Jn.1:40-42 – One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first *found his own brother Simon and *said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).
Billy Graham had a ministry that was very effective in bringing the lost to his evangelistic campaigns; it was called Operation Andrew. Andrew was Simon Peter’s brother and the gospels show us that Andrew actually brought Peter to Jesus. Think about that for a moment. Peter was the original crusade evangelist. He preached to thousands on the day the church in Jerusalem was started. In his first meeting 3000 people gave their lives to Christ. Now think about the importance of Andrew bringing his brother to Jesus. That was probably the most important act that Andrew performed in all his life.
We know Andrew brought the boy with the lunch at the feeding of the 5000, we know that Andrew probably preached in Ukraine, Russia, Greece and much of Eastern Europe. We also know that Andrew gave his life for Christ, he was actually crucified for preaching the gospel. But with all those other things that Andrew did, bringing Peter to Christ was the most significant. That brings us back to Operation Andrew and Billy Graham. Rev. Graham would recruit several hundred churches in a region when he was going to have a crusade. Each church would start Operation Andrew with their members. The key was this, each church member would bring an unsaved family member or a friend to the crusade. As a result many thousands of non-Christians would be in the meeting and many would give their lives to Christ.
Many people call what Andrew did friendship evangelism. It is simple, each one of us have a circle of unsaved family and friends. All we need to do is win one of them to Christ or at least bring them into a service. That one simple act could be your most important work in all your life. Victory Church is celebrating its 44th anniversary on Sunday, February 12. If Victory is your home church let’s invoke Operation Andrew for that Sunday. Make it your business to bring a family member or a friend to our celebration. This one simple act of faith could be the tool the Lord uses to answer your prayers.