Recently, we received a note from a long-time reader of Brigada, currently serving in India. His daughter, whose first name is Victoria (used by permission) was apparently sitting beside him (an image I like, by the way :-) ), and she was curious. “What’s Brigada mean?” Her father struggled for a moment, then told her he “didn’t know what the word meant but knew what the newsletter was. She said to check dictionary.com, which I did and found no listing, so now I’m left wondering, “What does Brigada mean?” I’d be satisfied with an email answer, but you could actually make this a back page story in one of your upcoming newsletters as others may wonder where the name Brigada came from and what it means.” Great question — and please say thanks to your daughter for asking. I hope she always keeps asking questions like that when she doesn’t know the answer or meaning.
To answer your question Victoria, let’s quote from the very first edition of Brigada Today, Jan. 25th, 1995 — still readable here:
The 3rd item in that edition went like this:
“ To help bring these [various global mission] streams into one easy flow for churches and agencies everywhere, we now propose the formation of a new networking tool to be known simply as, Brigada. In 1942, Stalin, then leader of what used to be the USSR, banished some 200,000 Crimean Tatars from their home on the Black Sea. They were not permitted to return to their homeland en masse until the early nineties, when the Soviet Union broke apart. Unfortunately, since their homes had been confiscated by others, the Crimean Tatars were forced to rebuild entire settlements during the cold winters of 1990 and 1991. While living in Crimea, we saw, at times, literally dozens of Crimean Tatar families working together in ‘brigadas’ (brigades), helping one another build homes in rapid fashion. They found, through experience, that working together produces synergy, i.e., the output is greater than the sum of the inputs. As Bill Taylor writes in Kingdom Partnerships, “… One draft horse can pull four tons. If you harnessed two draft horses together, they can pull twenty-two tons.” We need just this kind of ‘brigada’ and just this kind of synergy!”
In item #5, we added, “We propose to create a series of ‘electronic newsletters,’ available to anyone with an Internet connection (including those with compuserve, America Online, Delphi, etc.), and, via Relay Agents, to faxes. We would start with one simple newsletter, which would, as a minimum, carry news about mobilization for the 100 Gateway cities and the people groups that live in them. Those wishing to subscribe would simply send a subscription request to the … main frame computer. In an automated process, the individual’s name and e-mail address would be added to the subscription list. At the same time, those with news or resources would mail them via e-mail to a compiler or editor who would create the digest mentioned above and send it to a very special … system. The … computer, acting as a “list server” would then automatically broadcast this newsletter to the subscription list.”
How ’bout that. Nearly 15 years later, it’s still going strong! In the early days, we anticipated the creation of dozens, if not hundreds, of newsletters that would be regionally- or people-group-specific in nature. Along the way, others rose up to pick up that piece of the vision. On the Brigada side of things, we decided to focus on what we seemed to do best — the compiling and distributing of key missions news, conference information, resources, and a wide variety of tools that can be used in carrying out the Great Commission among far-flung unreached peoples.
Read more about Brigada and its connection to a special mobilization event in Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky in 1996:
https://brigada.org/1994/10/30_3#more-3
So, Victoria, that’s Brigada. And thanks to you for being part of the family! Comments about Brigada? Just click to the URL below:
Doug Lucas
Recently, we received a note from a long-time reader of Brigada, currently serving in India. His daughter, whose first name is Victoria (used by permission) was apparently sitting beside him (an image I like, by the way :-) ), and she was curious. “What’s Brigada mean?” Her father struggled for a moment, then told her he “didn’t know what the word meant but knew what the newsletter was. She said to check dictionary.com, which I did and found no listing, so now I’m left wondering, “What does Brigada mean?” I’d be satisfied with an email answer, but you could actually make this a back page story in one of your upcoming newsletters as others may wonder where the name Brigada came from and what it means.” Great question — and please say thanks to your daughter for asking. I hope she always keeps asking questions like that when she doesn’t know the answer or meaning.
To answer your question Victoria, let’s quote from the very first edition of Brigada Today, Jan. 25th, 1995 — still readable here:
The 3rd item in that edition went like this:
“ To help bring these [various global mission] streams into one easy flow for churches and agencies everywhere, we now propose the formation of a new networking tool to be known simply as, Brigada. In 1942, Stalin, then leader of what used to be the USSR, banished some 200,000 Crimean Tatars from their home on the Black Sea. They were not permitted to return to their homeland en masse until the early nineties, when the Soviet Union broke apart. Unfortunately, since their homes had been confiscated by others, the Crimean Tatars were forced to rebuild entire settlements during the cold winters of 1990 and 1991. While living in Crimea, we saw, at times, literally dozens of Crimean Tatar families working together in ‘brigadas’ (brigades), helping one another build homes in rapid fashion. They found, through experience, that working together produces synergy, i.e., the output is greater than the sum of the inputs. As Bill Taylor writes in Kingdom Partnerships, “… One draft horse can pull four tons. If you harnessed two draft horses together, they can pull twenty-two tons.” We need just this kind of ‘brigada’ and just this kind of synergy!”
In item #5, we added, “We propose to create a series of ‘electronic newsletters,’ available to anyone with an Internet connection (including those with compuserve, America Online, Delphi, etc.), and, via Relay Agents, to faxes. We would start with one simple newsletter, which would, as a minimum, carry news about mobilization for the 100 Gateway cities and the people groups that live in them. Those wishing to subscribe would simply send a subscription request to the … main frame computer. In an automated process, the individual’s name and e-mail address would be added to the subscription list. At the same time, those with news or resources would mail them via e-mail to a compiler or editor who would create the digest mentioned above and send it to a very special … system. The … computer, acting as a “list server” would then automatically broadcast this newsletter to the subscription list.”
How ’bout that. Nearly 15 years later, it’s still going strong! In the early days, we anticipated the creation of dozens, if not hundreds, of newsletters that would be regionally- or people-group-specific in nature. Along the way, others rose up to pick up that piece of the vision. On the Brigada side of things, we decided to focus on what we seemed to do best — the compiling and distributing of key missions news, conference information, resources, and a wide variety of tools that can be used in carrying out the Great Commission among far-flung unreached peoples.
Read more about Brigada and its connection to a special mobilization event in Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky in 1996:
https://brigada.org/1994/10/30_3#more-3
So, Victoria, that’s Brigada. And thanks to you for being part of the family! Comments about Brigada? Just click to the URL below:
Doug Lucas
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