“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere — in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). These were Jesus';s last recorded words before he ascended back to heaven, and they were words the fledgling church — at that point just a group of believers waiting for the arrival of the Holy Spirit — took seriously as it began to move out and spread around the area. One person who wasn';t there when Jesus spoke these words was a man named Saul, who was miraculously and spectacularly called to preach the Good News of the message of Jesus Christ to the Gentile world (Greece and Europe) and given a new name as well: Paul the apostle.

The Acts of the Apostles — also known simply as Acts — was written by Luke the physician (who also penned the gospel that bears his name) and tells the stories of the start of the church and of the men who were charged with taking Christ';s message of salvation to the world around them. That includes the work of the apostle Paul (Acts 13–28), who took three missionary journeys, all of which resulted in the formation of several new churches in various villages and cities.