Circle Maker

My mom gave me a book to read called the Circle Maker by Mark Batterson, Pastor of National Community Church in Washington DC. The book is about praying circles like Elijah did on Mount Carmel, the persistent widow in Jesus’ parable, Hannah for a baby, and so many others in the Bible. We need to pray that way for God’s will and for the dreams that He gives us. 

This book has encouraged me to pray circles around several dreams that I have. Three of them have to do with missions. 

#1- Church Planting in the Brazilian Outback. What an incredible opportunity to plant churches in a place where they have few churches. Check out the video that tells about the opportunity. I am praying that God will start a church planting movement there, which is something only He can do. 

#2- Our missions system will continue to change to a partnership model where churches are actively involved in their missionary’s ministry. 

#3- For years now I have dreamed of a fund that will decrease the needed support for missionaries. One thought is to use the skills and abilities in the church to fix up and rent out houses with the funds benefiting missions. I actually have a huge document describing all the ideas in it and a brief two page business plan should anyone be interested. At some point I will post it to the blog. 

What are your dreams that you are praying through? How persistent are your prayers. Mark Batterson writes about walking around his prayer requests just as the Israelites walked around Jericho. It took persistence and faith. We must work in prayer to see God’s hand move in miraculous ways and remember that He wants to answer those prayers as the loving Father who loves to give gifts.