While doctors assured them Maggie would live, they couldn’t predict what her future would hold. Wendy thought, “What if she is not...no longer able to speak clearly or hold a job. Or would she be able to be an adult who is able to earn an income and get married and have a family. All of those thoughts raced through your mind.”

By then, Tad had set up a Caring Bridge page to post updates on Maggie. Prayers and encouragement came pouring in. Tad says, “The people that came alongside of us were such a part of this story and such a big part of Maggie's recovery, we just can't thank them enough.”

By the end of three weeks, Maggie had been brought out of her coma and was stable enough to fly home. Psychiatrist and brain trauma specialist, Doctor Bob Sevenich, was on the team that took over Maggie’s care in Minneapolis. Dr. Sevenich recalls, “When I first saw her, she was quite cognitively impaired. She was semi awake, and she was answering yes, no questions, inconsistently, even fairly simple questions. People that have traumatic brain injuries often have ongoing difficulties with walking, with moving, with coordination, all those sorts of things.”

However, Maggie would begin defying the odds, making great strides in physical therapy and on August 7th she was up and walking. Wendy recalls, “She stood up out of that wheelchair and we walked her out of the hospital. And it was just the most beautiful thing.” Maggie recalls, “It felt so freeing to walk after I've been sitting around for months.”

Although she was improving physically, Maggie’s emotional and mental healing took longer. Maggie recalls, “I just couldn't join my friends with a lot of things. And I found that that was very isolating and very confusing. That led to me asking God a lot of questions of why, why is this happening to me? Why, why, why am I alone? It was very, it was a very isolating time. I was wondering why God had taken my running, my academics, my social life, my, my ability to really do anything, to be a normal, to be a normal student. Romans 8:28 was a real encouragement during this time. ‘God works all things for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his will.'"

Those words would come true. That Fall, with therapy, hard work, and a lot of prayer, Maggie returned to college and was soon running again. A year after the accident, after working through her emotional and mental challenges, Maggie was back in Spain as an exchange student. In May of 2016, she graduated from college on time. Dr. Sevenich says, “The accident was quite severe, and I think it surprised a lot of the providers, the medical professionals both in Spain and here, how rapid her recovery was and how well she did considering the injuries that she sustained.”

Married in 2019, Maggie went on to accomplish even more. Since then, she has competed in three Ironman Triathlons. In 2023 she placed 100 out of 2000 women. As in everything, she gives God the glory. Tad says, “It is just amazing what God has done in her life, how she can use her story, um, to help others learn about Jesus and about God and how He can take the worst of events and turn them into incredible blessings.”

Wendy says, “Be in the word, know the Lord Jesus in such a way that you can stand on His foundation of truth when the storm comes. It's not just a pat answer to say, that is where you go to for strength.”

And Maggie says, “I'm grateful that the accident happened and that, and that He did, He did turn what was initially meant for evil to something beautiful. All the things that happened to me, God did mean it for good and God brought so much good from it. Keep the faith that God is with you and that God wants the best for you.”

Maggie's father has written a book about this miraculous healing and it can be found at www.25meters.com.
 

22-year-old Emmaus Vanderbilt owns Silver Fox Productions, a video production company located in North Carolina.  His wife, Hannah, owns and operates her own cleaning company, Joyful Cleaning. From the beginning, they made tithing a priority.  
 
Emmaus said, “I credit that to my parents. They've always modeled that for me. God just gets the first 10%.”
 
Hannah feels the same. She said, “ I want to honor God as best as I can. And so, from that first job when I was 14, ever since, I've just always tithed 10% of what I made. And it’s just been a habit I’m joyful to do.”
 
Emmaus has learned valuable lessons about finances. At 18, his income had grown to six figures as a startup video business shooting destination weddings.
 
“I believe there were certain times in my life when I slipped. And I said this is something I’ve been able to do. Look what I did,” said Emmaus. “And I won't never say that I totally cut God out of the equation. Because I still tithe on it. I thank the Lord for it. But what I realized was that no, the Lord was the one who put the breath in my lungs this morning. The Lord was the one who provided these opportunities. And God has just allowed me to manage this money, this video project.”
 
When Covid hit in 2020 Emmaus experienced God’s faithfulness as his business weathered the storm. 
 
He said, “Some people, they were, they were dropping by 50% of their weddings, 60% of their shoots. And just the Lord continued providing even whenever a few weddings canceled, we still had 85 90% still hire us and for the 10% that had to cancel. We had local government organizations reach out and ask us to film videos for them. Different corporate groups.  We never went without. I totally attribute tithing to the fact that we stayed safe during that storm.”
 
Soon after he met and married Hannah in 2021, she became co-owner of the production company and in 2022 she started her in-home cleaning business. The couple then got serious about debt. She had school loans and they both had car payments which in all totaled $90,000. They began paying it off working long hours, tithing the whole time and their businesses thrived.
 
Hannah said, “There's no other no other answer, but the Lord did that. We're having a month where we're having less weddings, but more cleaning clients. So, it's all, it all balances out. And the only answer for it is, God, He's the one providing it.”
 
Today, they are debt free. Looking back on all God has accomplished this year the couple is grateful for their two businesses growing at a rate of 40% and many more opportunities awaiting them.
 
Emmaus said, “And whenever we don’t have debt, don’t have payments, we have more money to invest, save, and ultimately give and be more generous.”
 
Emmaus and Hannah say it all starts with generosity.
 
“The Lord provided for us. And, it says in Malachi three 10, the only time in the Bible that we can test God in something. Yeah. And it's tithes and offerings. And God just completely overflowed our storehouses,” said Emmaus.
 
Hannah said, “I say when you give 10% that God's going to bless you because you're obeying Him and you're doing what His word says.”

“That’s why I say, I used to lock people up, now I’m trying to set people free.”

From buying cocaine as an undercover mob boss to preaching about Jesus, Dale Sutherland worked as both a pastor and an undercover narcotics officer in Washington D.C. for 22 years. In his words, “I'd be in the office counseling, working, and then in the evening I'd go to the police department and buy drugs and arrest bad guys.” As part of his undercover persona, he was presented as several different roles to entice perpetrators to sell and buy drugs from them; one of those roles was as a pimp. He would often have prostitutes surrounding him, while also preaching on holiness at church as a pastor, so he found his unexpected job duo often challenging.

In his early 20s, Dale felt the call to minister to urban youth. However, growing in a Christian home within a safe and secure neighborhood, Dale didn’t have much experience with life on the streets, so after a few years in Bible college, he enrolled in the Washington D.C. police academy. Shortly after graduating, he was introduced to the undercover department, fell in love with the work, and most importantly God revealed to him a new way to minister to the urban communities he felt called too. 

Following a close call dodging his own murder by 45 minutes, Dale’s desire to evangelize on the force significantly increased. He began sharing the gospel more and more on the force, and many former drug dealers, including his friend Javier, who he initially arrested, credit him for leading them to Christ and getting them off the streets.

After 22 years on the force, 12 of those years balancing both jobs, Dale retired from the police force. Today, he is an associate pastor at his local church in Washington D.C., where he become known as the Undercover Pastor. He’s also the founder of Code 3, a non-profit organization that provides training and programs to police and citizens so they can work together to build safer, more connected communities. His goal of sharing the gospel remains the same. 

In his words, “The only thing that matters is that I can reach more people for Christ, for eternity. That’s why I say, 'I used to lock people up, now I’m trying to set people free.'"

Connect with Dale’s nonprofit community organization, Code 3 at www.code3.org.  
 

WHAT IS A GOSPELER?

According to the Oxford Languages Dictionary, a Gospeler (gos-pel-er rhymes with feller or dweller) is a person who zealously teaches or professes faith in the Gospel. Willie says, “As a follower of Jesus, I believe we are all called to be Gospelers." Although he does not claim to be a Bible scholar or a pastor, he does claim to be a proclaimer of the Gospel both publicly and personally. 

He began as a Gospeler in his teen years over takeout pizza and landline phones. These days he tries to share the Good News with people around him whether he is in a deer stand or a pro athlete’s hotel room because everyone needs to hear it. 

GOSPEL GENEALOGY

Willie is the third son of Phil and Kay Robertson. Growing up, Kay was taught to be a good person, but she did not know what the Gospel was all about. Phil’s parents were Christians, but he rejected the faith for many years. He describes himself before Christ as a “rank heathen.” Without God in their marriage, things began to go south for their young family. After they separated, Kay became a Christian. She and her boys began going to church.

Phil’s younger sister, Jan Dasher, went to a church pastored by Bill Smith. She asked him to go to Phil’s bar (which was out of state) and have a conversation with him about the Gospel. Bill agreed to go and share the Gospel with him. After he gave it his best shot Phil replied, “I’ll keep that in mind.” Phil went back to his same old miserable lifestyle. Less than a year later, the seed that had been planted took root in Phil’s life. He made things right with Kay, became a Christian, and was even baptized. From that day on, Phil decided to share the good news of Jesus with anyone God put in his path.

Although Willie was very young when God restored his family, he does remember watching how Phil and Kay shared their faith with many people sitting at their dining room table. Willie can even remember countless people going to the river by their house and being baptized by Phil after he prayed with them. 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the most important thing to their family. Willie recalled. “Not even hunting or fishing was as important to our family as the Gospel. “The lives of my siblings and their families, and all those who heard the message from Phil and Kay over these past fifty years, are forever changed because of the Good News. Changed because one man and woman acted on the Gospel.”  

QUALIFIED TO SHARE THE GOSPEL 

For many years, Willie was the CEO of Duck Commander. Then Duck Dynasty became quite the success, but with it also brought challenges. As the Executive Producer, he was pulled in every direction daily. Willie felt the weight of responsibility for his job, career, and his family. His faith was intact, but not burning hot as it once did. Willie was not in a good place and therefore neither was his marriage. His job and pursuit of money had shifted to the number one goal in his life. When Willie and his wife, Korie, realized they needed help they began counseling and slowly worked through their issues. During this time, Willie did not share this information with his close friends. He mostly talked to God and listened to worship music nonstop. Willie wants everyone to know that we all have baggage that could disqualify us from having a conversation with anyone about God. However, the message of the Gospel is not based on what we’ve done, but on what He’s done for us. 

SHARING YOUR FAITH 

Willie believes that “most people want to share their faith…but they believe that they just don’t know how.” He offers the following methods to help you share the Gospel with those around you:

•   Listen to their story. Show people you care by listening to their story, but also offer hope. “Even though everyone’s story is different, Jesus has a solution for every problem,” shares Willie. 
•   Ask a question. In the Bible, the woman at the well shared her story after Jesus asked her for a drink of water. Then Jesus shared His story about water that springs into His gift of eternal life. 
•   Don’t be intimidated that you will say the wrong thing. Instead, start the conversation and go where their story leads, always pointing to Jesus as the answer.
•   Don’t preach to people but have a conversation.
•   Refrain from talking about how bad the world has become. Instead, talk about the hope that Jesus gives us.
•   Keep sharing the gospel with someone, knowing that Jesus never gives up on us. “Aunt Jan never gave up on dad,” shares Willie.
•   Don’t focus on a person’s past. We all have baggage. Willie shares the story of Ruck, a drug dealer for many years who spent time in prison. After serving his time, he always went back to what he knew, dealing drugs. When his grandmother got sick, he moved to Louisiana to help take care of her. He applied for many jobs but received no callbacks, so he was about to go back to drug dealing. Then he decided to apply at an old warehouse that sold duck calls. Duck Commander received his application and gave him a chance. The guys at work began bringing him to Bible studies and church and Ruck became a Christian. He went on to become an addiction counselor. Today, he leads a giant Celebrate Recovery group. 
•   Focus on what’s truly important (Jesus) instead of what’s not (religion). 

He says, “The spread of the Gospel has depended on only one thing – people who love Jesus telling others about Him.” During COVID, Willie decided to become more intentional about sharing the Gospel with more people. He shared some ideas with his church and a new ministry called 99/One was formed. The idea behind this ministry was based on Matthew 18 and Luke 15 (the parable of the shepherd who left the ninety-nine sheep to find the one that was lost). The ministry was designed to help answer spiritual questions for anyone who came in to visit. Together they would go over scriptures, cover the basics of repentance, baptism, confessing Christ, and sin. 

One woman who came to their meetings was always taking notes, but she never said a word and did not feel comfortable sharing her faith with others. About a month later, Willie was unable to fill in for one of the meetings on Easter Sunday, so he asked Shellie to fill in for him in case someone showed up wanting to know more about Jesus. Two people came to the meeting that day and Shellie not only shared the Gospel with them, but also baptized them. Since that day she has gone on to share her faith with many. 

ABOUT WILLIE

Willie is the CEO of Duck Commander and Buck Commander and star of A&E’s Duck Dynasty. He has expanded his family companies, from a living room operation to a multi-million-dollar enterprise. Duck Commander is the best-selling duck call brand in the U.S. It, along with Buck Commander are popular trademarks on apparel, hunting gear, food items and more. Willie is executive producer of A&E’s Duck Dynasty and Buck Commander on the Outdoor Channel. 

Discover more about Duck Commander and purchase Willie Robertson's book, Gospeler, here: Gospeler.