While the Apostle Paul was in prison facing his second trial, he wrote to his disciple Timothy and asked him to bring Mark with him and come to Rome. Mark, he said, was useful to him for the ministry. Most scholars think this is the same Mark who wrote the gospel. It seems that Luke, Timothy, Mark, and probably others were with Paul until his execution about AD 67. Mark stayed in Rome where there was a growing number of believers - some in Caesar’s own household. To help instruct the new believers, Mark wrote about what he learned from Peter, Barnabas, and Paul. He wrote his story in Greek and finished it about AD 70. When the Apostle Peter saw the finished manuscript, he approved it and called for it to be read in all the churches.

Since Mark was a long way from Jerusalem and the core of Jesus’ personal followers, he relied on what he had been taught to tell the story about Jesus. Since Mark’s gospel is not a firsthand account, it is lacks some of the small details one finds in the Gospels of Matthew and John and the well-researched Gospel of Luke. The Gospel of Mark nonetheless harmonizes with the other gospels.

Many of the people Mark wrote about had life changing experiences when they met Jesus. This present book explores some of those contacts. If this gospel was a training manual for new believers, modern listeners can look at what Mark was teaching. This volume suggests how some of those lessons can apply today.