Phase 24: In the Footsteps of the Apostle Paul
But I do not count my life of any value nor precious to myself, if only I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24)
Fresh from the blessings of Walk the Bible, which garnered millions of views across social media platforms, members of the ByFaith Team set forth to retrace the footsteps of St Paul, wandering where a Pharisee-turned-Apostle turned the world upside down, his sandals grinding Anatolian dust and Aegean shores into the soil of salvation.
Paul and Mary embarked on this filming pilgrimage, shadowing the Apostle’s journeys from AD 46 to 60. They covered roughly 6,000 kilometres, visiting more than 200 sites, yet touching only a third of his astonishing missionary odyssey.
In Tarsus, once a thriving Roman hub of silk weavers and philosophers, now a quiet town, the young Saul’s scholarly fire still seems to flicker.
“I am a Jew from Tarsus, in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city,” said Paul (Acts 21:39).
Paul Backholer distils the theology of the trail, “Paul, Roman citizen, Greek debater, Torah scholar, saw the Messiah in a blinding flash and spent the rest of his life building bridges no empire could tax or legion destroy. He planted churches the way a great farmer scattered seeds, including Antioch, Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, Ephesus; many great flickering lamps across the eastern Mediterranean.”
Their route carried them from Asia to Europe, echoing Paul’s Macedonian call (Acts 16:9). In Philippi, Greece, they traced Europe’s breakthrough: Lydia, the first European convert and then the slave girl delivered from a spirit; the midnight earthquake that unlocked prison doors and hearts (Acts 16:25–34).
In Athens, the Apostle Paul scattered seeds of witness: planting conversations in bazaars, praying in basilicas where Zeus’ imagined thunder fell silent and sensing the quiet revolution he ignited, temples yielding to Christian hospices, chains loosening on slaves, gladiatorial sands swept clean.
“In the shadow of the gods fallen altars, we felt the pull of Paul’s plea, that every soul bears God’s image, a radical notion marching unstoppable through time,” said Mary Backholer.
The Acropolis rose like a sentinel as they climbed the Areopagus, the rocky outcrop where Paul faced Epicurean and Stoic sceptics (Acts 17:22–31). “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious,” he began, quoting their own poets to unveil the unknown God.
“God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands,” Paul preached in Athens (Acts 17:24)
Paul and Mary filmed where the Apostle made this address, the sprawling city below a living reminder of cultural crossroads.
“In that moment, Paul’s genius for contextual evangelism struck me anew,” Paul reflects. “He didn’t condemn; he connected, using altar inscriptions to unveil Christ.”
From Athens, a train traced the Gulf of Corinth to the isthmus, to the place where Paul’s plea to a divided church still rings: “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree” (1 Corinthians 1:10). The ruins of the bema, Paul’s judgment platform can still be seen, evoking his unyielding defence of truth.
We travelled nearly six thousand kilometres through Turkey and Greece,” said Paul Backholer, “every mile a footnote to Paul’s longer race… We filmed on the marble streets of Perge, where he preached to Gentiles in an undocumented sermon; stood in Ephesus while the ghosts of silversmith riots still echoed; and crawled through Cappadocian underworlds where his spiritual children hid from Caesar’s wrath.”
Paul’s life wasn’t glamorous; it was gritty,” reflects Paul. “Yet from those trials sprang letters that have shaped billions.” Mary adds, “Every step echoed his life’s goal, ‘For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain’ ” (Philippians 1:21).
ByFaith Media is delighted to announce that documentaries and shorts from the footsteps of Paul will soon be available on TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and beyond.
With billions turning to social media for discovery and connection, Walk the Bible meets them where they are, delivering vivid, faith-filled glimpses of Paul’s world, from Tarsus to Thessalonica, in bite-sized, scroll-stopping moments that make ancient roads feel alive today.
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