In thirty years the church went from a few hundred Jewish believers located primarily in Judea and Galilee to tens of thousands of both Jewish and Gentile believers in North Africa, the Middle East, Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy. Churches existed in small towns, major cities, and the capitol of the Empire, Rome. Poor people, wealthy people, slaves, and political leaders had become followers of Jesus. There is just one book of the Bible that traces part of this explosive development. It is the New Testament book of Acts and in this message we begin our study of the explosion of the church by getting introduced to this book, its author, its purpose, and some of its themes. We'll also get a glimpse at part of the dynamic that lay behind this First Century explosion and see what we can learn about having a transforming impact on our world today.