God is Good!

Tomorrow's Sunday... it's time for church!

I'm pumped to preach in the morning! Man, do I love preaching. I love telling people about Jesus.

Guess where I'm preaching. That's right! Right here on site at the largest men's ATP pro tournament in the world, the Cincinnati Masters!

How cool is that!

Last year, we did the same thing... and the largest news station in Cincinnati came out to film it, interview me, and interview folks in the congregation. We were given awesome prime time news coverage as one of the headline stories.

I preached on Mathew 28, the Great Commission. You know... go tell everyone about Jesus.

This year, I plan on throwing down some Galatians 2:22. It's about dying to the world and living for Christ.

If you are coming to the service, plan on some fireworks! I won't be sitting still much. I've spent a week talking with people most of whom haven't the foggiest idea what it means to live for Christ.

Now, I'm primed to bust out a sermon that will change lives!

Tournament missions info...

Want to hear some cool news? Alison, Freddy's mom, wrote today. She said that during a big televised match, the TV camera zoomed in on one of our awesome God is Good fans a little boy was holding!

An international audience saw our ICTA Fan Ministry! I can handle that anyday, my friend!

My God is Good fans are the best in the world. They are solid black with bold white lettering that says God is Good. On the left side of the fan is our cartoon guy hitting a Sampras overhead while pointing to the sky. One of my former students, Marek Czerwinski, who was the 2005 #1 junior in America, designed the cartoon figure for me last year.

Personally, I have no problem with an International Christian Tennis Association ministry program being seen by over 3,000,000+ people worldwide!! How amazing, huh!?

All is well with our missions team. We are tired, but doing well.

Tomorrow, will be a spectacular day. Church in the morning, missions work till 1pm, Roddick vs. Ferrero, Bob and Mike in doubs... then we'll pack everything up and start driving to Birmingham where we'll spend some time with friends before heading home to beautiful Palm Coast, Florida and taking a couple of day off.

This ICTA mission trip has been huge. Without question, the best ever. We've had some spectacular mission trips, but this is the top dog.

The ICTA name brand has been seen by tens of thousands, we've spoken to 100's, amazing contacts with top ministry & business professionals who have seen us work for the last 2 years at this event and the last 4 years at other events, top players & coaches, pastors & youth pastors, attorneys, teachers, housewives, tennis pros, college coaches, college players, junior players, USTA staff, USPTA staff, ESPN, and more new ICTA members than I ever expected from all over the state and around the country.

Your emails and prayers of support have meant so much! Thanks!

God is Good!

Scott Paschal
386 793 0557

Feeling the Mo Flow...

Phil, Rach, Mark, and I had a great time today meeting people, sharing information about our ministry, and watching God work in our lives and in the lives of others.

This pic is of a neat group of guys from Mexico. They flew to Cincy just for the tournament. We enjoyed talking and laughing with them. Mark (2nd from rt) is one of my fulltime Christian tennis academy students. He is also from Mexico! His parents are missionaries who plant churches. All of these funny guys are planning to come to our ICTA Church Service on Sunday at 10am. Will be great to have them join us.

Our missions team has really began to gel. The momentum has swung in our favor and we feel strong and on fire for God. Much like a tennis match has its own momentum, a mission trip does as well!

Planning and implementing a large scale, short-term mission trip is a big task. 100's of hours of work go into making it a success. There is truly much love we put in!

This mission trip to Cincy started out really rough. Satan was at his best (worst) to make life difficult for us. The mo began to change when we visited our ministry friends in Birmingham, Alabama on our way to Cincy. Spending time with people who love us means so much!

Plus, Brent came to see me! What an awesome suprise. Brent spent a semester with me, then earned a full college scholarship to a junior college in Bama. It is always so good to spend time with a former student who appreciates all the love and hard work I put into developing them. Brent's big hugs were the best.

Upon arrival in Cincy, our missions team began working very hard. God began blessing our work!

We felt the God of the universe using us in many special ways. Let me give you a few examples! Bibles & Christian books went out to 100's of people. Our "God is Good" fans were everywhere! A very famous tennis player showed fantastic interest in our exhibitor's booth.

Another famous player & his coach received our Christian books! Seekers found a place to see Christ reflecting off of us. Strong relationships were formed with pastors & youth pastors. My friend, Phil (next to me in pic), has seen God direct him into tennis ministry in a big way... in fact, I would say he will soon be one of the bigtime names in Christian tennis ministry.

I almost didn't bring ICTA to this event! I'm focused heavily on doing what it takes to build a tennis facility for ICTA, plus developing the Scott Paschal Tennis Tour Co. Plus, a mission trips is exhausting. Really, really exhausting.

That said, I almost didn't come. But, we did. For this God is blessing more at this event than at any other we have attended. He wanted us here for many reasons. He needed work to be done and no one else is willing to do it. So, here we are.

We have 2 more days, then back to Palm Coast after a night's rest in Birmingham. I have special students coming in from America and internationally for our Christian tennis academy's Fall 2006 Semester. That is always exciting!

God is blessing our efforts. I'm feeling the Mo and loving it!

God bless!

Scott Paschal
386 793 0557
www.christiantennis.net

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Paul in Galations 2:20

Lovin' My Enemies!

Can we talk?

Today, I feel I need to write something that is pretty important to me. Sure, my schedule is really packed right now as we are on a large scale International Christian Tennis Association mission trip... but, I'd really like to talk to you.

See this picture above? That's me on the left. Next is Mark from Mexico, Freddy , Melody, and Rachel. We're here in Cincy on a large scale mission trip reaching tens of thousands with the Gospel.

As I looked at this pic taken this afternoon, one main thought came to my mind...

Thank God for enemies.

Sounds weird, huh? But, it's true.

I can tell you 100% that I would not be in Cincy right now reaching tens of thousands for Christ if it hadn't been for those people in my life who would try to harm the growth and success of the International Christian Tennis Association.

Through the attempts of my "enemies" to cause trouble, I learned how to become more dependent on Christ to get things done. Instead of trusting in my abilities, I learned to trust His abilities. My "enemies" kept me on my toes making sure I was forced into situation after situation where I would have to rely on Him!

In attempts to slander, they kept pointing out flaws in my abilities which they felt needed to be "exposed" in order to prove I am not worthy of serving God... though these men are Godless! Some of their complaints made sense and actually helped! There were (ARE) areas I needed to improve in. Unknowingly, they showed me what the ICTA needed to do to be recognized internationally as a legitimate sports ministry.

Though it was not their intention, they helped skyrocket the advancement of International Christian Tennis Association. Through attacking our young ministry, we strengthened and grew well past all my expectations and well into what I had always imagined!

Without God using "my enemies" the ICTA may not have yet had a legitimate membership as my enemies claimed there were "no ICTA members", thus ICTA is just "a figment in Scott Paschal's imagination!" They were right! We needed legitimate members.

This, of course, led to my "imagination" leading us to gain new members at the most famous tennis events in the world during our new ICTA Global Mission Trips! Thanks guys! Now, we have legitimate members from over 1500 cities in 50 countries worldwide.

Plus, 1000's and 1000's of Bibles, Christian books, tracts, videos, ICTA bookmarks & balloons... have been given away to interested people. It was fun to personally see how God used my "enemies" to grow and develop this ministry in many ways.

In addition, my Christian mentors were initially attracted to helping me simply because they saw me getting picked on by a few bullies and felt God leading them to help me.

In other ways my "enemies" helped...our tournament booths would have been less bold, our clothing less creative, our tennis academy less Christ-centered. Everything would have been less, weaker, kind of boring and humdrum.

In fact, I might have quit sports ministry altogether and simply been a tennis director at a small club while teaching Sunday School at my local church!

But, seeing how Satan used his people to slander and bully me when I stood up for Jesus in tennis, and especially while I was working to help abused tennis players, lit a burning fire inside my heart to take the message of Salvation through Christ throughout the tennis world.

I dedicated myself to work 10 times harder and more focused than before! God gave me the strength, the connection & contacts, the finances, the patience (still working on it :), the supporters, the staff, and the friends needed. Oh, and he gave me the enemies!

Seeing Satan use his demons to manipulate & slander all of my efforts was awe inspiring. I actually enjoyed seeing his next move, and watching Bible promises become live action! If Satan was after me this much, I MUST be on to something BIG!!

Then, to see the God of the universe wait until I've learned lessons only persecution can bring and wait until I'm pretty beaten up until He steps in and takes over... one word... AMAZING.

I actually can't wait for more persecution. I understand what being crucified with Christ means. I get it now. It makes sense, now. Persecution is needed for a Christian to be effective for Christ.

I truly love my enemies. I understand what Jesus meant when He commanded us to love those who would do us harm. Phil, Jeff, Bob... I love you guys! You are the three musketeers Satan used allowed by God to grow and develop me while taking this ministry worldwide at a level higher than I thought was possible this soon.

Who knew!?

Jesus knows none of us are perfect. In fact, if you study the Bible at all, you know He chose flawed people to grow His Kingdom. He used both those people who followed Him, and those people who followed Satan, for His will to be done.

Something neat happened just this week. I was a bit stalled as to what to do with few upcoming projects. One project has the ability to bring ICTA a mid to high six figure profit. But, the project was too intensive for my limited abilities in that area. So, I prayed for God to take over in a big way. I could do a lot of good worldwide with $500,000.

So directly after my prayer, one of my "enemies" began another 1/2 truth smear campaign against me.

This motivated me and opened up my creative side which had been in a rut. It also brought the exact person I needed for my project to blossom!

My "enemy's" renewed persecution of me was exactly what I needed to see God more clearly, and to work 100% more focused and creatively. Things had staled and stalled in some ways... not now! Thanks! Now, I'm pumped and motivated and God is blessing.

This particular enemy, within a year, may have helped bring a mid to high six figure income into ICTA's finances, plus help ICTA travel internationally in a way that was not expected for another 5 years, if then! His recent persecution of me brought the God of the universe to bring a specifically needed group of people into my life.

Something so simple as new attack from an old enemy motivated God to motivate this friend of mine to take over and grow one of my dreams, which will take my ministry to a level I only dreamed about. The enemy God placed in my has done it again! His bully & scare tactics in a really odd way are such a blessing.

I'm going to make my three bully musketeers a deal, right here and now!

10% of all income from this ICTA dream becoming reality ministry program will be placed into the new Thanks Jeff! Thanks Phil! Thanks Bob! ICTA Tennis & College Scholarship Program for boys and girls. I would love to one day be able to provide tens of $1000's to bring kids to ICTA's Christ centered, high performance tennis academy in Florida for free! And to provide college scholarships to kids with financial needs! Awesome!

Jeff, Phil, and Bob... my three musketeer bully enemies will help terrific tennis juniors to come train with me fulltime for free! What a fun thought I look forward to sharing!

This program will bless kids worldwide as they attend ICTA's tennis academy and mission trips on a scholarship basis paid 100% by the program blessed by the slander from all of you! Plus, college! Wow!

It's amazing to see the way God makes things happen we could never have done on our own.
What an amazing mission trip week this has been. God blesses faithfulness.

Enemies can be your best friends! In fact, a fair estimate would be that all of my current mentors were attracted to supporting me by discovering the enemies Satan brought to attempt to defeat the Gospel being spread throughout the tennis world internationally!

Now, in some ways, because of you three bullies, people worldwide are discovering Christ! In an odd way... thanks!

For those of you reading this blog entry, pray for your enemies. God uses them for His very specific needs. With the God of the universe on your side, nothing will stand in your way.

Now, on to the Cincy mission trip...


Here's a pic of a couple of new ICTA Cincy members! How cute is this wonderful girl! She liked our God is Good fan a lot!


Here's a pic of our booth! Melody Snelen ( ICTA staff since 1999) is working hard signing up new members, giving away tshirts to those who provide a donation to ICTA, giving people Bibles, signing up people to travel with ICTA members on Scott Paschal Tennis Tours, telling people about our upcoming ICTA cruise on the Music Boat, and telling people about Jesus!

We're on pace to gain more new members this year that all of last year! Pastors, tennis coaches & pros, housewives, doctors, teachers... many people from all walks of life. And we have made a great new personal connection with a top ATP coach & player. Plus, a highly famous tennis player viewed our entire booth with interest & curiosity.

The International Christian Tennis Association points to Jesus. He is our focus. Every ICTA program He designs and blesses. I work hard to be less of me and more of him. And hey, as the baby of the family & a tennis pro, it's hard to not be the center of attention! But, I'm learning!

And He's patiently teaching in His timing an His ways.

Phil... Jeff... Bob... thanks guys! Thanks for being exactly who you are and doing those manipulative things you do.

For those of you currently under persecution, please focus on Christ. It could be that He is trying to get your attention to take you to the next level!

Finally, Scott C., my new friend, I love doing the new radio show with you! You are surely a talent and I look forward to many great shows reaching millions each week for Him.

God bless from beautiful Cincy at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters!

Scott Paschal
www.christiantennis.net
386 793 0557

Cincinnati Mission Trip...

Welcome to my journal for our International Christian Tennis Association mission trip to Cincinnati, Ohio during the Cincinnati Master's Series ATP tournament. That's me on the right! I'm standing with a new ICTA member who is both a Reverend and a PH.D. and looks forward to working with us to grow God's Kingdom.

I am honored to be in this beautiful area again for the 2nd year in a row serving God as He leads.

The Cincinnati Master's is simply one of the finest managed professional tennis events in the world. Players, fans, media, and exhibitors (me!) all look forward to coming each year! If you live in the heartland of America and can attend just one event this year... I highly recommend you come here with us!

I'll locate some "blogtime" each day to keep you updated. Internet time is hard to come by with our busy schedule, but knowing our web site home page is now receiving at times up to 800 hits per day (up from 5 hits per week in 2003:)... with up to 15,000 page views per week... well, that gets me pretty excited and motivated to write in my journal.

This mission trip began months ago with financial preparation, supplies logistics, and manpower needs. 100's of hours of prep time followed by 100's of hours of volunteer work make International Christian Tennis Association mission trips happen.

We left Palm Coast last Thursday to drive to Birmingham, Alabama. Birmingham is about 1/2 way to Cincy. We all stayed the night with a ministry friend/mentor of mine. He and his wife took us out to eat and gave us a welcome night's rest in their house. After breakfast we all played tennis and had a great time before we headed back out on the road to Cincy.

On Saturday we arrived in Cincy after 3 days on the road. We stayed the night at a friend's house before checking into our hotel. Sunday, we visited the tournament site, received our credentials, checked the booth, then headed over to King's Island where everyone rode a bunch of roller coaster rides till dark! Fun time! We all are allowed in King's Island Amusement park for free while we are here.

We are all very tired, but glad we made it here safely and grateful God is using us to reach people for Him. This week will be full of very special Kingdom work and I look forward to the adventures ahead.

Please keep us in your prayers.

God bless!

Scott Paschal
Christian Tennis Nut

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