The Two Circles Illustration was developed by Dr. James V. Clark. Dr. Clark, or Nap, as he preferred to be called, was born in Macon, Mississippi in 1930. After graduating high school, Nap went to Colorado State University on a football scholarship. It was during this time that he came to understand the gospel and trusted Christ as his Savior at a Christian camp in Colorado.[1] Nap left Colorado State and eventually graduated from Mississippi College with a BA in Bible and a minor in New Testament Greek. He attended Bob Jones University in 1951 and studied there two years before eventually going into full-time youth ministry. In 1964, Nap took a full time job with Lake Forrest Ranch,[2] a Christian Camp in rural Noxubee County near his home town of Macon, Mississippi. For five years, 1964 – 1967, he led numerous youth camps and helped to build the facilities. In 1967, Nap left Lake Forrest Ranch to go into full time pastoral ministry in the Mississippi Delta. In his early years Nap was influenced by men such as R. B. Thieme, pastor of Berachah Church[3] in Houston, Texas and Dr. Mark Cambron, Vice President of Florida Bible College. There was also a strong influence from the writings of many professors from Dallas Theological Seminary including Charles C. Ryrie, Lewis Sperry Chafer, J. Vernon McGee, S. Lewis Johnson, and John Walvoord. Strong dispensational theology, focus on the finished work of Christ, and emphasis on salvation by grace alone through faith alone, were foundational doctrines for Nap. In 1971, Nap became pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Starkville, MS.[4] When he taught, he would often draw two separate circles on his overhead projector and show that there was a difference between being justified by the finished work of Christ and being sanctified by the resurrection life of Christ. One of Nap’s church members suggested that he put the sanctification circle inside the justification circle and the Two Circles Illustration took on its current form.