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Coach Scotty's Houston Journal Coach Scotty's Houston Mission Trip Journal (Be sure to refresh your browser each day!) This tournament was full of fun kids! April 16 Easter Sunday What a fitting ending for an incredible 2 month tour for our gang. This has been an awesome Easter day of missions work. God has so blessed me personally . I am the most fortunate guy on earth. My new friends in Houston have made me feel completely at home. What a great place to wrap up our tour. Though we've worked hard, the main thing that stands out to me from our 55 days on the road is how much work needs to be done! What our little sports ministry has accomplished is just a tiny missions work droplet in the Niagra Falls of missions work worldwide. We have much we need to improve upon to be more effective for Christ. (cont. below) Melody giving fans their ICTA Easter Gifts as they left the stadium after the Final on Easter Sunday! Rach and Mel busy giving away Bibles, Christian books, ICTA Tshirts, and signing up members! I plan to take a few days off work when we return home. I'm tired. Happy and excited, but ready for some rest. Our little missionary gang has pushed ourselves to our max. We've worked hard. I haven't done the final numbers, but I think we're at 4500+ hours of volunteer missions work in 2 months. The ICTA name/ministry has been seen by over 450,000 attendees of 3 pro events since February 25th. We've personally touched the lives of thousands as they have visited with us at our booth or on the street. Countless Bibles, tracts, videos, books, balloons, bookmark, etc have been distributed by your ICTA missionaries and are now traveling worldwide to the homes of our visitors. That's a pretty neat thought. (cont. below) Here's a fan using staying cool with our God is Good fan! Westside Tennis Club is an amazing place. Their grass courts use thesame grass as Wimbledon. God has blessed these last two months. My life has been forever changed. I have not had this clarity of focus before as to what I want to do with the rest of my life. I love missions work, not just tennis missions, but missions work. My upcoming mission trip to Ghana will be one of the highlights of my young life. Traveling to Jamaica this May for a weeklong sabatical and a week of missions work will be so rewarding. Those of you who have supported ICTA during our formative years, of which we are still in, have tremendously impacted my life. You were all dreams in my mind not long ago. Now you are living, breathing people God is using to help me spread the Gospel. Thanks. I'm pretty excited to see what the next 7 years brings because these first 7 have been an amazing ride. (cont. below) Another shot of Mel giving away ICTA Easter presents! We wish we had another 1500! How cute is this! We're on our way now to New Orleans to pray for the city as we drive back home to Palm Coast, Florida. Thank you Houston for making this last week incredible. God is good. Happy Easter, Coach Scotty ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- April 7 Friday Everything is packed and ready for our 10 day ICTA Global Mission Trip to Houston, Tx! God is blessing ICTA in fantastic ways. Did you know from February 25, 2006 - April 16, 2006, ICTA's Tennis Ministries will have attended top pro events in Las Vegas, Miami, and Houston reaching an attendance of well over 450,000. The ICTA name is recognized worldwide as the beacon for Christ within the sport of tennis. ICTA Global Missions short term goals for ICTA Houston (April 10-16): Gain 100's of new members during Championships to form ICTA Houston Form church partnerships Give away 100's of God is Good fans Give away 100's of Christian books & Bibles Give away 100's of ICTA Tshirt Connect members Long term goals to be developed in ICTA Member Meeting in June 2006: ICTA tennis league for men and women at local clubs Kids events at local clubs ICTA tournament Monthly member mixers ICTA Rally to Win event for 2007 Clay Court Championships Grow tennis Provide 100% of needed tournament volunteers for 2007 Championships ICTA Travel Tour group Jake and I are preparing to drive to Houston today. It should take us about 18 hours. We're both looking forward to it. I feel pretty rested with having a few days off after coming home from our 2 week+ mission trip to South Florida during the Nasdaq 100 Open on Monday. Rach and Mel are flying to California with their mom this morning to see their brother. They will join Jake and me in Houston on Monday. We'll have a great time in Texas! I look forward to my upcoming tennis camp & street evangelism. On our down time we plan on visiting NASA, AstroWorld, and Galveston Island. After our mission trip is completed I hope to visit friends and family from Austin to Dallas to Longview, and visit New Orleans to bring street ministry to hurricane victims How can I express how excited I am to come home to Texas on an ICTA Global Mission Trip? I grew up in Texas and have friends & family across the state. For ICTA to have grown to a level where we can actually have a professional large scale, short-term mission trip to Texas is incredible, a dream come true! Just a few years ago, ICTA mission trips were a seemingly impossible dream. With this trip to Houston ICTA will have completed 3 great mission trips in a row... Las Vegas during the Tennis Channel Open, Key Biscayne during the Nasdaq 100 Open, and now Houston. 5.5 weeks of missions within 7 weeks! God is blessing ICTA's faithfulness. This mission trip to Houston has been completely sponsored. God has been amazing opening blessed doors of opportunity for ICTA. We are one of the most blessed sports ministries in the world. I wouldn't want to be anyone else or be anywhere else in the world. My new blog will be ready in 2 to 3 weeks. I'm having it professionally done. You will really like the way it looks and functions. I'll be able to write and add pics, plus you will be able to post your responses. Please keep Jake and me in your prayers as we begin our 900+ mile drive, and also keep our entire mission trip in your prayers as we reach people for Christ in Texas. God bless! Coach Scotty -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scotty barefoot on stadium court after a 950+ mile drive from Florida to Houston, Texas. April 8 Saturday We're here in awesome Houston, Texas! Jake and I arrived at the Westside Tennis Club around 9:30pm. The first thing we did was take off our shoes and socks and hit a few balls on the red clay in the stadium! Seriously! I have the pics to prove it. I've been wanting to hit on the exact same red brick clay as Rolland Garros uses, and I did tonite since the US Men's Clay Court Championships imports it. Awesome! Security ran us off after a few minutes but it was worth a quick walk on the wild side. Actually, the security guy thought it was funny and ended up showing us where our booth was located. The drive to Houston was a good time. We drove 500 miles yesterday and the rest today. We took our time and had fun. I wanted Jake to really enjoy the trips. Jake is my intern and one great kid. His dad pastor's a church he planted 23 years ago in New Hampshire. One of his Jake's goals is to play major college tennis on scholarship. He will definitely get there, and, like Adam (former student), will certainly become a team leader and a coaches' dream. We stopped in Mobile, Alabama last night, slept great, and hit the road around 10:30am. I introduced Jake to Sonic for lunch. We mowed down Sonic Burgers, fries & tater tots, and drank Cherry Lime soda. Sonic is an old fashioned 50's style-eat-in-your-car burger joint where the girls wear roller skates to bring the food to the car. It was fun. For dinner, we ate at the Crazy Cajun Casino/ gas station in Biloxi, Mississippi. That was fun too. Amazing barbeque sandwiches. Our booth location at the US Men's Clay Court Championships is great. This is really exciting to be here in Texas! I can't wait to see my friends who work for the USTA Texas Section, the USPTA, Newk's, King Daddy's.... It will be really good to have them join us in missions work here in Houston. We have a new T-Shirt debuting here in Houston. It's awesome! I'm wearing one tomorrow. I'm going to make you wait to learn what is says and looks like, but if you can find me tomorrow and mention this web log..I'll give you a 50% discount! Remember, also, all ICTA members receive a FREE giftbook whenever you come by our booth at any pro event. We want to keep helping to strengthen you spiritually! Our gift books are amazing and retail for between $10 and $15 each, but are free for each new ICTA member who signs up at a tournament! Remember, get a free ICTA tshirt just by bringing your friends by our booth to sign up this week... 10 new members= a free ICTA Tshirt for you. For His Calling! Coach Scotty Jake walking barefoot onto stadium court just minutes after arrival to Westside Tennis Club! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our booth is front and center in the main vendor area. Best location in the house! April 9 Sunday What an awesome day today! I felt rested and ready to give 'em Heaven! Joe drove in last night and met us at our motel. I've coached Joe for over 6.5 years! Joe is a great kid and recently made the tennis team of the # 2 ranked Division II college in the USA. Great job, Joe. He will be here all week helping us with missions work in the Houston area and training hard in my tennis camps. Joe, Jake, and I drove to Westside Tennis Club and unloaded my Suburban. The main draw doesn't begin till tomorrow at 4pm, but I like to get set up early. We have 5 boxes of terrific ICTA Tshirts, lots of gift books, our signs, etc. I set up part of the booth while Jake and Joe played a few sets on-site. Bearby helped me set things up! She's Rach and Mel's dog. I brought her with us on this mission trip because she's been alone alot while we've been traveling. Bearby is a super sweet dog. The tournament staff is busily preparing everything for the big day tomorrow. Snack vendor booths are being washed and painted. Scoreboard lights are being tested. Plants are being brought in to make everything look nice. This is a really fun part of a pro event. I talked to Spadea today. I like Vince. He's a neat guy. It's fun seeing him at tournament after tournament. I really enjoy getting to know the players. After a while when you travel a lot you end up meeting most every player. They are people just like you and me. The coach in me enjoys watching them play. It's fun to learn their games. It's also fun to meet their families and coaches. Rach and Mel went to Rick Warren's church today with their mom and brother. Rick is the Purpose Driven Life guy. They said the church service was good. Rick is supposed to do 14 services for Easter with over 40,000 people in attendence. The girls will be here tomorrow at 9pm. I look forward to them being here. Both Rach and Mel are amazing missionaries who love the Lord with all their hearts. Pics will be coming soon. I look forward to receiving your emails of support. Thanks for each and every one you send. They mean so much to us all. I look forward to writing more for you tomorrow! Signing out from Starbuck's... God bless! Scotty ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This neat mom and son combo are the first two members signing up! He's a twin! Watch out Bob and Mike... April 10 Monday Today was the big day! Main draw matches began at 4pm. Our booth is located right in the food court area of the Vendor's Village which is driectly next to the stadium. Great location. Our new members are awesome, really awesome. Folks in Houston are really amazing. I had a great time meeting all of you! Today, we had a really interesting assortment of new members. Pastors, businessmen, contractors, loan officers, bankers, students, homemakers, high school students... We stayed on-site until around 10pm. Our new God is Good fans are a big hit! They are expensive for me to give away, but I love the message and feel it's worth it for sure. Most people will keep our fans for a long time. They take them home or to work and place them on walls and desks. It's a neat feeling knowing something we did makes people feel better. This world can be difficult and confusing. TV, Media, Radio, Internet... so many things bringing us away from Christ. Your International Christian Tennis Association is a beacon for Christ worldwide for the sport of tennis. For many who log onto Christiantennis.net each day, we are a source they can come to for Christian information and support. Our web site is updated on a near daily basis to bring our members and visitors the latest up- to-date information possible. ICTA points to Christ. We want to be a strong compass pointing to Christ in the tennis world and beyond. We're here for you. Rach and Mel arrive at 11:40pm. Joe is on his way to Bush Intercontinental to pick them up. It will be so great to have them here. It is hard to explain how unbelievable Rach and Mel are. These twins are missionaries to the core. Their hearts beat in tune with Christ. Watching them daily is amazing. Every day their hearts reach for Christ. Every minute they focus on building up treasure in Heaven. Their time in California with their mom and brother went great. Houston... thank you for how welcome you have made us feel. This means so much. We've been on the road away from home for most of the last 2 months. We're all pretty tired from traveling, but very glad to be here. Having your kindness means so much. We know people worldwide depend on us to spread the Gospel. Thank your so much for your daily love and support! For His fame, Coach Scotty Here's a snapshot of our booth from a distance as everyone is setting up. Ok, here's the twins who will one day dethrone Bob and Mike! You saw 'em first here! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vince Spadea played an incredible match today! Focused & relaxed. I love watching him. Vince is a real fighter. I think Vince might have a new line of clothing. If so, ICTA is on-board to selling it! April 11 Tuesday Busy. That is the best way to describe our booth today. BUSY! We met so many fun and wonderful people today as they signed up for membership. Houston, you are incredible! How can I explain enough how warm and welcome you make us feel. Ok, here's the rally tip for today. In about 8 weeks I'll be back for our big ICTA Houston meeting. We'll all meet and discuss plans for tennis leagues, lessons, and more! We'll call or email you when we find a large enough location to hold everyone. This will be a fun time, and I am so excited to plan our Rally to Win Christian concert with yall Pastors! Thank you for your wonderful offers to get your congregations involved in ICTA ministry. I look forward to partnering with you to reach people for Christ. I think we had 7 pastors sign up today. That is amazing. Tennis playing pastors! I love it! By the end of the week i'd bet we'll get around 30 pastors as ICTA members. Talk about a neat tennis league that would make. And a first! It is so much fun to see people wearing our awesome ICTA Tshirts at the tournament! Wow! I'm so glad you like them. We use a high quality cotten blend that isn't cheap. We spend more because we want you to really love wearing your ICTA Tshirts year after year. Tennis pros & college coaches are signing up in waves. So awesome! ICTA will love setting up Christian tennis for our new members at your clubs. How much fun are our God is Good fans! They are blanketing the stands! Yall love them! I get a big kick out of seeing them everywhere. ICTA is working hard to shine for Christ everywhere he places us. We stive to be a beacon for Christ in all we do. God has blessed ICTA in huge ways. We are one of the most blessed sports ministries in the world. I'm a big believer in looking at the fruits of a ministry. Our fruits are so God-blessed. ICTA is a tennis ministry for all. It took many, many years of blessed hard work for us to become this successful. Please keep us in your prayers as we begin street missions tomorrow. God is so good. I love my life. God has taken me from a me-centered life to a God centered one. I listen to Him! We are so fortunate that the God who spoke the universe into existence knows every hair on our head. He loves us. We are His special children. Wow! in Him, Coach Scotty Scotty talking with new ICTA members! Busy, busy, busy! People worldwide have learned of ICTA! Awesome to be a donkey for Christ. God is so good! We love seeing kids learn of our beacon for Christ in tennis. What a wonderful mom. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is one neat family! Dad and his 3 kids loved their ICTA Tshirts! Scotty really enjoyed talking with this former NFL defensive end. Great to meet you Rocky, Little Rocky, Erika, and Maddi. We'll see you all soon at our ICTA Houston members meeting! Remember, Jesus loves you! Jake is telling a curious person about ICTA Tennis Ministries. She signed up and we're glad to have her as a new ICTA Houston member! April 12 Tuesday This was a day of friendships. Much like a tennis match, each day of an ICTA Global Mission Trip has its own momentum and personality. Our new "Wednesday members" were a bunch of great folks. I enjoyed talking to each of you so much. Our new ICTA Houston members are housewives, registered nurses, teachers, bankers, secretaries, a manicurist, an accountant, a pharmacist, umpires... just a neat bunch of grapes on the vine! It is wonderful how God has brought so many interesting and varied individuals together to form ICTA Houston. Your friendships with each other will benefit and strengthen all! This is one great ICTA Houston Tennis League coming together. Friends are special people. I had a great talk on the phone today with one of my friends, David, who resides in Alabama. He is an evangelist and super good at what he does. He is also someone God sent into my life to protect, grow, and mentor me and the ICTA. David loves me, loves Rach & Mel, and is here for us through anything satan throws our way. Today was a day of two friends talking and growing closer in our friendship. God has placed my friend in my life for very specific reasons. In Him I have a brother and a lifelong friend. Very few people I have ever met reflect Christ as much as David does. Sometimes situations in life can be difficult. Our God-sent friends will be there for us as Christ was there for them. The Bible is packed with great examples of friendship. One that stands out to me in many ways is the God ordained friendship between Barnabas and Paul. What a great pair! Barnabas' name means friendship. Paul certainly needed a friend. Here was Paul, a man who wanted to murder any Christ follower he could find, blinded and alone after his encounter with Christ. His whole life had changed within a split second. Everything he knew was gone forever. Then, Barnabas was led by God to protect and nurture him. God used Barnabas to care and nurture the man all Christians feared the most. God can and will use those people He chooses. What an amazing thought. Are you currently in a difficult situation in life? Pray for God to send you your Barnabas. If He already has, listen to your Barnabas and let God nurture you through him. Our goal for ICTA Houston is to nurture a bond of friendship between our members. With the amazing members we have gained this will be no problem. Hey, can you guys help me out! We need to locate a meeting facility large enough to hold everyone for our big ICTA Houston meeting coming up in 2 months. Give me a call at 386 793 0557 if you have any ideas. We also need food catered or provided by a church! Call me about that, too. And it would be good to host the meeting at a tennis club where we could hit some balls after the meeting ended! I am fired up for Thursday! What excitement! God is good! Signing out from Starbuck's Coffee Shop in beautiful Houston, Tx.... Pray Every Day! Coach Scotty James Blake and Mardy Fish having fun playing great doubles in a night match! This eating area had beach sand brought in! On the right is a live band. Plus, Harley is giving away a new bike! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- April 13 Thursday This was one hot Texas day. The sun was ruthless beating down on everyone here in Houston. Take a look at my pic below to see me broil in our booth! I loved it though. Not that I like hot weather, because I really don't. What I loved was knowing I was using my life today for a higher purpose. What I want is for my life to shine as bright and as hot as the sun on a hot Texas day. That is what I live and breathe for. It is all I can think about. You know the problem with many of us? We don't take God seriously. His Word is something we try to do when it fits into our schedule. To the apostle Paul doing God's will was his life. Jesus said, “ No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). Do you believe that? Can I say something some of you may find controversial, almost scandalous in today's world? You know I don't mind some controversy! Here goes... get ready to copy this Bob... I’m going to say something that you may disagree with, but I believe it with all of my heart: You should have but one singular goal in your life, and that is to know Jesus Christ personally, powerfully, passionately, and to know Jesus Christ preeminently. From this everything else will flow. You may say I can't do that! I have a career, friends, family, committments! What are you saying Coach? I'm saying that when you make Jesus your singular focus everything else, and I mean everything, comes into clarity. You can't see this because you don't do this. It is impossible to play your best tennis without having your best footwork. You have to do it everyday and when you do everything else will come into focus. It takes committment. You know what I'm saying here. Focus on Jesus, my friend. That's what ICTA Tennis Ministries is all about. God has placed our sports ministry in a leadership position as His voice within the sport of tennis internationally. His blessings on us are amazing. The fruits of ICTA are so God blessed. Our ministry partners & friends, our church partnerships, our God-placed visions of spreading the Gospel have never happended in tennis before. As we are still in our Genesis, since we are just 7 year olds, we know God has big plans for ICTA. I look forward to God using me as he sees fit. He's the one who spoke the universe into existence. I have no problem to listening to His voice in my life. We are God's children. We each have a purpose. Keep moving your feet and focus on the ball. When you do, everything else will come into clear focus. In Him, Coach Scotty That's me smiling in one hot booth! Here's the gang eating at burritos at Chipotle next to Starbuck's. Mel, Jake, Joe, and Rach. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Busy, busy, busy! So many new members, so little time. Grandad is having a great time with the grandkids. Welcome to ICTA membership! April 14 Friday This has been a special day in so many ways I don't know where to begin. It is fitting that today is Good Friday, which is the day Christians recognize as the day Christ was crucified. To me Good Friday becomes a time of recognizing God's plan for our lives. It is a roadmap of what God wants from each of us. Take a look at amazing this scripture... Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” John 12:23-28a. What an amazing thought! (cont. below) Scotty taking a pic with 3 new ICTA members. These wonderful new members look forward to ICTA leagues! The food court area. Right in the middle accross the area is the ICTA Booth. Amazing location! Here we all are being guided by the God of the universe and He is telling us His secrets and wisdom. He is giving us the advice which we all need to follow to understand and fulfill our purpose. There isn't a lot of beating around the bush. Lose your worldly life here on earth in order to live for Him. This means to give up your selfish ambitions and live in Him. His world, His life, His desires. I've done it. It works. Satan works overtime to bring you to his world and away from Christ. I read about a woman in Missouri who allowed a man, who was not her husband, to live with her in her apartment. She thought it’d be a good arrangement, but after a while she realized that she’d made a tragic mistake. She told that man, “You’re going to have to leave.” He said, “I’m not leaving. You invited me here. I’m going to stay.” She didn’t know what to do, so she went to court and got an injunction against him. She showed the man the injunction and said, “Do you see this? You’ve got to go. I’ve got authority now, and you’ve got to go.” And he moved out. Now Satan is that same way. You can say, “Satan, won’t you leave me alone? Please leave me alone. Don’t bother me anymore.” What you need to do, my friend is take the authority of heaven and say, “Satan, in the name of Jesus, I resist you. I rebuke you. You have no right here. You’re trespassing on my Father’s property, and in the name of Jesus be gone.” Jesus said, “ Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you ” (Luke 10:10). It’s time we discovered this kingdom authority and put it to work. (cont. below) New college age members and interested bystanders! On the day of His death, Jesus took control. His enemies thought they had won out. They misled everyone into following their plan. They killed an innocent man. Yet, in doing so they completed God's plan for Salvation for His people as Satan became a defeated foe. Awesome! Are you going through a difficult time right now in your life? Take heart. God is fully in control. Give it all to Him. Have you been hurt or betrayed? Maybe your body has betrayed you with cancer. Maybe a loved on has betrayed your trust. Maybe a spouse has betrayed your marriage or a coworker has betrayed you to receive the promotion you worked so hard for. Well, I can certainly understand your emotions from this. I was betrayed earlier this year by someone I allowed into my inner circle of friends, Yet, from my faithfulness to allow God to place me in this situation, God is blessing me and ICTA in ways I had only dreamed about. God used me to keep this person alive and give them a new chance in life. My faithfulness to the situation is what God was looking for. My coach was growing and developing me through the entire situation. When I write, I am able to write from experience, as well as from the heart. In your difficult times, get ready for God's blessings my friend. Simply focus on Him! You are nearing a breakthrough period which will take you to an entirely new level of life in Christ. Forgive whomever has hurt you! Know the God who spoke the universe into existence is always in control. Love your enemies. Their foolish actions can become your best friends. God is placing your footsteps exactly where He wants them. (cont. below) A Texas Longhorn fan and new ICTA member scoping out his free ICTA God is Good Tshirt! It is so great to see kids realize their sport can become a beacon of light for Christ. I'm sure this isn't a newsflash to you, but tennis can be a sport of self-centered people. Spend just a week with top pros and you can see so many of them have pretty self-centered lives. They play tennis for a couple of hours a day, then spend the rest of their day doing trying to fill voids in their hearts. While missionaries worldwide are risking their lives spreading the Gospel, many top pros are doing little but avoiding the responsiblities commanded of them by Christ.. Are you a top WTA or ATP pro player? If so, what have you done today that mattered to someone else? What about this week? Month? year? Probably not much. That must be a very lonely life. Your time of fame is so short. What will you do when it is gone? I'm sure it is confusing and I'd like to help. Call me at 386 793 0557. Your life doesn't have to be so empty and wasted. Yes, there is more to life out there and God can use you in amazing ways. God didn't place you in a position of influence to expand the greatness of you. Don't believe in God? Ask your self one question for me... who created the big bang? You played on a tennis court today, yet didn't see who built it. Does this mean the court just appeared? To some of you, maybe it does. There is nothing more life enhancing as a walk with Christ. I have witnessed another fantastic day here in beautiful Houston, Texas, USA. ICTA Membership growth has shown another record setting day as ICTA's Tennis Ministries are reaching people citywide. Our ICTA Bible BeachReach in Galveston was awesome! Joe, Jake, and Rach felt incredible as God used them to reach people on the beaches with His word. Realize where ever you are that you have the ability to change the lives of others through unselfish actions. My phone, internet, and face to face meetings today went really well. One Christian businessman who owns a large tennis product manufacturing business wants to build me a tennis facility in Florida. Another wonderful person wants to bring me from Florida to Houston where there are 80 acres of forested lake front property she can invest in or find investors for us. How can I put into words how much God is blessing ICTA? Please keep ICTA Tennis Ministries in your prayers as we continue to work hard for him. I'm already excited about our next mission trip! I'll fill you in on that one later. Plus. I'll let you know about our upcoming mission trip to Ghana. May God bless and keep you (something the aunt of one of my former students used to say), Coach Scotty Here's a pic of Jake, an ICTA Intern &Tennis Academy student, giving Bibles to people on the beach. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This group of guys received Bibles tonite just as we were closing. Great job Rach and Bear. Saturday April 15 Thank you for your terrific emails from reading my web journal! How great to hear from you. Soon you will be able to enjoy my new web log, or Blog for short. I'm pretty excited to have a web log. A friend in Texas is designing it for me. He is one of the best web masters out there and has developed some of the best web sites in Christian ministry today. When the Blog is completed you will be able to post your messages for me to ready! This will be great! But, as excited as I am to have a new web log, I'm even that much more excited to publish our first edition of Faith & Tennis Magazine. Right now it looks like we will have it ready by July 10th. The beginning circulation will be kind of small at around 40,000, but I fully expect it to grow as Faith & Tennis Magazine becomes a high quality source of media. I'm sure our first go around will need lots of improvement, much like our original web site did! But, we all have to start somewhere and I'm not afraid of failure. (cont. below) We are coming to a conclusion of an incredible mission trip tour. Man, three major tournaments in a row! Vegas, Miami, and Houston. Wow! How incredible. God is opening amazing doors for our sports ministry. Did you know a year ago on MSN.com the International Sports Coalition named your International Christian Tennis Association as one of the top 100 recognized sports ministries in the world. Pretty cool, huh? Not bad for 3 fulltime staff members! Following the Great Commission of Christ as described in Mathew 28 is one of the highest honors in my life. I live and breathe missions work. These last 7 weeks have been amazing. They have been crazy good. The ups and the downs were each God- blessed. (cont. below) ICTA full time staff member Rachel Snelen giving Bibles to people on the beach at Galveston Island. For the next 2 years I plan to coach only a few select students. I am focusing on pastor's kids who love the Lord and love tennis. They will become interns for ICTA and help in all aspects of ICTA Tennis Ministries. My hours on court coaching will be limited. As much as I enjoy developing tennis players, I enjoy leading people to Christ so much more. Coaching has been my hobby for the last nearly decade. It has been something I have enjoyed and something I am good at. There have been many rewarding moments. I wouldn't change a thing. For the next 2 years my life will be dedicated to ICTA Global Missions work. Coaching will take a back seat as I develop our international ICTA network to a world class standard of excellence. Once my tennis facility is completed I look forward to the opportunites God places before me as a coach. Kids need a Christ-centered world class tennis academy. I am called to build it and I will. 7 year ICTA Tennis Academy student, Joe, with Jake giving Bibles to people on the beach during ICTA's Beach Reach in Galveston, Texas while on an ICTA Global Mission trip during the USA Men's Clay Court Championships. Great job guys! Speaking of excellence! Our new "Saturday members" were GREAT! You guys were a bunch of fun. This was one busy day. When we look through our membership each day, we noticed something interesting... we have lots of housewives, lawyers, and pastors! Seriously! At least 15% to 20%. I don't have any real comment on that except to say it's pretty neat. Just something we noticed. We leave beautiful Houston for New Orleans on Monday. I want to take some time and visit hurricane Katrina victims. I look forward to receiving your emails! Serving hard, Coach Scotty This guy used his God is Good fan as a personal ministry tool! Notice the lady reading it! Awesome! ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This tournament was full of fun kids! April 16 Easter Sunday What a fitting ending for an incredible 2 month tour for our gang. This has been an awesome Easter day of missions work. God has so blessed me personally . I am the most fortunate guy on earth. My new friends in Houston have made me feel completely at home. What a great place to wrap up our tour. Though we've worked hard, the main thing that stands out to me from our 2 months on the road is how much work needs to be done! What our little sports ministry has accomplished is just a tiny missions work droplet in the Niagra Falls of missions work worldwide. We have much we need to improve upon to be more effective for Christ. (cont. below) Melody giving fans their ICTA Easter Gifts as they left the stadium after the Final on Easter Sunday! Rach and Mel busy giving away Bibles, Christian books, ICTA Tshirts, and signing up members! I plan to take a few days off work when we return home. I'm tired. Happy and excited, but ready for some rest. Our little missionary gang has pushed ourselves to our max. We've worked hard. I haven't done the final numbers, but I think we're at 4500+ hours of volunteer missions work in 2 months. The ICTA name/ministry has been seen by over 450,000 attendees of 3 pro events since February 25th. We've personally touched the lives of thousands as they have visited with us at our booth or on the street. Countless Bibles, tracts, videos, books, balloons, bookmark, etc have been distributed by your ICTA missionaries and are now traveling worldwide to the homes of our visitors. That's a pretty neat thought. (cont. below) Here's a fan using staying cool with our God is Good fan! Westside Tennis Club is an amazing place. Their grass courts use thesame grass as Wimbledon. God has blessed these last two months. My life has been forever changed. I have not had this clarity of focus before as to what I want to do with the rest of my life. I love missions work, not just tennis missions, but missions work. My upcoming mission trip to Ghana will be one of the highlights of my young life. Traveling to Jamaica this May for a weeklong sabatical and a week of missions work will be so rewarding. Those of you who have supported ICTA during our formative years, of which we are still in, have tremendously impacted my life. You were all dreams in my mind not long ago. Now you are living, breathing people God is using to help me spread the Gospel. Thanks. I'm pretty excited to see what the next 7 years brings because these first 7 have been an amazing ride. (cont. below) Another shot of Mel giving away ICTA Easter presents! We wish we had another 1500! How cute is this! We're on our way now to New Orleans to pray for the city as we drive back home to Palm Coast, Florida. Thank you Houston for making this last week incredible. God is good. Happy Easter, Coach Scotty ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enjoy a few extra pics!
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