Though just a Gideon’s band, a modest team of volunteers, and over one extraordinary week in Dallas God proved again that God can do much with a faithful few. The result: 30,000 books shared, more than 250 Bible study requests received, and testimonies that will echo into eternity.
When Streams of Light International and the Texas Conference of Seventh-day Adventists partnered to mobilize volunteers in Dallas from April 19–25, 2026, the goal was straightforward: distribute 50,000 copies of The Great Controversy and a health magazine, offer personal prayer, and reach as many Dallas residents as possible. What unfolded over those six days was extraordinary. By week’s end, a group of between 30-45 participants distributed 30,000 packets and helped more than 250 individuals sign up for Bible studies. Pastors across the Dallas district reported following up with every lead within 48 hours, many already securing appointments.
A Name in the Bible
One of the week’s memorable encounters came when Jesus Bravo, Dallas Mission Trip volunteer, and his team were moving through an apartment complex and a young man in a suit coat pulled up on a golf cart. His name was Caleb and he was the property manager.
“He said, ‘Well, you cannot be soliciting,'” Bravo recalled. “I said, ‘We’re not soliciting. We’re not wanting money, but we are bringing the riches of heaven to people.'” The two talked, and as Bravo silently prayed during their conversation, something shifted. Rather than ordering the team off the property, the manager agreed to let them finish the territory. Then Bravo asked him a question: had he ever read the Bible?
“He said, ‘No, I have never read the Bible.'” Bravo introduced him to the biblical story of Caleb — and then the young man revealed his middle name was Joshua. By the end of the conversation, Caleb had signed up for Bible studies and expressed a desire to visit the Seventh-day Adventist church located just five minutes from his building.
God Uses Youth to Reach Hearts
Not every conversation began warmly. Iaro Lotca, one of the youth participating in the mission trip, knocked on a door in a predominantly Hindu neighborhood and was met immediately with: “If there’s anything about Christianity, I don’t want it.” Lotca offered the health magazine instead, and discovered the woman’s husband was a retired doctor. A shared connection to Michigan opened the door further, and when Texas’s recently passed law requiring the Ten Commandments in public schools came up, young Iaro Lotca found a natural bridge to The Great Controversy and its message about religious liberty and freedom of conscience. The woman’s attitude changed entirely. Before leaving, she told Lotca she and her husband would read the book together—an outcome that seemed impossible just minutes before.
The Knock That Answered a Prayer
Alyssa Anderson, Evangelism Coordinator for Streams of Light International, shared one of the week’s moving stories. While knocking doors on a Thursday afternoon, she encountered Lyndol, a father raising his daughter alone. He was struggling and quietly searching for a new church, having felt that his current one wasn’t the right fit. The Sunday before, he told her, he had sensed a clear impression while sitting in his pew: “This isn’t the right church.”
Anderson invited him to join the mission team for supper at the host church, where she could introduce him to Joshua Reyna, associate pastor of the local SDA church—a church just eight minutes from his home. He came that evening, daughter in hand. While visiting, he shared with the associate pastor that just before Anderson knocked on his door that Thursday, he had been sitting on his couch, crying and pleading with God, overwhelmed and unsure what to do. The knock on the door came right after.
The Health Message, an Entering Wedge
Pat Humphrey, VP of Administration for Streams of Light International, shares how she sometimes was prompted by the Holy Spirit to lead with the health magazine at some doors rather than the book, and that doing so prompted conversations that might otherwise not have happened. She prayed with a man wrestling with unexplained health problems, and also with a fitness enthusiast just home from the gym, turning a conversation about exercise into one about trust in God.
“Many people probably wouldn’t have accepted the book if we didn’t have that health magazine there as well,” Anderson reflected. It was a reminder that the eight principles of health, which include trust in God, are indeed an entering wedge.
A Glimpse of What’s Coming
The week’s results did not stand alone. On April 25, the final Sabbath of the mission, more than 70 churches across Texas joined together to distribute tens of thousands of books in a single day—a coordinated movement that Johnny Henderson, VP for Ministries, described as a sign of things to come.
“The type of movement we’re seeing now is just a glimpse of the type of movement we will see once the latter rain is poured upon God’s faithful children,” Henderson says.
Local churches are now actively following up on Bible study leads, supported by a district-wide Bible worker assigned to coordinate the effort. The host church, Fairview Mosaic Christian Fellowship SDA Church, provided a warm and generous base throughout the week. Even one of the participants’ mother, not yet an Adventist, joined the team for the full mission trip and is now open to studying for the first time.
Dallas was not just a mission destination. It was a demonstration of what God can do with a Gideon’s band—a small, faithful company willing to trust and obey. And if this week was just a glimpse, the church has every reason to believe the best is still ahead.
Streams of Light International partners with local churches and conferences to equip God’s people for large-scale evangelism and literature distribution. To learn how your church can host a mission trip or join a distribution initiative, contact us today.
