Barnabas was founded in 1984 in Bellevue, WA. It is a non-denominational, non-profit, 501(c)3 corporation. The original founders were a group of ministry and financially minded men who believed that the Seattle area needed a place for people to go to get help with their finances, no strings attached. They saw Barnabas as a place to get biblically-based financial teaching, practical help and counseling.
At that time, Larry Burkett (founder of Christian Financial Concepts), was invited to the Northwest regularly to teach financial seminars in churches; in part facilitated by some of the founders of Barnabas. However, these men realized that after the seminars, Larry would catch a flight back to Georgia, thus creating a vacuum in the Northwest that needed to be filled. It was during this time that Barnabas was created and founded.
David Bragonier had a successful (prior) twelve year background in consumer finance. It was his promotion to Marketing Director over eight states that landed him in Bellevue, WA after managing branch offices in the California Bay Area (his birth place and roots). As David changed his career and studied God’s Word, he increasingly felt God’s "call" and leading to dedicate his life to helping people get out of debt and become financially free. With the encouragement of his wife (Debbie), Dave met with the Barnabas founders to simply tell them what was on his heart. That was 1984 and the rest is now history. Dave has operated as Executive Director since September of that year. He and his wife consider themselves missionaries, raising their own financial support since the start.
Over the years, Barnabas became a key hub for financial ministry to the Northwest, and later extending down the West Coast. Barnabas is now headquartered in the Sacramento area, where Dave and Debbie currently reside in Rocklin, CA.