Jesus’s primary ministry was that of a small group leader. Not preacher. Not executive leader. Not CEO. Small group leader.
Yes, Jesus preached to crowds. He taught on hillsides, from boats, in synagogues, and even in the temple courts. But over and over again, He pulled away from the crowds to be with His small group. He spent the majority of His time with twelve handpicked followers. He ate with them. He walked with them. He hiked with them. He confronted them. He listened to their questions. He answered with questions of His own. He lived life with them. He didn’t just lecture them—He formed them. Robert Coleman explains:
 

Having called his men, Jesus made a practice of being with them. This was the essence of his training program—just letting his disciples follow him.
When one stops to think of it, this was an incredibly simple way of doing it. Jesus had no formal school, no seminaries, no outlined course of study, no periodic membership classes in which he enrolled his followers. None of these highly organized procedures considered so necessary today entered into his ministry. Amazing as it may seem, all Jesus did to teach these men his way was to draw them close to himself. He was his own school and curriculum.
The natural informality of this teaching method of Jesus stood in striking contrast to the formal, almost scholastic procedures of the scribes. These religious teachers insisted on their disciples adhering strictly to certain rituals and formulas of knowledge which distinguished them from others; whereas Jesus asked only that his disciples follow him. Knowledge was not communicated by the Master in terms of laws and dogmas, but in the living personality of One who walked among them. His disciples were distinguished, not by outward conformity to certain rituals, but by being with him, and thereby participating in his doctrine (John 18:19).
Robert Coleman goes on to explain that as time went on, Jesus spent more and more time with fewer and fewer. He didn’t try harder and harder to promote and draw bigger and bigger crowds to get the message to more and more. Instead, he concentrated on the few. Why? Disciples are made in small groups. 
The determination with which Jesus sought to fulfill this commission is evident as one reads through the subsequent Gospel accounts. Contrary to what one might expect, as the ministry of Christ lengthened into the second and third years he gave increasingly more time to the chosen disciples, not less.
Frequently he would take them with him on a retreat to some mountainous area of the country where he was relatively unknown, seeking to avoid publicity as far as possible. They took trips together to Tyre and Sidon to the northwest (Mark 7:24; Matt. 15:21); to the “borders of Decapolis” (Mark 7:31; see Matt 15:29) and “the parts of Dalmanutha” to the southeast of Galilee (Mark 8:10; see Matt. 15:39); and to the “villages of Caesarea Philippi” to the northeast (Mark 8:27; see Matt. 16:13). These journeys were made partly because of the opposition of the Pharisees and the hostility of Herod, but primarily because Jesus felt the need to get alone with his disciples. Later he spent several months with his disciples in Perea, east of the Jordan (Luke 13:22–19:28; John 10:40–11:54; Matt. 19:1–20:34; Mark 10:1–52). As opposition mounted there, Jesus “walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed thence into the country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there he tarried with his disciples” (John 11:54). When at last the time came for him to go to Jerusalem, he significantly “took the twelve disciples apart” from the rest as he made his way slowly to the city (Matt. 20:17; see Mark 10:32).
In view of this, it is not surprising that during passion week Jesus scarcely ever let his disciples out of his sight. Even when he prayed alone in Gethsemane, his disciples were only a stone’s throw away (Luke 22:41). Is not this the way it is with every family as the hour of departing draws near? Every minute is cherished because of the growing realization that such close association in the flesh soon will be no more. Words uttered under these circumstances are always more precious. Indeed, it was not until time began to close in that the disciples of Christ were prepared to grasp many of the deeper meanings of his presence with them (John 16:4). Doubtless this explains why the writers of the Gospels were constrained to devote so much of their attention to these last days. Fully half of all that is recorded about Jesus happened in the last months of his life, and most of this in the last week.
The course followed by Jesus through life was supremely portrayed in the days following his resurrection. Interestingly enough, every one of the ten postresurrection appearances of Christ was to his followers, particularly the chosen apostles. So far as the Bible shows, not one unbelieving person was permitted to see the glorified Lord. Yet it is not so strange. There was no need to excite the multitudes with this spectacular revelation. What could they have done? But the disciples who had fled in despair following the crucifixion needed to be revived in their faith and confirmed in their mission to the world. His whole ministry evolved around them.
And so it was. The time which Jesus invested in these few disciples was so much more by comparison to that given to others that it can only be regarded as a deliberate strategy. He actually spent more time with his disciples than with everybody else in the world put together. He ate with them, slept with them, and talked with them for the most part of his entire active ministry. They walked together along the lonely roads; they visited together in the crowded cities; they sailed and fished together on the Sea of Galilee; they prayed together in the deserts and in the mountains; and they worshiped together in the synagogues and in the Temple.

More time with fewer and fewer.