Day 06 - From the Wine-Dark Sea to the Edge of a New Chapter

This morning, as the sun rose over the western shores of Turkey, we stood at the edge of the Aegean—the “wine-dark sea,” as Homer once called it. Here, where history and poetry meet, we wrapped up our time in this remarkable land. One of our final Turkish stop: the ancient city of Priene, a perfectly planned Hellenistic-Roman city perched above the plains, gazing out over the sea.

In this quiet, windswept place, we gathered to reflect on all we had seen, learned, and felt. Over the past week, we have journeyed through the Seven Churches of Revelation and retraced the steps of Paul and the early believers who risked everything to carry the message of the Messiah into the heart of the Roman world. It has been a week of walking not just through ruins, but through the very foundations of our faith.

What happened in these lands in the first and second centuries was nothing short of revolutionary. The Christian movement spread faster, further, and more enduringly than any ideology history has ever seen. As Robin Lane Fox notes in Pagans and Christians, “No other cult in the Empire grew at anything like the same speed.” 

Within just a few generations, this once-marginalized faith radiated outward from Israel to Asia Minor, then to Greece, and eventually to the heart of the empire itself—Rome.

But why? 

Why did people join a movement that came with such a high cost? To follow Christ in those early days meant potential social exclusion, economic sacrifice, legal vulnerability, and even death. And still people were added daily.

They came in droves.

As we walked through the city of Priene, we wrestled with these very questions:

What was it about Jesus, His message, and this movement that drew people in from all social economic classes? 

What were the distinctives of this early community that not only drew people in but transformed the very world we live in today?

The answers are simple, yet transformative. Their faith wasn’t a relic, it was a revolution. And it still calls us to live differently today.

The Biblical Land of Turkey has opened our eyes to the cost and power of the gospel.

Tomorrow, we travel to Greece…

…the journey continues.

Let the Stones Speak,

Jerrell

Christianity didn’t just survive the Roman Empire, it reshaped the world. And it’s still shaping us, if we dare to follow the call.