Pastor Mark Batterson is a Godly genius, gifted author and also a receipient of God’s great grace. He has a hunger to reach his city for God and travels the globe pointing people far from Jesus to a personal relationship with Him. Mark is the Lead Pastor of National Community Church in our Nation’s Capital (place of my birth) and they started with 19 people and have now grown to ten services in SEVEN locations!

Mark was born in Minnesota and grew up in Naperville, IL (hometown of my Best Man in my wedding) Sam Glenn. Mark went to the University of Chicago on a basketball scholarship and was preparing to major in pre-law but after a walk in a cow pasture God lead him to full-time ministry. NOTE: If you walk forward with God in a cow pasture that doesn’t make you a COWard. Actually it takes a man to follow Christ. Now back to the regular scheduled blog. Pastor Mark is author of best-selling books “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, Wild Goose Chase, Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity & Soul Print.”

I have always found the “greats to be gracious” and Mark is both. His NEW book “Circle Maker” hits bookstores in t-minus three weeks (DEC 13, 2011). Pastor Mark mailed me personally a pre-released copy of “The Circle Maker” two months ago and I read it in two sittings. Friends, I am so slow it takes an hour for me to cook “Minute Rice” but I couldn’t put it down. Mark noted some things I always believed and expounded on many things that God gave Him to encourage and challenge all of us. Mark has a way with words because He has allowed the Word to have His way in his life.

Outside of the Bible, reading Pastor Mark’s new book “The Circle Maker” is hands down the best book I read this year. It would make a great stocking stuffer for your loved ones and certainly will bless you. Maybe you should buy one for you and five to give away as gifts. This book is more than a game changer but a life changer in growing deeper in your prayer life with God.

Pastor Mark gave me permission to share a blog post of his below (excerpts from his book SOUL PRINT) and graciously agreed to be featured as my second GUEST BLOGGER. I love to promote God and others and Mark needs no help from me but I love to honor those whom are honorable. May this blog from Pastor Mark bless you, stretch you and embolden you to dare to do great things with God and for our King. Feel free to keep up with him daily on TWITTER @MarkBatterson or weekly here
Enjoy!

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“David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put the armor in his tent.”
1 Samuel 17:54

David knew he hit the bull’s-eye, but did he hit it hard enough? He waited for a subtle shift in Goliath’s center of balance. That’s when intense fear turned into triumphant relief as the nine-foot giant teetered, then came crashing forward like a felled tree. There is an old adage: The bigger they are, the harder they fall. And it’s true. But so is this one: The taller they are, the longer it takes! It takes a long time for giants to hit the ground, but when they do, the cloud of dust is spectacular.

When the giant hit the ground, David didn’t waste a moment. He sprinted to the fallen Philistine, unsheathed the giant’s sword, and decapitated him with his own weapon. Then David did something curious. He didn’t just leave Goliath for a battlefield burial. He began undressing his armor, which was far more complicated than simply untying a shoe or unbuckling a belt. It took all his strength just to turn Goliath over! But piece by piece, David removed the armor that was defenseless against a perfectly aimed stone. The great irony is that removing his armor was more difficult than defeating Goliath.

David barely broke a sweat slinging the stone, but removing the giant’s armor left him breathless. It’s not insignificant that Scripture records the actual weight of Goliath’s armor: 125 pounds, 15 ounces. David probably didn’t weigh much more than that! Carrying Goliath’s armor was like bench-pressing his own body weight. It wasn’t as simple as picking it up and plopping it down in his tent. And it certainly didn’t fit on the mantle. It probably took two men just to move it. David’s shoe box was much heavier than mine! But David went to the trouble of putting that set of armor in his tent. Every time he packed up his tent and pitched it someplace else, the armor went with him. How come?

Because that armor doubled as a daily reminder of a defining moment. It was a 125-pound, 15-ounce lifesymbol. And every time the sunlight reflected off the bronze scales and caught the corner of his eye, it renewed David’s holy confidence in the God who fells giants. And that’s the purpose of lifesymbols. They are physical objects that remind of us spiritual milestones. They are reminders from the past that give meaning to the present and holy confidence for the future.

GRAB YOUR COPY of “Circle Maker” on Dec 13, 2011

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Mark Batterson serves as lead pastor of National Community Church (www.theaterchurch.com) in Washington DC . Targeting emerging generations, 73 percent of NCCers are single twentysomethings that live or work on Capitol Hill. Currently one church with three locations, the vision of NCC is to meet in movie theaters @ metro stops throughout the DC area. The theaterchurch.com podcast is one of the fastest-growing church podcasts in America. Mark is also a daily blogger @ www.markbatterson.com. Mark lives on Capitol Hill with his wife, Lora, and three children and loves Green Bay Packers!