Training Students for Long-term Missions to the Ends of the Earth
Photos by Josh Larson
Pastor Trent Douglass, his wife Debbie, and their CC Saving Grace (CCSG) church family in Yorba Linda, CA, are laser-focused on sharing the Gospel through church planting. Their hearts for the needy and lost have led them around the world, most recently to mainland Mexico, where they lead annual training and outreaches for young adults interested in following God’s calling into missions work.
Pastor Trent Douglass (center) of CC Saving Grace, CA, fellowships alongside his wife, Debbie (second from right), after Debbie taught at a women’s conference in Mexico. Trent led a group of young men and women to Mexico for the summer, training them in the work of missions as part of the Calvary School of Missions (CSOM).
Trent and Debbie have been greatly encouraged watching young people live for Christ. He explained, “Especially with this young generation, they’re giving up the American dream, giving up what everyone says they need—and they’re going places where they have to count the cost.”
CSOM student Eli Koble ministers to kids during a conference.
“They’re giving up the American dream, giving up what everyone says they need—and they’re going places where they have to count the cost.”
Calvary School of Missions
Calvary School of Missions (CSOM) is a six-week training held each summer for young people who desire to go to the mission field. Classes are held in Rosarito, Mexico; the outreach portion occurs toward the end in various cities throughout Mexico. In 2022, School of Missions students visited Rosarito, Culiacán, Mazatlán, and other areas. Their evangelizing presence has been influential in church-planting efforts toward those who have never received the Gospel, Trent said.
And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man’s foundation. Romans 15:20
Calvary Chapel Rosarito, Mexico, led by Pastor Mike Vincent (on stage, right), put on a church-planting conference over the summer. The conference, attended by the CSOM students, encouraged believers to plant churches and spread the Gospel to unreached people groups.
The school focuses on biblical training from God’s Word and local outreach. Trent explained, “In the school, we train them through the Word; the first 10 days we give them a biblical foundation of missions. Every morning we have classes and go through the Book of Acts, looking at the purpose of the Church—which is the evangelization and discipleship of all nations.” The missions school emphasizes partnering with churches. Calvary Chapel Rosarito (CCR), a church plant of CCSG, has been working in Mexico for years, so this provides a perfect place for students to learn partnership. Every week, the students do outreach with a church plant of CCR and witness firsthand the practical boots-on-the-ground work of the fellowships.
Student Ramsey Gomez teaches a Bible study to youth during a midweek service at a Calvary Chapel in Mazatlán, Mexico. Part of the students’ training with CSOM was to facilitate an entire church service, including worship, greeting, teaching youth, and providing childcare.
Another focus is training students to understand that 42% of the world is still unreached and still waiting to hear the name of Jesus for the first time. “We want to fully equip them so, after CSOM, we provide a next-steps internship program to help the students to become long-term missionaries,” reported Trent. This year, they will be sending nine of their interns long-term to the mission field in the “10/40 window”.
Trent enthusiastically shared, “Our goal is to train up long-term missionaries, so our internship is designed with that in mind. We have seen a great need to come alongside other Calvary Chapels to help train, equip, and support in sending young people for long-term missions. We’ve been doing this for over 20 years through our sending organization, Saving Grace World Missions, and we know God wants to do more.”
Student Samantha Trujillo, daughter of Pastor David Trujillo of CC South Los Angeles, CA, ministers in the children’s ministry during an event.
Making the Mission Possible
Many young people are longing to go to the mission field but don’t know exactly how to go. Nancy, a student from CSOM, is one of them. Nancy was born and raised in Orange County, CA; after getting saved in 2016, she immediately felt a call to long-term missions. Following a short stint in Rwanda, she realized she needed more training. She heard about CSOM through Pastor Rob Douglass in a missions class she attended.
Pastor Mike Vincent (right) teaches about the importance of church planting during the conference at Rosarito.
“The Calvary School of Missions helped me understand the purpose of the Church. I gained a greater conviction through God’s Word that [the topic of] Missions is all over the Bible!” Nancy exclaimed. “Through learning about the unreached people that are still on this earth, the school helped to propel me by equipping me to be able to live out my calling amongst those people and how to reach them effectively. Not only was it life-altering, but also it helped me understand God’s heart.” Nancy is preparing to move to the “10/40 window” this spring.
Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! Psalm 46:10
Ryan Ries of The Whosoevers speaks during a workshop at CC Rosarito.
Learning to Surrender
Silas Breen, the son of CC Pastor Ronny Breen of Horizon Christian Fellowship in Harrisonburg, VA, was introduced to the program as a student at Calvary Bible Institute (CBI) in Yucca Valley, CA. He had been considering the idea of missions for a while when Pastor Trent shared about CSOM in his missions class at CBI. Silas initially resisted. However, as he prayed, he realized that he was meant to go to the missions school—and God gave him peace.
CSOM student Silas Breen, son of Pastor Ronny Breen of Horizon Christian Fellowship in Harrisonburg, VA, greets conference attendees as they arrive. The missions program, he said, “has taught me to surrender. It was a challenge to put my dreams, my desires, and my vision on the altar before the Lord.”
The program, he said, “has taught me to surrender. It was a challenge to put my dreams, my desires, and my vision on the altar before the Lord.” He felt humbled after visiting a place called “The Dump” with other students. Seeing people live in giant trash fields disgusted Silas until he reflected on it and realized that he, too, often chose to live with his own “spiritual junk” and would be lost without Christ. Silas credited the school with giving him a deeper heart and drive for the unreached of the world, causing him to seek God more in how he is to be a part of that. “I would encourage anyone who the Lord is calling to go. Pray over it and go.”
CSOM students Sara Torres (left) and Avery Middleton lead worship at a church service in Mazatlán.
Roots in the Book of Acts
Trent described the roots of his California fellowship: “We started teaching the Book of Acts, thinking it was about the gifts and the work of the Holy Spirit, but soon realized that the Book of Acts is all about Missions. It’s been a part of the DNA of our church ever since.” CC Saving Grace originally started in 1991 as a group of newly saved young people passionate for Jesus, eventually becoming a church. “Because we were young, God was able to lay a foundation to our church that was just ‘Bible’. None of us had ever done ‘church’, so we looked to Acts to show us what church was,” Trent described. “And that’s what our church is today.”
“For so the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.’” Acts 13:47
“The world is still waiting to hear the Gospel,” Trent proclaimed, discussing the church’s goal to reach the unreached. “So we continue to bring awareness to the body and seek to train, equip, and send people to those places.”
Student Macey Lee (right) ministers to a young girl after an event.
Going to the World
Mexico is not the first country where CC Saving Grace has ministered. “We stand for world missions,” Trent declared. “One of my passions is to help Calvary pastors help their missionaries.”
CC Saving Grace has continued in that mission for more than 20 years, spreading the Gospel to countries across the globe. Calvary School of Missions is a more recent endeavor—and each session brings new students to release into the field.
“We worked a lot in Africa with Far Reaching Ministries in the early days. We are blessed to still be working in Africa and have expanded to South Asia as well. We are presently expanding to the Middle East where our hope is to raise up nationals through Calvary Bible Institutes and plant churches through national workers.”
Rob Douglass, brother of Trent and founder of Ends of the Earth Ministries, addresses the crowd during the Q&A portion of a conference.
The CSOM exists to train and raise up young people, giving them a fuller understanding of what it takes to be a missionary involved in church planting.
For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. 1 Corinthians 16:9
Trent Douglass (left) prays over Tim Pappas, assistant pastor at CC Saving Grace and director of CSOM.
Evangelism & Discipleship
“I would define the purpose of the Church as the evangelization and discipleship of all people,” Trent again stated. He urges churches to think of the Great Commission in Matthew 28 as the most important task Christians have been given. While humanitarian aid is important, planting churches is infinitely more important, Trent emphasized.
“The local church knows what the local community needs,” he advised. “Therefore the most effective way to minister to the practical needs of a community is by planting a local indigenous church.”
CSOM student Sara Torres (right) prays over a woman after a midweek service at a Calvary Chapel in Mazatlán.
The work at CC Saving Grace is a reminder to reach others with the Gospel, in particular the unreached nations and peoples of the Earth. “You can’t reach the souls of people without the church declaring and demonstrating the love of Christ,” Trent exhorted.
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Acts 1:8
Learn more about this ministry at Saving Grace World Missions
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This story first appeared in Spring 2023, print Issue 95 of Calvary Chapel Magazine.
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