Doug Kallestad
DOUG KALLESTAD
Doug and Shelly left the States in August 1988 to study Spanish for eight months in Costa Rica. After finishing language school they arrived in Chile with two small children a
nd one on the way!
The Kallestads arrived in Chile in May 1989 and have resided there since that time. They went to Chile with the goal of planting churches and to help build a team committed to this goal. The Lord has graciously multiplied the work and the church planting team is now becoming a church planting movement. As of the year 2008 ten churches have bee
n started in the greater Santiago area, three in Southern Chile, four in Southern Peru, four in Southern Ecuador, one in the Middle East and one in North America. Ten Chilean long term missionary families have been sent out; one to Ecuador, three to Peru and two to the South of Chile, three to North Africa and one to the Middle East. In addition to these long term teams, hundreds of short term teams have been sent out to all these locations as well.
As churches have been planted a wide variety of ministries have been birthed that lead to community transformation. Three schools have been established with over 1,000 students. Children's ministries, feeding programs, social outreaches, vocational training, community centers, development projects, and small businesses have all been a part of the church planting efforts.
The Kallestads believe God has called them to work with pastors and leaders to continue building the base of strong local churches. Yet their focus is on preparing a "wave" of Latin missionaries to be sent out into Latin American and beyond into the 10/40 window, especially into the Muslim world. This includes identifying, equipping, and sending out Latin workers who God has called into His harvest and working with the like minded organizations to see this vision fulfilled.
Family...the Kallestad's have six children.
Nicole 2/95, Lori 12/91, Kyle 11/89, Christy 3/87, Jamie 4/85, and Gustavo 6/72...Gustavo is their team's first Chilean worker into the 10/40 window. Shelly is home schooling the three younger children. Jamie and Christy are currently studying in universities.