AX Christian Scuba Diving
~ Our Story of Faith ~

Aquatic Xtremes was founded in 2003 by two friends who wanted to put their own thoughts, words, and designs on a few Scuba Diving shirts. They didn't know what the future held for them or their company, but they were driven to make something work. But this was just the beginning, Chapter 1, the Genesis, if you will! Along the road there were a few major set backs and hardships in the lives of both of our owners. With in the first year of AX's existance, Rick's grandfather went from a nimble, free spirited man to an amputee due to his diabetes while Tony watched his father loose his fight with Lukemia. Aquatic Xtremes took a back seat for a while so our owners could recollect themselves and their company. When Rick and Tony got back together to rebuild AX they knew it was missing something.

By 2007 they were looking into what exactly that 'something' was. And what they found was something they should have seen from the start of it all, the Lord! AX was destined for more, much more. But it couldn't get there without Him. So we moved forward, incorporating the Lord into our thoughts and our designs, but more importantly, we prayerfully included Him into the every day workings of our business. As we moved forward with developing the new AX we knew our target audience had changed drastically, but what we learned through some extensive marketing research was both discouraging and disheartening. There wasn't a large market for Christian Scuba Diving T Shirts at all on the internet or in free standing buildings that we could see. So, we went to the Lord in prayer, asking Him for guidance. After all, how we maintain a business with no group to market to?

As always, He showed us the path that we needed to take as a company. At first the path was cloudy and vague as to what He was showing us, but in all His greatness, He cleared the way. The most memorable moment the Lord showed us all of His glory was done while we were researching on Scubaboard.com to read the thoughts of other Scuba Divers on Christian Scuba Diving. We ran into a post where another Scuba diver was inquiring the thoughts of the other divers on the issue of Creationism vs. Evolution. It was (and still is) our personal belief that this diver was searching for guidance and wisdom with this burden laid on his heart and he desparatly felt the desire to be led to the Lord. Instead, what he ended up with was a posting that spanned over 2 years and 1000's upon 1000's of comments from a diverse group of divers. The most unfortunate thing about all of this is that only a small percentage of the posts on the board were positive. The largest percentage of them spoke of earlthy beliefs and anti-God messages. But the one that spoke to me the most and led me to where I needed to be spiritually was the post that stated ever so simply, "god has no place on this board or in Scuba Diving". Was I really reading this? Had I put this much time and effort into re-creating a business all in vein? Our human instinct was to immediatly give up this idea of running a Christian Scuba Diving T Shirt business if there is no profit in it. But the Lord truly had a hold of this situation and had something else in mind for us. We were meant to see that post. And we were meant to feel weak and beaten down. Because in our weakness, he shows Himself as the all powerfull and mighty God that He is.

What we learned over the next few days of prayer was that Aquatic Xtremes was no longer a business solely for profit, but instead a ministry to our Lord and Savior. He showed us load and clear that it isn't about the money we make here on earth, even if it is in His name, but instead it's about the lives we touch and win over for the Kingdom of God. Each Aquatic Xtremes Christain Scuba Diving Shirt that is worn on a dive boat, to a dive club meeting, or anywhere in public, is witnessing to a group of people who desparately need Jesus Christ in their lives. My prayer for you is that you don't think of our merchandise as a 'shirt' or 'key chain', but rather as an instrument and tool used in spreading the word of God.

From all of us here at Aquatic Xtremes, Thank You!

And may God Bless your every breath.

is to spread the Word of God within the Scuba Diving Industry by providing high quality, low cost Christian Scuba Diving gifts and apparel to the public so that we may together build His Kingdom.

Alone we are few, but together we are many. Join us in our ministry!