Reaching pro players and college teams in America’s fastest-growing sport

In April, SportsLife Pickleball officially launched, something President and Founder Dan Britton said wasn’t on SportsLife’s radar until weeks before it went official.

“God can take what looks like broken plays that weren’t part of our plan and make them part of His strategic plan,” Britton said.

Stephens points to two events that God used to make it clear that pickleball was to become SportsLife’s newest sports community. First, after 60 years in Maryland, Stephens and his wife moved to Panama City Beach, Florida, in 2023 and discovered pickleball. Second, in October 2025, he became the first executive team member to join SportsLife staff as the Executive Director of Leadership Coaching.

Stephens was content in his executive role until a mission trip to Malaysia with three church friends, who are also his pickleball partners, opened his eyes to the ministry opportunity. Chief Sport Officer Carl Perry asked Stephens if he’d be interested in starting SportsLife Pickleball.

“I initially said no, but a few days later I took a spiritual gifts test with men I was leading in a discipleship group,” Stephens said. “It reminded me my gifts are apostleship, leadership, and administration.”

“I believe God was telling me it was time to do something new.” – Mark Stephens

From there, one connection led to another. A major donor Perry told about the development turned out to know the grandfather of Elliott Schupp, a pro pickleball player and devout follower of Christ. That led SportsLife to connect with pro athlete Ben Bramblett, who with Michael Loyd had hosted tournament meet-ups (LifeGroups) for a year.

“Things happened really fast,” Stephens said. “I immersed myself in the culture, started attending tournaments, and met more Christians. I started thinking about how we could reach competitive players with the ministry of presence.”

“When we add a sport, it’s extremely helpful to have a high-level leader already connected to it,” Perry said. “That’s what Mark brings to SportsLife Pickleball.”

“You can find someone like Mark, passionate about something different, and the next thing you know it turns into a shift in calling and a new direction,” Britton said.

“Mark didn’t realize how passionate about pickleball ministry he’d become until the first domino fell.” – Dan Britton

As he leads SportsLife Pickleball, Stephens will lean on SportsLife’s mission of raising up and discipling sports ministry leaders from the top down, starting with the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) and leagues including PPA Challenger and United Pickleball’s global tours in Asia, Canada, Spain, and Australia. SportsLife Pickleball will also reach the more than 200 college teams competing in the Association of Pickleball Players (APP) and the National Collegiate Pickleball Association (NCPA).

“We’ve discovered some really strong professional players who are believers,” Britton said. “There are also key people in leadership at the federations, but not much active, organized ministry. We want to help connect athletes as they travel to compete.”

To meet the need for chaplains, Stephens is developing a 12-month internship and discipleship program that launches at a retreat in January, then trains recruits to serve as chaplains at athlete meet-ups.

Ahead of that retreat, Stephens and Britton will travel to Malaysia in November for a pickleball ministry conference at the invitation of sports ministry veteran William Chang.

“When you bring people together who are passionate about a specific sport, you build accordingly as God moves,” Perry said. “It’s meeting people where they are just like Jesus did. He went to where the people were. He didn’t compromise anything, but He found a way to meet people where they were, and then He turned that into opportunities to share the Gospel and meet needs.”