The

Circle Maker, Student Edition

Dream Big. Pray Hard. Think Long.
By Mark Batterson
Release Date: 12/18/2012
Price: $12.99
Would knowing that your prayers will be answered change the way you pray? In The Circle Maker
Student Edition, Pastor Mark Batterson and Parker Batterson share powerful insights from the true
legend of Honi the Circle Maker, a believer who prayed miracles would happen to the people of
God---which then fell from the heavens like rain. Honi and Mark Batterson will help you bring your
God-given dreams into being through bold, tenacious prayers that honor God and make the
impossible come true.
Watch a video about Circle Marker
About the Author

Mark Batterson serves as lead pastor of National Community Church (www.theaterchurch.com) in
Washington, DC. One church with seven locations, NCC is focused on reaching emerging
generations. The vision of NCC is to meet in movie theaters at metro stops throughout the DC area.
NCC also owns and operates the largest coffeehouse on Capitol Hill.
Mark has two Masters Degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago, Illinois. He is the
author of the 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, and Soulprint.
Mark is married to Lora and they live on Capitol Hill with their three children: Parker, Summer, and
Josiah
Find Mark on Facebook, Find Mark on Twitter, Visit Marks website

ZONDERVAN
The Circle Maker Student Edition
Copyright 2012 by Mark Batterson
This title is also available as a Zondervan ebook.
Visit www.zondervan.com/ebooks.
Requests for information should be addressed to:
Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
ISBN 978-0-310-72513-8
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New
International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by
permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken
from the Holy Bible: New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission
of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright
2000, 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission.
All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American
Standard Bible. Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The
Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked GNT are taken
from the Good News Translation. Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by
permission.
Any Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are
offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement
by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for
the life of this book.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy,
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permission of the publisher.
Published in association with the literary agency of Fedd & Company, Inc., Post Office Box
341973, Austin, TX 78734.
Cover design: Cindy Davis
Interior illustration: iStockPhoto
Interior design: Beth Shagene
Interior composition: Greg Johnson/Textbook Perfect
Printed in the United States of America
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To an amazing father-in-law and grandfather, Bob Schmidgall.

The memory of you kneeling in prayer lives forever,
as do your prayers.

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Chapter 1

The Legend of the Circle Maker

ids danced through the streets like it was the first rainfall theyd
ever seen. And it was. Parents threw back their heads and caught
every drop they could. When it hasnt rained in more than a year,
every raindrop is a gift from God.
It would be forever remembered as the day. The day thunderclaps
applauded the Almighty. The day puddle jumping became an act of
praise. The day the legend of the circle maker was born.
If you know anything about the history of Israel, you know they
hit some tough spots. But the first century BC was one of the worst.
An entire generation was on the brink of death because of a drought.
The Jewish prophets had been out of commission for hundreds of
years. No one could remember a single miracle. And worst of all, God
was nowhere to be heard. But there was one man who dared to pray
anyway. His name was Honi.1 And even if the people could no longer
hear God, he believed that God could still hear them.
When it rains all the time, you dont give it a passing thought. During a drought, its the only thought. And Honi was their only hope.
Like the prophet Elijah before him, Honi was famous for his ability to
pray for rain. It was on this day that Honi would earn his reputation.
With a six-foot staff in his hand, Honi began to turn like a math
compass. His circular movement was rhythmical and methodical.
Ninety degrees. One hundred eighty degrees. Two hundred seventy
degrees. Three hundred sixty degrees. He never looked up as the
crowd looked on. After what seemed like hours but had only been
seconds, Honi stood inside the circle he had shaped with his staff.
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T h e Cir c le M a ke r

Then he dropped to his knees and raised his hands to heaven. With
the authority of the prophet Elijah, Honi called down rain:
Lord of the universe, I swear before Your great name that I will not
leave this circle until You have mercy upon Your children.

Everyone within earshot shivered. And though the words rang

clear, the volume of his voice didnt nearly equal the authority of his
tone. Not a hint of doubt. This prayer didnt come from his vocal
chords it flowed from the depth of his soul. His prayer was resolute
yet humble, confident yet meek, expectant yet unassuming.
Then it happened.
As his prayer ascended to the heavens, raindrops descended to the
earth. Now thousands of onlookers encircled Honi, and a gasp went
through the crowd. All eyes looked to the sky as the first raindrops
parachuted down, but Honis head remained bowed. The people
jumped for joy over every drop, but Honi wasnt satisfied with a
sprinkle. Still kneeling within the circle, Honi lifted his voice over the
sounds of celebration:
Not for such rain have I prayed, but for rain that will fill cisterns,
pits, and caverns.

The sprinkle turned into such a torrential downpour that the heavens roared. Eyewitnesses said every drop was the size of an egg! It
rained so heavily and so steadily that the people fled to the Temple
Mount to escape flash floods. Honi stayed and prayed in his fading
circle. Once more he refined his bold request:
Not for such rain have I prayed, but for rain of Your favor, blessing,
and graciousness.

Then the perfect rain shower began to calmly cover the dead and
thirsty ground, filling the air with a gentle, peaceful mist. Every raindrop was a sign of Gods grace. And they didnt just soak the skin; they
soaked the spirit and refreshed the faith of all who were there that day.
It was difficult to believe the day before the day. The day after the day,
it was impossible not to believe.
Eventually, the dirt turned into mud and back into dirt again.
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Th e L eg end o f th e C ir c le Make r

After quenching their thirst, the crowd dispersed. And the rainmaker
returned to his humble hovel on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Life did
return to normal, but the legend of the circle maker had been born.
And it introduced a new normal.
To the people, Honi was celebrated like a hometown hero. After all,
he had saved their lives with his prayer. But some within the Sanhedrin complained about the circle maker. They said his prayer was too
bold. They believed that drawing a circle and demanding rain dishonored God. Maybe it was those same members of the Sanhedrin who
would criticize Jesus for healing a mans shriveled hand on the Sabbath a generation later. They actually threatened Honi with excommunication, but because they could not deny the miracle that had
been performed, Honi was ultimately honored for his act of prayerful
bravado.
The prayer that saved a generation was deemed one of the most
significant prayers in the history of Israel. The circle he drew in the
sand became a sacred symbol. And the legend of Honi the circle
maker stands forever as a testament to the power of a single prayer to
change the course of history.

Draw the Circle

1. What is your rst reaction to Honis story?
2. Why do you think God loves big dreams and bold prayers?
3. If one prayer has the power to change the course of history,
why do you think we dont pray more?

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Chapter 2

Circle Makers

he earth has circled the sun more than two thousand times since
the day Honi drew his circle in the sand, but God is still looking
for circle makers. Its as true now as it was then: Bold prayers honor
God and God honors bold prayers. God isnt offended by your biggest dreams or boldest prayers. He is offended by anything less. If
your prayers arent impossible to you, they are insulting to God. Why?
Because they dont require divine intervention. But ask God to part
the Red Sea or make the sun stand still, and God is moved to omnipotent action.
There is nothing God loves more than keeping promises, answering prayers, performing miracles, and fulfilling dreams. That is who
He is. That is what He does. And the bigger the circle we draw, the
better, because God gets more glory. The greatest moments in life are
the miraculous moments when human weakness and divine power
intersect and they intersect when we draw a circle around the
impossible situations in our lives and invite God to intervene.
I can promise you one thing: God is ready and waiting. I have no
idea what circumstances you find yourself in, but I can tell you that
you are only one prayer away from a dream fulfilled, a promise kept,
or a miracle performed.
It is absolutely critical at the very beginning that you come to terms
with this simple yet life-changing truth: God is for you.1 You need to
know that God is on your side, God is in your corner! If you dont
believe that, then youll pray small, timid prayers. If you do believe it,
then youll pray big, audacious prayers. And one way or another, your
small, timid prayers or big, audacious prayers will change the course
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T h e Cir c le M a ke r

of your life and turn you into two totally different people. Prayers are
prophecies. They are the best forecast of your spiritual future. Who
you become is determined by how you pray. Ultimately, the transcript
of your prayers becomes the script of your life.
In the pages that follow, youll encounter modern-day circle makers who will inspire you to dream big, pray hard, and think long.
Youll discover how to claim God-given promises, pursue God-sized
dreams, and seize God-ordained opportunities. Youll learn how to
draw prayer circles around your family, your future, your problems,
and your goals. But before I show you how to draw prayer circles,
its important to understand why it is so important. Drawing prayer
circles isnt some magic trick to get what you want from God. God is
not a genie in a bottle, and your wish is not His command. His command better be your wish. If its not, you wont be drawing prayer
circles. Youll just be walking in circles.
Drawing prayer circles starts with understanding what God wants,
what God wills. And until His sovereign will becomes your holy wish,
your prayer life will be unplugged from its power supply. Sure, you
can apply some of the principles you learn in The Circle Maker, and
they may help you get what you want, but getting what you want isnt
the goal. The goal is getting what God wants for you, which is way
better than what you could ever wish for anyway!

My First Circle
Over the years, Ive drawn prayer circles around promises in Scripture
and promises the Holy Spirit has conceived in my spirit. Ive drawn
prayer circles around impossible situations and impossible people.
Ive drawn prayer circles around everything from life goals to pieces
of property. But before I get into those things, let me take you back to
the first prayer circle I ever drew.
When I was a twenty-two-year-old graduate student, I tried to
plant a church on the north shore of Chicago, but that plant never
took root. Six months later, with a failed church plant on my rsum,
my wife Lora and I moved from Chicago to Washington, DC. The
opportunity to attempt another church plant presented itself, and my
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Circ le M a ke r s

knee-jerk reaction was to say no way. But God gave me the courage
to face my fears, swallow my pride, and try again.
There was nothing easy about our first year of church planting. Our
total church income was $2,000 a month, and $1,600 of that went to
rent the DC public school cafetorium where we held Sunday services.
On a good Sunday, twenty-five people would show up. Thats when I
learned to close my eyes in worship because it was too depressing to
open them. I had a lot of education at that point, but very little experience. I really had no idea how to lead (and thats challenging when
you are the leader). I felt underqualified and overwhelmed, but that is
when God has you right where He wants you. That is how you learn
to live in raw dependence and raw dependence is the raw material
out of which God performs His greatest miracles.
One day, while dreaming about the church God wanted to establish
on Capitol Hill, I was reading through the book of Joshua. A promise
jumped off the page and into my spirit.
Im giving you every square inch of the land you set your foot on
just as I promised Moses.2

As I read that assurance given to Joshua, I felt that God wanted me

to stake claim to the land He had called us to and pray a perimeter all
the way around Capitol Hill. I had a Honi-like confidence that just as
this promise had been transferred from Moses to Joshua, God would
transfer the promise to me if I had enough faith to circle it.3 So one
hot and humid August morning, I drew what would be my first prayer
circle. It still ranks as the longest prayer walk Ive ever done and the
biggest prayer circle Ive ever drawn.
Starting at the front door of our row house on Capitol Hill, I walked
east on F Street and turned south on 8th Street. I crossed East Capitol,
the street that bisects the NE and SE quadrants of the city, and turned
west on M Street SE. I then completed the circle, which was actually
more of a square, by heading north on South Capitol Street. I paused to
pray in front of the Capitol for a few minutes. Then I completed the 4.7mile circle by taking a right turn at Union Station and heading home.
Its hard to describe what I felt when I finished drawing that circle.
My feet were sore, but my spirit soared. I felt the same kind of holy
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T h e Cir c le M a ke r

confidence the Israelites must have felt when they crossed the Jordan
River on dry ground and stepped foot in the Promised Land for the
first time. I couldnt wait to see the way God would honor that prayer.
That prayer circle had taken nearly three hours to complete because
my prayer pace is slower than my normal pace, but God has been
answering that three-hour prayer for the past fifteen years.
Since the day I drew that prayer circle around Capitol Hill, National
Community Church (NCC) has grown into one church meeting in
six movie theaters around the DC area. Were also on the verge of
launching our first international location, a coffeehouse ministry in
Berlin, Germany. And God has given us the privilege of influencing thousands of people over the last decade and a half. For what
its worth, nearly 70 percent of the people in our church are single
twenty-somethings.

All Bets Are Off

As I look back, Im grateful for the miracles God has done. Im also
keenly aware of the fact that every miracle has a genealogy. If you trace
those miracles all the way back to their origin, youll find a prayer
circle. Miracles are the by-product of prayers that were prayed by you
or for you. And that should be all the motivation you need to pray.
God has determined that certain expressions of His power will
only be exercised in response to prayer. Simply put, God wont do it
unless you pray for it. We have not because we ask not, or maybe I
should say, we have not because we circle not. The greatest tragedy in
life is the prayers that go unanswered because they go unasked.
Now heres the good news: If you do pray, all bets are off. You arent
called to live in the shadow of doubt. Instead, you can live with a holy
anticipation because you never know how or when or where God is
going to answer your prayers. But I promise you this: He will answer.
He may not answer when or how you want. But it will be the right
answer at the right time. And His answers are not limited by your
requests. We pray out of our ignorance, but God answers out of His
omniscience. We pray out of our limited human understanding, but
God answers out of His unlimited knowledge. God has the ability to
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Circ le M a ke r s

answer the prayers we should have prayed but lacked the knowledge
or ability to even ask.
During my prayer walk around Capitol Hill, I drew circles around
things I didnt even know how to ask for. Without even knowing it, I
drew prayer circles around people who would one day come to faith
in Jesus Christ at our coffeehouse on Capitol Hill (which wasnt even
an idea at that point). Without even knowing it, I walked right by a
piece of property at 8th Street and Virginia Avenue SE that we would
purchase thirteen years later as a result of a $3 million gift that wasnt
even a prayer yet. Without even knowing it, I walked right under a
theater marquee on Barracks Row, the main street of Capitol Hill, that
we would renovate and reopen as our seventh location fifteen years
later. Its the oldest operational theater in the nations capital, and we
get to determine what is played on the screen!
Those answers are a testament to the power of God and a reminder
that if you draw prayer circles, God will answer those prayers somehow, someway, sometime. God has been answering that one prayer
for fifteen years, and Hell keep answering it forever. Just like Honi,
your prayers have the potential to change the course of history.
Its time to start circling.

Draw the Circle

1. Why do you think some people pray like God is against them
instead of believing that God is for them? Have you ever felt
that way?
2. Drawing circles begins with understanding what God wants and
what God wills. Have you ever prayed for something that you
later discovered wasnt really Gods will? What was that like?
3. What does this statement mean to you, and why is it true?:
If your prayers arent impossible to you, they are insulting to
God.

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Praise for The Circle Maker Student Edition

I believe God desires to mark an entire generation with His love and
power to see them burn for Him throughout their whole lives.
If a generation is to fully step into all God has for them, then their
foundation must be a life saturated in prayer. Mark Batterson has written
a book that will ignite a passion for prayer in the foundational years of the
teens and twenties. I believe this call to embrace the Lords promises and
declare His goodness and faithfulness will significantly impact readers for
the rest of their lives.
There is no greater work than partnering with Heaven in prayer,
and I am grateful Mark is releasing this message to a younger generation
through The Circle Maker Student Edition. Whether you are a teenager,
twenty-something, or a leader of young people, I highly recommend this
book and ask the Lord to brand you for prayer.

Banning Liebscher
Director of Jesus Culture and author of Jesus Culture:
Living a Life that Transforms the World and The Journey of
a World Changer: 40 Days to Ignite a Life that Transforms
the World

Youve found it! Dont put this book down. What youre now holding in
your hands is more than just another book on prayer. Mark Battersons
Circle Maker Student Edition is THE playbook for any teenager, youth
pastor, or youth leader who wants to really leave their own mark on eternal history. As Mark shows you how to dream big, pray hard, and think
long, God will unlock the destiny that you have been passionately looking for. Seriously . . . Do yourself a favor and get this book. Its just that
good!
Jeanne Mayo
President, Youth Leaders Coach International youth
communicator, and leadership coach
Director of Youth and Young Adult Outreaches,
Victory World Church, Norcross, Georgia

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Praise for The Circle Maker

Mark Battersons The Circle Maker will have you praying circles around
any situation you are facing. Youll be inspired and motivated into a
deeper level of prayer and faith.
Craig Groeschel, senior pastor of LifeChurch.tv and author
of Weird: Because Normal Isnt Working
Honi the circle maker is a longtime legendary figure, and Mark Batterson
is well on his way. You will love the freshness of this approach to prayer.
John Ortberg, pastor at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in
Menlo Park, California, and author of The Me I Want to Be
My bookshelves at home are littered with books I intended to read but
never finished. Mark doesnt write those kinds of books. Mark writes
books that demand a second and even third reading, because theres
always something new to find. With The Circle Maker, Mark has done
it again.
Jon Acuff, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of
Quitter and Stuff Christians Like
Mark Batterson encourages readers to take their prayer lives to a new
level that will honor the mighty power of God. Like the man who made
prayer circles for rain, we are to make bold prayers for things that seem
impossible. Through the stories of modern-day prayer miracles, you will
be inspired to draw prayer circles around your family, friends, and yourself. The Circle Maker teaches that God is for you and that the big dreams
you claim in your prayers will be reflected in the way you live your life.
Pastor Matthew Barnett, cofounder of the Dream Center
Mark Batterson is a master storyteller. His stories illustrate important
biblical truths that convict me in my heart and make me hunger for a
closer walk with God. The Circle Maker is such a story. I have changed
the way I pray, longing for a more powerful and effective prayer life. I am
now drawing circles.
Ruth Graham, author of Fear Not Tomorrow, God Is
Already There

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