From the Border to Baja: How a Three-Day Trip Is Transforming Students for a Lifetime of Ministry

By: David Harding

Forty-five minutes. That’s all that separates the parking lot of Ocean View Christian Academy in San Diego from the dirt roads, improvised homes, and vibrant faith communities of Primo Tapia, Mexico. But for the students who cross the border each year on the school’s annual mission trip, those 45 minutes may as well be a world away. And that’s exactly why they go.

For more than a decade, stretching back to around 2013, Ocean View Christian Academy has been taking students on mission trips that have ranged from the Philippines to Brazil, but most often land just across the border in Mexico. What began as a vision planted years earlier has become one of the most formative experiences in the school’s ministry.

The vision itself started long before the first student packed a suitcase. When Ocean View’s lead pastor moved from Missouri to San Diego in 2007, he saw immediate purpose in the school’s location, just three miles from the busiest land border crossing in the world. He soon invited current head of school, Tim Rutherford, from his home church to join him in San Diego, and by 2008 both men knew God had placed their ministry strategically.

“Seeing that the Lord had established this church and school in this gateway location, the pastor felt that it was pretty clear that the Lord wanted us to minister into Mexico,” Rutherford explained. “Since then, Mexico missions have been one of our highest priorities.”

A Trip That Changes Students

The trip, which had to pause during COVID-19 but is now three years into its reinstatement, has earned a reputation among students: “Go on a mission trip, it will change your life.” And it does.

For many, it’s their first-ever experience outside the United States, even though the journey is less than an hour. For others, especially the students who live in Tijuana and cross the border daily to attend school, it’s a startling revelation of needs in their own backyard.

“Rarely a year goes by,” Rutherford shared, “that one of these students doesn’t say, ‘I live close by, and I didn’t even know this was here.’”

Walking into homes with dirt floors, no electricity, and makeshift walls expands the students’ worldview instantly. The team works with Casa De Luz, a ministry in Primo Tapia, and spends every minute of the three-day trip serving while painting community buildings, delivering food to families, hosting VBS for children from the orphanage, leading teen Bible studies, and completing whatever projects the ministry needs most.

There is no free time. Not by accident.

Every evening ends with an extended debrief, a sacred hour (or more) where students reflect, wrestle, and grow. Last year, one conversation lasted an hour and a half before Rutherford had to stop them so they could get some sleep.

Their comments were raw and honest:
“I realized how entitled I’ve been.”
“I didn’t know so many families lived like this so close to us.”
“I’m willing to share the gospel here, but I struggle to share it with my own family.”

And it’s not just their compassion that grows; it’s their calling as well. Since the trips resumed post-pandemic, three students have gone on to pursue ministry studies in college.

Leadership Rising From Within

One of the most powerful dynamics of the trip is watching Spanish-speaking students step forward in leadership. Many would never volunteer to lead a group, teach a Bible lesson, or translate in front of dozens of teens, but the rise to the occasion when they are needed.

“We rely heavily on these students,” explained Rutherford. “They explode out of their shell and step up in ways that inspire their peers.”

He recalled one young woman who was typically quiet among non-Spanish-speaking classmates. But on the trip, something shifted. When the time came for a group Bible study, she stepped forward.

“She asked me if she could interpret the lesson for about 50 teenagers,” he said, still emotional remembering the moment. “My mind was blown seeing the Lord do that work in her.”

In a video from the trip, the student later said: “The Lord opened my eyes…”

A High-Impact Trip With High Participation

While the trip isn’t mandatory, participation is consistently full, so full that the school has to limit attendance each year. Seniors get priority, then juniors fill the remaining slots. About 25 students attend annually, along with 5–6 faculty members.

The cost is kept intentionally low, only $250 per student, which covers housing, meals, insurance, and ministry project expenses. For most students, fundraising and support from their church communities help make the trip possible.

Lessons That Last Well Beyond Graduation

For the school, the purpose is bigger than three days of service.

“One of our aims is for our graduates to be prepared to serve and minister in and through the local church wherever the Lord takes them,” Rutherford said. “This trip helps them understand how the Lord wants to use their gifts, skills, and abilities for His glory.”

Students return home changed; they are more aware of need, more grateful for what they have, more sensitive to the Spirit’s leading, and more grounded in the calling God has for them.

Because once you’ve crossed a border, even one just 45 minutes away, you begin to see everything differently.