following the Holy Spirit’s leading into Macedonia, Paul made his first evangelistic contact with a small group of women. Paul never allowed gender or cultural boundaries to keep him from preaching the Good News. He preached to these women, and Lydia, an influential merchant, believed. This opened the way for ministry in that region. God often worked in and through women in the early church. 16:14 Lydia was a merchant of purple cloth, so she was probably wealthy. Purple cloth was valuable and expensive.