By Chad Hershberger

This post is part of our Leadership of the Disciples series. 

As we continue to investigate the lives of Jesus’ disciples to see what we can learn about leadership, this time we are going to look at Andrew. He was the son of Jona and born in Bethsaida. He lived in Capernaum with his brother, Simon Peter, and brought his brother to Jesus after being a disciple of John the Baptist. Andrew was a friendly person and reached out to many for fellowship. He was the first to follow Jesus.

We can learn many lessons from Andrew. In researching Andrew, I found a source that said this: It is only in true discipleship that rest can be found. Serving others can be what gives us joy in our lives and a sense of peace and contentment.

But I also read that word “rest” and thought about how tiring serving others can be. We also need to take care of ourselves. Those of us in camping are gearing up for a busy summer season. With lots of last-minute preparations taking up time and causing us stress, we need to stop and rest. We need to pace ourselves for the long work ahead. We need time for self-reflection so that we can discover the gifts we have to offer and help others find their gifts to serve as well. Everyone does!

Peter was better-known that is brother and yet we don’t know about their relationship. Maybe Andrew was the one who reminded Peter to rest so that he could do his work. Andrew was present for a lot of important events (the feeding of the 5,000, post-resurrection appearances, the Great Commission, the ascension) and somehow, I see Andrew being there taking it in and also being one to remind others that before we do the hard work, we need to rest and take care of ourselves.

Late in life, some suggest that Andrew preached in Greece, Asia Minor, and Russia. I bet before he stood before those crowds, he took some time to rest.