Easter

I haven't been to church in nearly 2 months.

Can I say that? I'm a ministry founder and director... am I supposed to admit I haven't been to church? Why didn't I go?

First, a 2 week mission trip to reach 70,000+ in Memphis. Then, a 3.5 week mission trip to reach 300,000+ in Indian Wells, California. Throw in long car rides, flights on Delta, a junior tournament or two....

One of the most difficult aspects to being a full time missionary and ministry director is I do lots of traveling. Thus, I can't attend my church like I'd like.

Well, I'll be there tomorrow! Easter Sunday is special. Christ's resurrection radically changed everything. The old is gone and the new begins. For everyone reading this blog, you can begin new as well!

My church is up around Jacksonville, Florida. I love attending and have felt at home since Day 1. A long time friend is a pastor there. One thing I really enjoy about this church is how welcoming the congregation is.

In fact, upon arrival everyone receives lots of friendly smiles and handshakes. Everyone also enjoys fresh pastries & delicious bagels, Starbucks coffee and specialty teas, fresh orange juice and apple juice... you can even bring your hot coffee in to the church service without receiving dirty looks!

The pastor loves to preach and is skilled at making God's word make sense. The music minister is skilled as well, even having done the junior camp circuits.

That said, my whole tennis academy loves the church as well!

Sometimes, as a full time missionary, I have a difficult time visiting churches where faith is forgotten and Jesus is simply a word. My church really loves to walk in faith and I look forward to Sundays.

And I'm really excited about the Easter Service.

A few ministry notes to catch you up to date...

*The main ICTA Women's Pro Tennis Team roster has filled up for the summer. 6 tremendous missionaries will hit the ITF pro circuit competing for their countries and sharing their faith. Tournaments are scheduled for USA and Mexico. Possibility for Japan & Europe. I may begin a 2nd team as this program is wildly successful and demand is high.

*I've been in wonderful talks with a person who could be a chaplain on the WTA and ATP tours. He has a heart for players and a love for Jesus, 10+ years of chaplain experience, decades of tennis experience, and contacts & relationships with among the most famous people in tennis.

*A tennis chaplain credentialing process is in the works at the genesis stages to take to both the ATP and WTA Tours for approval. Led by an ICTA member who is also a PHD University professor, talks have began not only to provide tennis chaplaincy certification, but also to provide a Seminary Masters or Doctorate Degree in Sports Chaplaincy.

*The ICTA Women's Pro Tennis Team is back from their mission trip to Birmingham, Alabama where they competed in an ITF $25,000 tournament. The team worked smoothly together sharing their faith and offering support to players. They hit with and developed friendships with about a dozen WTA ranked players, one near 200 WTA. One player they met stayed with the team at David Nasser's house. The Nasser's are special people and the girls were so cared for.

*I've lost the 7lbs of belly I gained while on the road for a couple of months! :) As I plan to preach a lot this summer, I'm working to get back into shape so I can fit into my clothes a bit better. I've enjoyed being home and getting back into a normal schedule.

*Summer camps are shaping up! With 12 students this summer, I am looking forward to the excitement of challenging my students to dive deeper into Christ while learning to make others 1st. Plus, we'll hit balls twice daily, get the darkest tans in Florida, travel to junior tournaments for mission trips on the weekends, engage in ping-pong wars, and eat like Vikings! Did I mention our untouched beaches!!?

**And last but not at all least... CONGRATULATIONS go to our own Rachel Snelen for becoming one of America's top 100 WTA ranked professional tennis players. According to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour's 2007 Official Guide To Professional Tennis, Rachel comes in right at #100!

From the advanced beginner level of junior tennis (Champs/Texas) in 1999 to one of the top 100 WTA players in America! Rachel Snelen is a special person with a heart to reach players with the Gospel. It is amazing how she can handle balancing her full time+ job with ICTA and her missionary travel as the Captain & leader of an entire pro tennis team while competing on the pro tour and leading people to Christ. Great job, Rach! Your friends are so proud of the life you have chosen.

I guess that's about all for now. I don't really have time to mention my plans for building our tennis facility, our tennis tour to the US OPEN, the 2008 ICTA Conference to be held during the Pacific Life Open, or my upcoming book. So, I'll save that stuff for later!

Until we meet again, know I do have you in my prayers. Friends & enemies, I pray for you all. The life we live is simply a training ground for what is to come. I thank God for each of you. My life is so blessed and I know where the blessings come from.

There has been no greater event in history than the defeat Jesus gave death the moment he was resurrected. I thank God for my life and for my hope in Him. I can't imagine what I would do if I had no hope.

God bless!

Scott Paschal

My life ROCKS!

What a great week! Man, I love my life!

Who else gets to tell so many people about the Creator of the universe and how He wants to have a personal relationship with each of them, and while I do that I get to live in gorgeous Palm Coast, Florida and smack the tennis ball around with a bunch of juniors and WTA pro tennis players who want to hit the ball all day long?

Who else, I ask!? Nobody! Just me! My life rocks...

Wanna know what's been going on around here lately? Ok, I'll tell you.

My junior guys are working on an in-depth study of A Case for Christ by Lee Stroebel and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. Cool, huh!? They are learning at just 14-15 years of age the incredible facts and proof of Christ, and learning world-class habits from the world's leading expert. Who does that at 14-15 years!? Cool, huh!

Plus, these guys are learning how to preach.

They take each chapter of each book and break them down on paper, then write an in-depth narrative of what they've learned. From there they head to the edge of the wooded area in the back of the yard of my house... where they take turns reading out loud what they're learning. And I mean out loud!! Really loud because I'm in the house and they have to speak loud enough for me to hear them clearly.

So fun! Their voices are getting stronger and their words more confident. So fun to build pastors!

Plus, did I mention we hit balls like 5 hours yesterday? That was awesome. What is better than tennis and Jesus... and Italian pasta :).

Speaking of tennis and Jesus, my girls are coming back from their mission trip to Alabama. Rachel and Melody Snelen, Shantel Tavita, and Anastasia Kharchenko spent the last week telling top WTA players and others about Jesus at an ITF $25,000 tournament.

So fun and productive! They had an absolute blast staying at David Nasser's house with his family for the week. Nasser is getting ready to head out on his tour, Glory Revealed, www.gloryrevealed.com with Mac Powell of Third Day and so many others! (And be sure to check out this awesome Glory Revealed Video)

Nasser has an amazing guest house and the girls packed into it. His wife is a tremendous mentor and friend to Rach and Mel, and the other girls I coach full time or who travel with us, and Nasser loves playing tennis with everyone. So blessed for them to be in such a loving, faith-filled, family environment. David has been a great friend, mentor, and supporter of mine for years.

Tomorrow nite, the girls will be here after a long drive from Alabam and I'm excited to hear all the wonderful stories of people they met and ministry that happened!

The girls are preparing for a huge 8-week road tour. This will be a time of speaking, prayer, building relationships, seeking God's will on the pro tour.... Touring throughout Mexico and the USA with sites set on Japan as well, the ICTA Women's Pro Tennis Team is so special and rare and blessed.

I thank God for these girls and their hearts to share their faith.

I thank God for those who would support them and care about them such as tremendous friends like Jim B. who is there in Birmingham and beyond whenever we need him. I thank God for continuously protecting them from those who would do harm to them (who hasn't heard my stories of the ridiculous antics of their Chinese-American tennis pro stalker I call "Rev." Kraft!?). I thank God for these selfless teens and young adults who stay focused on Jesus and have led others on the WTA tour to Christ while developing relationships to last a lifetime.

What an absolute joy I have in my heart when I think about my life!!

My junior guys are being forged into passionate preachers who are brilliantly able to share their faith! I get to plan and attend mission trips to famous tennis events! My pro player girls travel internationally helping others and sharing their faith in such a way that others have been led to know Christ as their personal Lord and Savior!

I have so many blessings in my life! I live in a safe, beautiful town in a wonderful 2 year old home. My health is tremendous, my Jeep runs like a champ, my Mom called today to check in with unyeilding support for my work, my brother is a successful youth pastor and we talk often, I'm founding a new ministry and two new secular Christian-owned businesses, my tennis academy will be full again this summer as we pack the place with a bunch of junior guys ages 14-16 and hit the fuzz off of boxes and boxes of new tennis balls.

Wow, I'm a fortunate person. So blessed! Thank you God for taking this idiot and creating me as you need me to be. I remember my old life and I thank God for the new creation you have made in me. The last 15 years have been wonderful as you took the old self-centered and replaced him with a Christ-centered one.

Life is so good! Yet, as good as it is right now, when I begin to share my upcoming plans for my life and my ministry with you... WOW!!!

God bless and know Jesus loves you and cares about you even when it seems no one else does!

Coach Scotty

Into Christ...

I meet a lot of people when I travel.

In the last 2 months I've been across America and back. I've talked with people in Georgia, Tennessee, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, California, Alabama.

I've met literally thousands of people this year.

I always wonder how things are going for the people I meet. What their lives are truly like? Will they be with me in Heaven?

Lately, I've been thinking about a friend.

I remember around 1999 when a friend of mine felt led to share her faith. Her faith was different than mine. I appreciated the attempt, but had a few basic questions for her. I told her I would be glad to take her faith, Mormonism, seriously if she could offer good answers.

She gladly accepted the invitation. In researching my basic questions, her life changed. Permanently. Within a short time she felt her faith was not in agreement with the Christian faith. The next year was painful for her. When she accepted Christ as her personal Lord and Savior, everything she knew was turned upside down. Everything.

I had began coaching her son full time. Great kid, hard worker. After a couple of years, he asked questions about my faith as he worked to share his faith with me. I asked him just a few basic questions. I explained if he could show me some good answers I would consider seriously looking at his faith.

He gladly accepted the offer. One night he called me from the BYU library. Apparently, one of my questions has seriously stumped him and he flew to Utah to see the correct answer for himself. The correct answer was hidden deep inside the library. When he found the answer, his life was forever changed. He realized he had no choice but to accept Christ, the Christ of the Bible with nothing added or taken away, as his personal Lord and savior.

Both he and his mother have paid a great price for their new belief in Jesus Christ, the Jesus of the Bible. I will keep this information private. Suffice to say the last 5 years have been difficult and I am amazed at the strength they both show.

I don't claim to have all the answers. I was like most of you, didn't have much of an idea about Mormonism and was willing to listen. In listening I came up with a few reasonable questions. I did some research. Found some answers. Asked my Mormon friends if the answers were right or wrong.

Their personal research showed the answers I found were correct. Thus, their lives changed.

Here is something I found. I would like your answers, too.

Back in the 1800s, Brigham Young claimed to be a prophet of God. He was among the greatest Mormon leader in history. Certainly a visionary. He preached for many years that Adam was God. The Mormon church later took the stance that Adam was not God.

Well, one question to my friend and to my student was, "How can a man claim to speak with God and be God's prophet, yet preach for years that God told him God was Adam... because the current LDS church says God was not Adam?"

I went on to say, "To me, that makes him a false prophet and I have a problem with a founding member, prophet, and leader of a religion being a false prophet."

Their answer to me was that Brigham Young would never have claimed Adam was God. That a prophet could never be wrong about something so serious. That there was no way a prophet who talked with God daily would make such a claim.

I agreed a true prophet would never make such a claim, then showed them where Mormons recorded his claim. To find the writings I had located and to verify their origins, my student went to locate either authentic copies or the original manuscripts deep inside of the BYU library.

His life forever changed.

They then went on to find many, many other aspects of their religion they had never known.

As for me, I don't have all the answers. When asked to join a religion, I listen and ask questions. Nowadays, I get asked a lot of questions. As such, I have more answers than I had when I first answered my call to ministry back in 1999.

Why do I write about this now? Memories. Thoughts. Looking to the future. Both my former student and his Mom are both active in my life. I love them both tremendously.

Can I tell you something? I pray for you. I pray you can see Jesus, nothing added or taken away. The proof of his life, death, and resurrection is so complete. The answers to the tough questions of faith in Him are easily found. God's DNA is planted throughout the universe from the tiniest flagella to the amazing location of the earth in the galaxy.

I pray for God to reveal himself to you. He will. Simply ask.

God bless,

Scott Paschal
www.christiantennis.net
386 793 0557