In November, 1994, organizers of ICOM (known then as the National Missionary Convention) asked me (Doug) to serve as President for the 1996 convention. I formed a planning team and, together, we asked the simple question: How could the 1996 ICOM make the biggest impact in sharing the Good News with those who need it most? We dreamed of an event that would launch new networks and initiatives focused on unreached peoples. But our problem was — we couldn’t find information about the unreached. To us, it felt like there was no coordinated research and very little promotion for missions — at least not on a very large global scale. In January, 1995, we proposed an idea to a collection of leaders, many of whom were gathering at the Global Conference on World Evangelization in Seoul, South Korea. The idea called for a worldwide communications network called Brigada, designed to promote and connect those who were seeking to carry out the Great Commission. The first “edition” of Brigada was circulated, then, to around 50 people on January 25, 1995. Early on, communications via the Brigada network happened whenever it was needed — sometimes daily. But within a matter of a few weeks, we had developed a weekly rhythm and, well, the rest is history, as they say. Nearly 25 years later, Brigada is still going strong on a weekly basis. Some have guessed that the Brigada weekly e-zine might be among the longest-running weekly internet (e-zine) publications of any kind. And every single edition since 1995 is archived and freely available for anyone to read and review. Along the way, others have helped create amazing containers of information about unreached peoples. Among them are Joshua Project, Finishing the Task, and peoplegroups.org . Brigada settled into a role of curating, promoting, and connecting resources for the body of Christ worldwide. You’ll have to be the judge as to whether or not it’s helpful, but thousands of active readers give us hope and encouragement that it’s striking a chord with SOMEONE. Thanks for being part of the Brigada experience. We appreciate you!
14) The Last Bit: How Did Brigada Come into Being? The Story
Happy 25th birthday, Brigada! You are making a difference in eternity for billions.
Betty, thanks for your encouragement! We pray hard, along with you and many others, that God can use all our efforts somehow, if only in some small slice of a way. God bless you!