At the beginning of the book of Acts the risen Jesus articulates what will remain the central thrust of this entire narrative Christ's directive that the disciples "will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (1:8). Acts is no less than a missionary journal recalling how the apostles preached the gospel, formed the church, and tirelessly worked to spread the Good News first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles.

While the gift of the Holy Spirit miraculously transformed Jesus' whimpering, limping, beaten-down little band of followers into a charismatic cadre of bold-speaking and baldly fearless "witnesses" for Christ, they still faced formidable obstacles. Both the primary political powers of the day the elite of the Jewish religious hierarchy …