When he came to Jerusalem,
[Paul] tried to join the disciples.
—Acts 9:26
Paul wasn’t welcomed by Christians in Jerusalem. They were scared of him, suspecting that his reported conversion was a hoax.
Barnabas, the only person who believed his story, went to bat for him.
It was also Barnabas who later 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 an untrustworthy traveling companion, Barnabas stood up for the young man and shepherded him into a productive ministry.
Barnabas wrote no Bible book. But it was his encouragement that launched the ministries of Paul and John Mark, who, combined, wrote half of the New Testament.
Encouragement is a small investment
that pays big dividends.