Inviting Andrews

In the first chapter of the book of John, we meet a fisherman named Andrew - he had become a follower of John the Baptist, who introduced him to Jesus. That man responded by not only following the Nazarene, but went to invite his brother to come along, as well.  This is where we meet the two of the first disciples of Jesus.  We can read the narrative in John 1 (ESV):
38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking? ”And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying? ”
39 He said to them, “Come and you will see. ”So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.
40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.
41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ).
42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas”(which means Peter).

Andrew was initially a follower of John the Baptist; the apostle John is believed to be the other mentioned there in John 1.  Andrew went to his brother and declared, "We have found the Messiah," which, by the way, will be the theme Scripture for this year's Faith Radio Advent Guide, in the upcoming Ministry Magazine.

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has developed an initiative called, I Am Andrew, which was used in correlation with a recent Will Graham Celebration in the nation of Indonesia.  Decision Magazine, in a report on the event, stated: "Part of the process is the I Am Andrew program, in which Christians write down the names of unbelievers, pray for them and invite them to the Celebration."  Robert Benedictus, Chairman of the Celebration, related: “Not long after the ‘I Am Andrew’ class, people started coming to church and then were even baptized,” Benedictus shared. “One thing that gives me excitement is that the people who asked for baptism were not from a Christian household.”  He had heard from pastors about people coming to Christ even before the meetings.

The article also related:

Non-Islamic religions remain the minority in Indonesia, which has the highest Muslim population in the world.

In Indonesian Christian Election Church (GEKI), a staff member wrote the name of a friend on an I Am Andrew card. Soon the friend, along with his family, appeared at GEKI.

The Rev. Dr. Octavianus Nathanael, the event’s training, counseling and discipleship coordinator and a pastor of GEKI, witnessed the family’s story of spiritual transformation.

Nathanael shared the story on the morning of the first Celebration day: “The whole family accepted the Lord. They took their idols and threw them away. They gave their lives to Jesus. Three weeks ago, I was baptizing them.”

The family then invited loved ones to attend the Celebration and to hear Will preach the Gospel.

The magazine piece also said that "over 800 churches held more than 400 I Am Andrew classes involving about 450 congregations, and when the long-awaited event finally arrived in the Southeast Asian nation, the spiritual power the church had been seeing for months continued."

The Celebration of Love with Will Graham in Medan, Indonesia drew over 27,000 people over two nights, with greater than 2,400 coming to Christ.   Almost half of them were 25 years old or younger.

The article shared that Will Graham, on the first night, told the story of Barabbas, who was released to the crowd gathered in Jerusalem during Passover, instead of Jesus.  Will pointed out, "The Bible says we have all sinned...and so in the eyes of God, we are the same as Barabbas. And Barabbas was under a death sentence. And guess what, so are you and I. The Bible says ‘for the wages of sin is death.’”  He went on to preach, “Jesus was willing to trade places with him. Jesus was going to take his death on the cross. And that is the Good News—that God loves you so much that He gave you a gift. That gift is forgiveness of sins. All you have to do is receive it tonight.”

This series of meetings and the results can remind us of several principles.  For one thing, we can be challenged to be bold in our witness for Christ; the Billy Graham team scheduled an event in a predominantly Muslim country, but they didn't view that as a hindrance, but an opportunity - and God granted the harvest.

We can also recognize the witness of Andrew, which has certainly resonated through the ages.  Andrew initially followed John the Baptist, but after meeting and spending time with Jesus, he followed Him.  Then, he went to tell his brother the good news.  That brother, Peter, became the "rock" for the early Church.  Andrew's message was clear: "We have found the Messiah." That is the message we as born-again Christians carry in our hearts.  This evangelistic team challenged believers to put themselves in the shoes of Andrew and identify someone for whom they could pray and invite.  

This is yet another instance of the faithfulness of God - through faithful servants coming together as the Church, crossing denominational lines and uniting their hearts - they prepared for Will Graham to come and prepared a place for the presence of God.  They did what they were instructed by the Holy Spirit to do, and God produced the fruit.  We cannot produce fruit for the Kingdom in our own strength, but through the power of God working through us.