God is so blessing the International Christian Tennis Association, my staff, our tennis missionary students, and me.
This is Scott Paschal, I'm the current Ministry Director of the ICTA.
This has been another one of those weeks I have been in awe of Him. The way God brings people in and out of my life for very specific reasons and seasons is amazing to personally witness.
Our upcoming mission trip to the largest men's pro tournament in the world, the Cincinnati Masters Series, reminds me of just how fun it can be to see God at work... how he used a small step in faith to do big things!
I'll try to explain. Just over a year ago, ICTA was invited to be a major sponsor of the most prestigious junior tennis tournament for 12-and-unders in the United States. We agreed and committed to a large investment of our time and finances. The blessed response from God to our faithful committment was immediate and incredible. He was making sure we knew He was there guiding our steps.
Rach, Mel, and I had arrived to the tournament hotel sign-in area late that day. We only had maybe 30 minutes to do a 1.5 hr prep job on our table. Needless to say, we didn't get everything set up before the little squirts began to arrive to sign-in. At first, we were concerned that we didn't have everything out. We wanted everyone to know what our ministry offered!
But, God had other plans. He didn't need our fancy signs! God had our table surrounded with kids within 10 minutes of the doors opening... and it stayed that way for over 3 hours! In fact, I'm not sure if the kids went to any other table. It was awesome.
At the tournament hotel where sign-in would take place, we were given a 8' table in the sign-in room. Others had tables as well. To make a long story short, our table had kids packed up to 5 to 10 deep! They surrounded us from all sides! Nearly every table was empty of kids, except ours.
These young juniors are the future of American tennis. Capriotti, Agassi, and Spadea all had previously won this tournament. Now, here was a new generation of future pros surrounding us from all sides learning about how much Jesus loves them.
I gave them all an ICTA God is Good T-Shirt. Every kid that wanted one received this gift for free!
They received Bibles, some for the first time! We had our balloons and bookmarks. Plus, they received either The Prayer of Jabez for Kids or The Secrets of the Grapevine for Kids. These two amazing books were written by Bruce Wilkenson.
I think everyone there was amazed at how God reached these kids that day. They were starving for something meaningful in their empty chase of high junior rankings. By the time sign-in was over, over 70% of the 128 girls and the 128 boys had signed up to become members of the International Christian Tennis Association! More would have, but they couldn't reach us at our table before their practice court was available.
#1, #2, #3, #5, #6, #7, #8, #10... dozens of the top girls and boys in the nation poured into the ICTA family.
It was absolutely incredible. During sign-in, kids already were wearing their new ICTA God is Good shirts everywhere! Normally cranky & competitive tennis parents were actually speaking with each other. The tournament staff was overwhelmed at the wonderful response, and were praised by the parents for not discriminating against our Christian ministry.
How can I adequately explain how amazing I felt seeing everything unfold. There aren't enough words. Parents thanked us constantly. People called friends to tell the of our tennis ministry and our many ministry programs. The impact was immediate and the ripples shot out nationwide.
Now, let me talk about the financial side. Our ministry's total financial investment value was really high... an astronomically high sponsorship fee, 200 t-shirts, 250 books/Bibles/devotionals, balloons & bookmarks, tracts, coloring books & crayons, 600 miles of travel expenses... our little ministry's total financial investment value was around $7000 for a 4hr window of opportunity to reach these kids for Christ.
Ouch! We are a volunteer driven organization with no financial backers or major donors!
We made the financial commitment before we knew if we could afford it. We're a really small ministry, and we volunteer our time to make this ministry happen. But, we just knew God was leading us to be at the junior tournament! So, we went. On faith and faith alone.
Within hours of this committment, God provided a random person who paid for the entire sponsorship fee! I'm not kidding. Rach & Mel were talking to a lady who was providing them a host home at a Pro-Am they were competing in... and the lady wanted to pay for it. Amazing.
As 200 ICTA God is Good T-Shirts made their way to their new homes nationwide, as kids began to read God-blessed books, as Bibles were studied, as ICTA bookmarks made their way into schools, as the ICTA God is Good T-Shirts were worn in tennis facilities and at top junior tennis tournaments...
as parents were forced to realize tennis is small and God is big, as tennis pros read God is Good while their star students trained on their courts, as fathers began nightly Christian devotionals with their sons and daughters with the gift books they received...
as people began asking these kids & parents who Jesus is, as people began to see Jesus, as Jesus began to become the focal point of conversation instead of tennis...
God began blessing ICTA.
How? There is not enough room in this journal entry. I would need to talk with you for hours and hours. Yet, suffice to say, that little mission trip was just a test of faith by God for me. It was Him asking me to trust His plan.
It was the Creator of the universe having patience with the guy who thought $7000 was going to be a lot of money for 4 hrs of ministry. It was about me being taught how little I know and how much He knows.
That little financial investment brought the God of the universe alongside us while He grew our ministry way past where we thought we could be at that point.
The small investment of our time turned into an uncountable number of hours of others investing back into us. Our baby steps of faith were so blessed as God taught us further how to walk with Him.
How? Well, ICTA's annual large scale mission trip to the Cincinnati Master's Series is a direct result of our short mission trip to a junior tennis tournament! Through a God sized series of events which began at that junior tennis tournament, ICTA was brought to Cincy! I get pumped just thinking about it, again!
I'm excited to drive to Cincy! This is going to be an incredible mission trip & tennis camp!
People will meet Jesus through our work. I love that thought.
I've met Jesus.
My life is a direct result of His love and grace.
Christ has so affected my life that all I want to do now is share Him with you. Some people say He isn't real. I tell them they should meet Him like I did. This is going to be an AWESOME mission trip...
Look for journal updates with pics of our wonderful missionaries, tennis camps, booth, missions, etc on the home page of our web site!
Stepping out in faith is incredible.
God bless!
Scott Paschal
www.christiantennis.net
386 793 0557
