In reading the book of Acts of late I have been spending time looking at the not so obvious information that is written. In particular I read where as Paul began traveling back to Jerusalem on what is known as his third missionary journey, there were several extra travelers. This is found in Acts 19 and 20 if you want to look it up.
Anyway with Paul seems to have picked up people that wanted to see the world and have an adventure. Well maybe that wasn't the reason the went along. But for certain they traveled with Paul because they had a desire to serve the Lord in some capacity like Paul. And it is very much as likely that Paul recognized their passion and call to ministry and as a result asked them to join him.

We know they traveled all the way from Asia to Jerusalem because we find them being mentioned in Jerusalem. And we also know that these men were not all Jews. At least one was a Greek. So all of this is very interesting.

The reason it is interesting is because I can see how Paul trained people utilizing everything available. Hands on ministry rather than seminary or bible institute. They were able to ask questions since they had a lot of time while traveling. Not like a 2 hour plane ride today. We don't have the story of what these men went on to do after this time. We only have the mention of them joining Paul on this journey.

So here is where we add conclusions based on other biblical passages that Paul wrote. In particular we can look at both epistles of Timothy. Surely Paul treated these men like a Timothy. he spoke into their lives, nurtured the call of God on their lives, and more. So even though Acts is silent about what they did we can assume a lot of things from these other scriptures to give us a better picture.

What speaks to me on this point even more than all of that is the fact that these guys chose to travel with him. They must have sensed the hand of God on their lives and needed to do something about it. They wanted to learn more and be better prepared. Their love for God must have been the number one motivator in the decision to travel all the way to Jerusalem. And there is no telling what each of them went on to do. One thing is for sure. They made a decision to leave whatever they were doing to follow Jesus. Not Paul, but Jesus.

Here is one more thing that I gleaned as I read this. Paul wasn't the only one called to do it all as the great apostle. There were other people that were preparing to carry on. Another generation was being prepared.

Anyway a lot more could be said about this but I will stop for now. It has caused me to do some thinking and I hope it feeds your curiosity as well.