While Brickner's father, Avi Brickner, was Jewish, his mother, Leah Kendal Brickner, was not born halachically Jewish but was able to migrate to Israel under the Law of Return. Orthodox Jew David Klinghoffer has asserted that this renders Brickner non-Jewish under halacha. Brickner maintains that he is Jewish.

Brickner married Patti Vasaturo in 1979, they have two children, Isaac and Ilana.

Brickner began his career was a missionary with the Chicago branch of Jews for Jesus. He led the New York City branch in 1996 until he was elected as the organization's second executive director. That took place in May, 1996. He was elected by a council of his peers. He has spent his entire career as a missionary.

According to Brickner, "Jesus is the Messiah of Israel."

Brickner has long been the subject of international press coverage for his controversial statements, and is the subject of monitoring by Jewish anti defamation groups. In a mid August 2008 Brickner commented on one of the most widely reported terror attacks of the year, the Jerusalem bulldozer attack in which a Palestinian terrorist used a bulldozer to crush innocent people. Brickner reportedly asserted that the deaths were “God’s punishment” for Jews having failed to convert to Christianity. The comments created further controversy because they were made at the Wasilla Bible Church, and Sarah Palin, a member of the church, became the Republican vice-presidential candidate. Political analysts speculated that Brickner's remarks would cause the Republicans to lose Jewish voters. In an interview with NBC, David Brickner responded to this assessment of his guest speech by saying ”That's not what I was saying,” he said. “That's not what I believe. The violence is evidence that sin has marred our human condition and because of sin and non belief, God's judgment rests on all humanity. And that's why God had to send Jesus, the Messiah to deal with the problem of the sin. And actually he became sin, and God judged him. I believe that violence is the natural outcome of the human condition, that sin has blinded the whole world to the truth of God in Jesus Christ.”.