Well, it seems the Apostle Paul traveled about 15,500 miles in his ministry, and around

8,700 of those miles were on foot.

These are the calculations of New Testament scholar Eckhart Schnabel, and that's an incredible

range for the first century.

We can trace out his missionary plot points on Google Maps, in fact, it's already been

done.

But what can we learn from those trips for our own missionary work today?

It's a question from Chi Hong, a listener.

Pastor John, hello from Malaysia.

What can we learn about Paul's missionary journeys?

Can we say he strategized his movements based on his accessibility?

Sometimes, of course, he was prohibited by the Holy Spirit to go certain places.

I'm wondering about this question for myself, and also to guide potential

missionaries on how we choose where we go.

What do we learn about Paul's missional strategies from his geographical movements?

I don't think that the way Paul acted geographically, and with regard to cities, say, is

per se mandatory for the church today.

In other words, descriptive activities in the book of Acts may or may not be normative

for us, depending on whether Luke, the inspired writer, gives clues that the description he's

giving is intended by him to be authoritative for later generations.

And I don't think that's usually the case.

However, just like we would be foolish in reading biography, not to learn from the strategies

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