How God Turns Small Steps Into Big Breakthroughs

GRADUALLY THEN SUDDENLY

The unusual title of Mark’s latest book is actually a quote from the 1926 novel, The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway. A character is asked, “How did you go bankrupt?” to which he cleverly replies, “Two ways.  Gradually then suddenly.” Mark took that concept and developed an entire book on how small, faithful actions grow into profound results and leave a lasting legacy. The three main ideas are: long vision, long obedience, and long legacy. The first of those, long vision, takes time and eternity into account. “It’s doing what you do with the third and fourth generation in mind.”  Long obedience, he says, is living for the applause of nail-scarred hands. “(It’s) the key that unlocks our potential and God’s promises.” Lastly, Mark explains long legacy as not what we accomplish, but what others accomplish because of us. “It’s growing fruit in someone else’s garden. Just as we drink from wells we did not dig, we dig wells for the third and fourth generation.” Mark says his writing career is a prime example of “gradually, then suddenly” in his own life. Though he felt called to write by age 22, his GRE scores indicated that writing wasn’t his strong suit.  Mark decided to start reading voraciously (200-plus books a year) to learn how to write from others, and glean from their life experiences. He later made his 35th birthday the deadline for his first book.  “I love pastoring,” he says, “though 99% of my influence is through writing,” which is why he chooses to write a new book every year.   

LONG VISION 

To illustrate the concept of long vision, Mark introduces a principle he calls, everything is created twice. “The first creation always happens in the imagination, which is an expression of the image of God. The second creation involves blood, sweat, and years,” he explains. Think of great architecture, artwork, and the world-famous Disney parks, he suggests. “The first creation is spiritual while the second creation is physical. The first creation happens in the imagination, while the second creation involves time, talent, and treasure.” The key to imagination, Mark believes, is talking with the great Creator. “Prayer is how we get God ideas.  Prayer is how we write history before it happens. Praying is a form of dreaming, and dreaming is a form of praying. It’s a virtuous cycle—¬ the more you pray, the bigger you dream. And the bigger you dream, the more you have to pray! Of course, you can’t just pray like it depends on God. You have to work like it depends on you—¬ that’s the second creation.”

Another dimension of long vision, Mark says, is “opportunity cost.” “Most of us are pretty good at calculating actual costs. All it takes is addition and subtraction. Opportunity cost, on the other hand, is a hidden cost,” he explains. “It’s the loss of potential gain because of indecision or inaction. Calculating opportunity cost is much more complicated because it involves compound interest. That’s where long vision enters the equation. It’s recognizing that every decision we make, every action we take, is subject to inflation and deflation. Good decisions appreciate while bad decisions depreciate. How? Gradually then suddenly! Long vision is an eye for opportunity. And despite what the old aphorism says, opportunity does not knock. You have to knock on it.”

LONG OBEDIENCE 

The word obedience often makes people uncomfortable. When it refers to obeying God and growing spiritually, Mark says obedience over time can turn those negative connotations into joy. He calls it “the power of same.” “The only ceiling on your intimacy with God and impact on the world is daily spiritual disciplines,” he says.  “What disciplines? Journaling, meditating, praying, and studying Scripture to name a few. How do you put them into practice? One day at a time! ‘Anyone who has mastered a golf swing or a Bach fugue,’ said professor and author James K. A. Smith, ‘is a ritual animal.’ That not only includes gym rats; it also includes Bible geeks.” Mark again quotes Smith: “’ One simply doesn’t achieve such excellence otherwise. Ritual is marked by embodied repetition. Ritual recruits our will through our body: the cellist’s fingers become habituated by moving through scale after scale; the golfer’s whole body is trained by a million practice swings. Because we are embodied creatures of habit—¬God created us that way—¬we are profoundly shaped by ritual.’” 

Mark offers another example of long obedience in a principle called “the butterfly effect.” Named for a 1960 weather pattern discovery by an MIT meteorologist, “the butterfly effect is the idea that small changes to a complex system can have big consequences. Simply put, little things make a big difference over time. And time is the key exponent in that equation,” Mark explains. “Most of us get paralyzed by outcomes when all we can control are inputs. Reading the Bible cover to cover is impossible if you try to do it in one sitting.  Break it into 365 days, and it’s very doable. Want to increase flexibility? Stretch every day! Want to control blood sugar? Try intermittent fasting. Want to regain work-life balance? Turn your phone off on your day off. The butterfly effect is more than a meteorological phenomenon.  It holds true physically, financially, relationally, and spiritually. Small changes in input make a big difference in outcome. If you do little things like they’re big things, God has a way of doing big things like they’re little things.”

LONG LEGACY 

Giving careful thought to the legacies we will leave is the first step to being “good ancestors,” Mark says.  “Legacy is the gift that keeps on giving after we are long gone. It’s compound interest on generosity. It’s deeds done that have a domino effect. It’s words that echo into eternity. The seeds we plant never stop multiplying. In the counterintuitive kingdom of God, the way we reap a harvest in our garden is by planting seeds in someone else’s. ‘Let us not become weary in doing good,” said the apostle Paul, ‘for at the proper time we will reap a harvest.’”

In addition to writing and preaching, Mark has found great joy in leading chapels for a variety of professional and collegiate sports teams. He considers Chicago Bears President and CEO, Kevin Warren, a good ancestor, who is building a long legacy. “Kevin is the kind of person, when you’re with him, who is fully present. He makes people feel seen, heard, and loved. He makes each person feel like they are the only one in the room.”  While Kevin has held many impressive positions in sports, and helped lead the building of the U.S Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Mark focuses on caring for people as his true legacy. As an example, Mark tells of a time years ago, when Kevin was the COO for the Minnesota Vikings and the two of them took a picture at a game with a ninety-nine-year-old woman named Millie. A decade later, Mark asked Kevin if he remembered her. “Yes, I do,” he said. “Millie passed a few years ago and I stay in touch with the family. I check in every now and then to see how they’re doing.”  “Are you kidding me?” Mark asked. “You’re the president of the Chicago Bears now. Why would you do that?” Because Kevin knows that his legacy isn’t U.S. Bank Stadium.  His legacy is people, and so is yours!”

MORE ABOUT MARK 

Born in Minneapolis, Mark grew up in Naperville, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. When he was five years old, his parents took him to see the movie, The Hiding Place, produced by The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.  The film chronicles the story of Corrie Ten Boom’s family hiding Jews during WWII and the consequences for them. Deeply influenced by the powerful story, Mark soon came to faith in Jesus. By age nineteen, Mark realized that he had been asking Jesus to follow him versus following Jesus. 

Mark attended the University of Chicago on a scholarship, playing basketball and majoring in pre-law.  After a prayer walk through a cow pasture, he felt called to full-time ministry instead of law, and the next year transferred to Central Bible College in Springfield, Missouri. Mark married Lora Schmidgall, and later earned a Doctor of Ministry from Regent University. The Battersons moved to Washington, DC in 1994 to direct an inner-city ministry. Mark has served as Lead Pastor of National Community Church since 1996. The first service was attended by 19 people; today, they have thousands attending in person and online.

For more information Mark Batterson, click the LINK! Or to check out his church National Community Church (NCC) click the LINK!

CREDITS

New York Times best-selling author of 26 books, latest: Gradually, Then Suddenly   
Multnomah, 2025 / Lead Pastor of National Community Church (NCC), a network of churches
in the Washington, DC area since 1997/ NCC owns and operates Ebenezer’s Coffeehouse,
The Miracle Theatre, The DC Dream Center, Culture House, and has developed a city block
into The Capital Turnaround for their services, events, a child development center, and a
mixed-use marketplace / Doctor of Ministry degree, Regent University/ Married to Lora, three
adult children