Some things need to be shared in private. God's servants can't be in public all the time. Jesus often withdrew to pray. In addition, he pulled away from the crowds so his apostles could rest and rekindle their spirits. He also left the crowds behind so he could more fully teach the people he would soon leave to continue his work. One dimension of teaching is preparing other teachers. That preparation requires us to leave the crowds and spend focused time with those the church needs for the future. While we may want simply to dismiss this practice as a cultural phenomenon, we should take notice that John the Baptist, Jesus, Barnabas, and Paul all used this same basic method of teaching and training. We ignore their example at our own risk. Even if we are not skilled public teachers, we all have people whom we influence — friends and family — whom we can teach and train by our words and by our character in our private times with them.