Paul was born in Tarsus, an important Cilician city, and was raised as Saul. In his own account he had been fiercely devoted to ancestral traditions and had violently opposed the church. On the road to Damascus he encountered the risen Christ. The persecutor became a servant of the very gospel he had tried to silence.
The church in Antioch sent Barnabas and Paul after prayer and fasting. Paul proclaimed the gospel in Perga, Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, Troas, Ephesus and Miletus. Despite stoning, imprisonment, conflict and painful farewells, he returned to strengthen new communities. His letters carried his teaching on grace, faith, unity in Christ and new life to later generations.