A Word From the Acts2020Project Curator

Most of the content in this website is produced by AI but this section was written by a human.

I, Jim Shankle, am not a biblical scholar, pastor or even a lifelong Christian. I grew up in a small Episcopal church in a small town in South Arkansas. Consequently, I had poor Christian education and for many decades focused far more on my business life than on church attendance or thoughts abut faith. Then God got my attention.

My trials were not as dramatic as that of Nebuchadnezzar but the Lord definitely allowed me to experience “seven periods of time” (years in my case) to finally recognize that I needed to change my life and follow Him. After restoring my faith He restored a relationship I had had in college with the Christian woman I almost (and should have) married then. After that I was baptized at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis in 2003 and moved to Northwest Arkansas. God continued to restore my business life, relationship with Gwen and - most important - by starting my process of sanctification (“I’m not the man I ought to be but better than the man I used to be”). It has been a fascinating and fun journey since then with Gwen and as a different kind of entrepreneur but especially as a Christian hungry to learn more.

To (finally) cut to the chase…In the year 2020 during Covid lockdowns, Gwen suggested I start this website. I began by using Google Earth Studio to produce drone-line videos of Paul’s Journeys. My goal was to help “clarify” (2020 eyesight - get it?) the early church history and doctrine revealed in the Book of Acts. Acts 13 was a great place to start showing the expansion of Christianity. But then Gwen said I needed to explain why Paul did it so I backed up to Acts 1 and then to Luke 24 and Matthew 28. You will see here that in this more recent version, I even go back to Genesis where connections between the Old Testament and New start to appear.

My initial venture into Acts was a pretty lame effort and after lockdowns were over the project languished for years unfinished with me wondering why God had me start it - as well as continue to pay for it to keep it active. Then AI hit my radar last year in a way similar to how the internet had in the 90s. I realized it was a game-changer in many ways. But for me. I thought it could be the resource I could employ to actually explain all the different “Themes” that seemed (to this neophyte) to be present throughout Acts. As a Believer but not a Scholar / Pastor, I certainly couldn’t begin to do that by myself! Bottom line….AI has far exceeded my expectations and I believe the results in this website reflect AI’s unique ability to connect dots.

But you will undoubtedly be (and should be) skeptical. Now, at this still early stage, I believe it’s time for me to “get out of the building” (my head) and start exposing this website to others. My objective is to get feedback for improvements from people like you who undoubtedly know far more about the Bible than I do. I also need and want you to challenge what AI has drafted. At my baginner level of Biblical understanding, I think these AI narratives stand up to scrutiny so, at the least, I do not believe I will be embarrassing myself by offering them publicly.

However, I could be wrong so I invite you to let me know when you disagree. Use the link below to connect.