Team Expansion has been reaching the unreached for almost 40 years. Here’s the story of how we got started!
Team Expansion began as a prayer movement on the campus of then-
Kentucky Christian College in 1978.
In 1982, five missionaries headed to Montevideo, Uruguay to start the very first Team Expansion work.
In 1983, International Services – the stateside support team for all international workers – was launched and headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Between 1985 and 1996, Team Expansion launched multiple new teams, including Venezuela, Ukraine,
Ireland, and Tanzania.
In 1997, Team Expansion was invited to move its headquarters to Louisville, Ky.. In June 1997, there were 120 full time missionaries working around the world with 22 different people groups. Teams continued to go into some of the most cutting edge places, including Bosnia and Kosovo.
In 2001, there were 199 full-time missionaries, including three brand new works in Italy, Japan, and Louisville, KY., where the workers focused on a huge Hispanic population.
By 2002, more than 8,000 people had come to Christ and more than 110 churches had been planted around the world.
As of January 2010, there are more than 300 workers serving in more than 40 countries, including many creative-access locations.
Team Expansion has planted about 250 churches and has ushered about 10,000 new believers into a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Interwoven into the history of Team Expansion are stories of local churches that have helped mold us, empower us, and propel us forward. Partnering with the local church isn’t a program for us; it’s our heart and soul.
Thus, when recounting the work in Kherson (Ukraine), we would have to talk about Lifespring Christian (Cincinnati, OH).
If we were to tell stories from a certain work among Muslims in North Africa, we’d interweave Crossroads Christian (Evansville, IN).
Nearly 20 of our missionaries are integrally tied with College Heights (Joplin, MO). The list goes on.
As we tell our history, we’re really telling the story of local churches at work through our agency. And that’s as it should be. God be praised.
