Hello friends and family! Thank you so much for taking the time to read our newsletter and for partnering with us in the Gospel! It’s a huge blessing to know that we have people who love us and care to hear about what God is doing in and through our lives. We’re excited to share where the Lord has us right now and what we are doing at SGWM (Saving Grace World Missions), at CCSG (Calvary Chapel Saving Grace), and in our home as our family continues to grow.
The last few months have been riddled with excitement. First, I (Isaac) have been given the opportunity to serve in a new role as Assistant Director of Missionary Care assisting Pastor Joel in serving our missionaries around the world.
Saving Grace World Missions is the sending organization of CCSG and our goal is to reach the world with the Gospel by training and raising up missionaries to minister cross-culturally and nationals to reach their own communities. We currently have 65 missionaries/families serving on 6 continents (sorry, we haven’t reached Antartica yet) who are planting churches, serving in sending hubs*, and establishing bible colleges to help raise up national pastors and leaders to plant churches. We have seen over 130 churches planted from CCSG over the last 30 years and many more are in the works. All of this is made possible by the Holy Spirit working through ordinary people who have made it their aim to go and to send well.
*churches that have a goal to send missionaries
Missionary care is the crucial puzzle piece of sending well and is extremely important to us as a sending church. Many missionaries around the world are forgotten by their sending churches and many churches view missionaries as people who have left their church to go somewhere else. We believe, based on Scripture, that missionaries are an extension of the church and that they will be most effective on the mission field with the ongoing physical, financial, and spiritual support of the church. That takes the form of prayer, financial giving, short term visits, and provision for the missionary’s practical needs. This is what we call missionary care, and at our church, we provide this care through care teams.
Care teams are groups of people from the church (senders) who meet together once a month and pray for the missionary or missionaries their group has adopted. When the missionary returns to America for furlough or to transition off the field, the care team helps meet their practical and spiritual needs. Many missionaries sold everything to serve God and have no material belongings to return home to, just a few suitcases that they’ve carried across the world. The care team steps in and helps meet whatever needs and serves the missionary where they are able. Our goal is that all of our missionaries feel supported, taken care of, and covered in prayer by the body of Christ.
As you can see, there is a lot of need in this area and with so many missionaries mobilized around the world, we have a lot comings and goings. My job is to make it easier for them to transition home from the field and take care of their needs so they can focus on what they need to do during their time on the field and at home. This includes planning where they will stay, what they will drive, and when they will share at the church, keeping in mind time for rest, time with supporters and much, much more. In a scenario where missionary care is lacking, the missionary usually has to figure all of that out on their own before they get home.
Please be praying for us as we step into this role as a family. We have been writing some curriculum for the care teams with the goal of helping them better help our missionaries. There is one body but it has many different functions so pray that the body here functions effectively in our different roles. If you are interested in our care teams, our missionaries, or in knowing more about all of this, please reach out and we would love to talk to you about it!
Second, we have been able to share at other churches and with other people about missions. Our family had the privilege to travel to St. Joseph, Missouri and share with Grace Calvary Chapel about the Great Commission and our collective calling as the Bride of Christ to missions during their Missions Week. I got to share in the youth group and my dad, pastor Trent, got to share with the young adults and the entire church. Many people were encouraged and stirred by the word and by the command to reach the lost with the Gospel. Pray that God would send more laborers and raise up more senders!
While we were in St. Joseph we were blessed to stay at Jon and Mel Medina’s house. The Medinas serve at Grace Calvary Chapel and Jon is the youth pastor. Hope and Mel have known each other since they were kids so it was very special for us to go see them. Plus, Jon makes the best coffee and they had raw milk, which my wife was so excited about. Please pray for them as they serve the Lord in Missouri!
We also got to see our good friends Bryan and Kayla Crenshaw! They served with us in the youth ministry at CCSG for over 2 years and just moved to Missouri at the end of last year. It was a great reunion and very refreshing to spend time with them again. Plus, the kids loved seeing their friends as well!
For those who don’t know, we help serve in the youth ministry and in the worship ministry at CCSG. I am the Youth Director at our church and Hope assists me in that. I also get to lead worship at our church a few times a month. Hope is involved in our church’s ministry to young moms, Inspired Motherhood, where moms come to be encouraged in raising their kids in the ways of the Lord. Please pray for these ministries, that God would grow the people who are attending, and that more would come to know Him.
One cool note about youth ministry is that our Wednesday night youth service is entirely student led. The students set up the room, lead worship, do the sound, pick a game, and even teach; three young men are on rotation teaching through 1 Peter. It is a huge blessing to witness these young men and women serve God and step up in areas they may be called to serve in the church in the near future! Praise God!
Lastly, we added another baby boy to the Douglass family! Titus Zion Douglass was born late on January 14th and is healthy and growing! His brothers, Fletcher (4 years) and Theo (2 years) are absolutely in love with him, as we all are. Hope has recovered well and is already starting to train for her next marathon! Crazy! Haha, but please pray for us as a family of 5, that God would give us grace in parenting and training these boys and that He would provide for our needs.
Thank you again for taking the time to read our newsletter! Your prayers and encouragements are coveted treasures and sustain us. If you’d like to support us as we serve God around the world, please consider becoming a monthly financial supporter. God bless!
