Think about the reason you came to faith. Chances are someone reached out to you. Maybe it was a mother or father who brought you to church, or a friend from school who invited you along. Jesus followed this same strategy. In three and a half years of public ministry, He touched the crowds but invested most deeply in twelve disciples, and most closely in three. That small group multiplied over the centuries, and we are here today because of it.

The Apostle Paul carried that same heart. He was in Thessalonica for only about four weeks, yet when he was forced to leave, he could not rest until he knew how those new believers were doing. "When I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith" (1 Thessalonians 3:5). Ministry is not reserved for those in full-time Christian service. God has called every believer to invest in the lives of others, and in 1 Thessalonians 3 we discover five practical ways to show people we care about what is going on in their lives.