Andrew The Rodeo Announcer Series

Andrew the Rodeo Announcer

Rodeo announcers are an integral part of the Rodeo. The Rodeo Announcer will tell about each cowboy and cowgirl’s hometown and perhaps some of their accomplishments. The audience connects better when the announcer tells something about the person they are watching. I like to know where the cowboys are from and what experiences they have had in life; it makes the rodeo more interesting. A good rodeo announcer will get to know the cowboys and will study up on them. Having an announcer with a good working knowledge of each cowboy allows the crowd to be mentally closer to the competitors. Out of all the disciples there is one disciple that has the appeal of a rodeo announcer; Peter’s brother Andrew.

Announcers occasionally make mistakes but these mistakes add to their character. The following story going around the internet makes a good point about an experience of a new young minister:

As a young minister, I was asked by a funeral director to hold a

graveside service in a new cemetery for a derelict man (with no family

or friends) who had died while traveling through the area.

The cemetery was way back in the country. This man would be the first

to be laid to rest at this new cemetery.

As I was not familiar with the backwoods area, I became lost.

Being the typical man I didn’t stop for directions. And when I finally

arrived an hour late, I saw a crew and a backhoe, but the hearse was

nowhere in sight.

The workmen were eating lunch. I apologized for my tardiness, but the

workers just looked puzzled. I stepped to the side of the open grave,

to find the vault lid already in place.

I assured the workers I would not hold them long, but this was the

proper thing to do.

As the workers gathered around, still eating their lunch. I poured out

my heart and soul.

As I preached, the workers began to say "Amen," "Praise the Lord" and

"Glory," (they must have all been Baptist).

I preached, and I preached, like I’d never preached before. I began

from Genesis and worked all the way through to Revelation.

I preached for 45 minutes.

It was a long service. Finally, I closed in prayer and it was

finished.

As I was walking to my car, I felt that I had done my duty and I would

leave with a renewed sense of purpose and dedication, in spite of my

tardiness.

As I was opening the door and taking off my coat, I overheard one of

the workers saying to another...

"Ya know, I’ve been putting in septic tanks for 20 years, but I ain’t

never seen anything like that before

This could be a mistake anyone of us could make. Andrew was a thoughtful disciple and wanted to do things right and not get ahead of Jesus. Andrew was one of the twelve disciples, who like Peter (his brother) and Philip, are all from a fishing village called Bethsaida. Bethsaida is on the upper end of the Sea of Galilee. Andrew, like Peter, was a Galilean which meant he had a specific accent in his speech. This accent was easily recognized, similar to a Texan going to New York, his accent gives him away. When I spoke to people the first thing they would ask me “Are you from Texas?” Andrew is closely associated with Peter, James and John as they were all partners in the fishing business (Luke 5:10).

Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist and when John announced the Messiah Jesus Christ; Andrew immediately started to follow Jesus and became one of his twelve closest disciples (John 1:40). The first thing Andrew did after he started following Christ was to bring his brother Simon to Jesus. Jesus immediately changed Simon’s name to Peter. Andrew is mentioned fourteen times in the New Testament. Out of those fourteen times we see him in action during only three events. All three events that specifically mention the actions of Andrew by himself all share one common theme, Andrew was an announcer, and he introduced people to Jesus. The first event we see is Andrew announcing Peter to Jesus (John 1:41). The second event we see Andrew introducing a small boy to Jesus that only had five loaves of bread and two fishes (John 6:8). The third event we see Andrew performing is when some Greeks, during the week Jesus was to be crucified, came by and wanted to see Jesus (John 12:22).

The Greeks That Wanted to See Jesus (John 12:22)

During the week of Passover, the same week that Jesus was crucified, some Greeks came by and wanted to see Jesus. The Greeks coming to Jesus was a confirmation of what the Pharisees (the religious people) said about Jesus in John 12:19, “Look the world has gone after him!” Jesus’ response to the Greeks was spoken to His disciples, “Look, the hour has at last arrived.” Andrew had the opportunity to introduce the climax of Jesus ministry.