After months of preparation the first missioners were commissioned for service in 1982. During the first six years, nineteen lay missioners served in Santo Domingo, Bolivia, Columbia, and Peru.
In 1987, Bro. John Cussen, SDB became the Director of the Salesian Lay Missioners Program. Under his leadership, the orientation/formation program expanded. The extended preparation of the missioners before going on mission helped them in their transition into a new country and culture. During 1988, seven Lay Missioners replaced or joined others already working in Columbia, Bolivia, and Santo Domingo. The next year, two missioners were missioned to Proyecto Salesiano Tijuana to assist the members of the Guadalajara Province in Mexico in their work with the young people in the shanty towns of Tijuana.
Fr. Jerry Sesto, SDB and Fr. Richard McCormick, SDB began directing the program in 1989. They found that more and more enthusiastic young men and women were expressing an interest in serving in the missions. Under their leadership, the screening process for lay missioners was more formalized and streamlined, making it a true vocational discernment process.
In the following years, Lay Missioners joined Salesian Communities in Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Japan, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, and St. Petersburg, Russia. Additionally, the program accepted lay missioners from other countries to work in the United States. Missioners from Mexico, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia began service in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Florida, and Alabama.