When he came to Jerusalem,
he tried to join the disciples.
—Acts 9:26
Paul wasn’t welcome in Jerusalem. Christians were scared of him, convinced that his reported conversion was a hoax. Barnabas was the only person who believed his story and went to bat for him.
It was also Barnabas who rescued Paul from the obscurity of Tarsus, launched his evangelistic career, and accompanied him on his first missionary journey.
When Paul rejected John Mark as a travelling companion, Barnabas stood up for the young man and shepherded him into a productive ministry.
No book in your Bible gives the name of Barnabas as its author. But it was his encouragement that launched the ministries of two men—Paul and John Mark—who wrote half of the New Testament.
Encouragement is a small investment
that pays big dividends.