Pentecost and Peter and the first great sermon of the new era.  Andrew and Barnabas, and yes, Ananias and Saphria in their greed.  Philip and the Ethiopian. We have tracked the early days of the early church in these first eight chapters of the book of Acts to try to catch a glimpse from the first century of what God might have in mind for us in the twenty-first century; to discover what it means to be a model New Testament Church for today.  

Now fast-forward… 

I realize we are skipping over the greatest missionary of all, St. Paul; and the great missionary expansion of the church. We are skipping over the stories of church planters and pastors like Lydia and Priscilla, Aquilla and Timothy, skipping over the first great struggle in the church, the Jerusalem Conference and the debate ove…