Bringing God's Light to Dark Places
ABOUT THE Y FAMILY* & FREEDOM MULTIPLIED
*Names shortened for safety
The Y family lives and ministers in Northern Iraq, where they lead a house church, train indigenous leaders and serve people with both the hope of the Gospel and practical care. Their ministry there is an extension of a calling that began years before their family ever arrived in the Middle East.
J’s own story is one of transformation. While in prison and on a destructive path, he encountered Jesus and his life radically changed. He left behind addiction, was discipled and began serving in ministry. In 2011, he met D, who shared his passion for Jesus and for reaching people with little or no access to the Gospel.
After marrying, J and D moved to India in 2013, where they served in church planting, disciple-making and ministry to street children. When circumstances unexpectedly brought them back to the United States, they continued seeking where God would lead them next. In 2016, that calling took the Y family to Northern Iraq.
There, J and D began training indigenous leaders to reach people throughout Iraq, Iran and Syria with the Gospel. Their work grew into FM 4:18 (Freedom Multiplied), a ministry focused on discreet missions in places where following Jesus can come at great cost. Today, the Y family and FM 4:18 help train believers, multiply disciples, establish underground churches and distribute Bibles in places where Scripture is forbidden or difficult to obtain. They also care for vulnerable and often overlooked people, including orphans and prisoners, through education, food, medical care and other practical needs.
Through it all, the heart of the Y family’s ministry remains the same: to share the freedom they have found in Christ with all who need it.
SHARING GOD'S WORD
In Iran, getting a Bible into someone’s hands is not as simple as walking into a store and buying one. Every copy must be quietly printed, stored under cover and carried by hand to the person who will receive it. Behind each Bible is a network of printers, warehouse workers, couriers and local believers willing to take risks so that others can encounter God’s Word in a language they understand. Since 2017, FM 4:18 has helped deliver more than 400,000 Bibles in Iran. In 2025 and the first half of 2026 alone, 84,132 Bibles were shipped. But these numbers only tell part of the story.
FROM THE PRESS TO A PERSON
Before a Bible can be delivered, it first must be printed. In 2025, the Iran team directly printed 20,315 Bibles and shipped 37,132, with additional copies coming through partner print runs that FM 4:18 helped fund. Distribution is concentrated primarily in Kermanshah and Kurdistan provinces, where the courier network is strongest and the underground church is most established.
Among the Scriptures moving through this network is the Fish Edition New Testament, a smaller edition designed to be easily hidden and passed from person to person. Full Bibles are also printed for house-church libraries and new believers who are ready to receive the whole of Scripture.
Once printed, those Bibles need somewhere safe to wait for distribution. Storage spaces are rented in local currency and covertly appear like ordinary commercial operations. When a lease ends or a neighborhood begins to feel watched, the team moves. This allows Bibles to remain safely stored without requiring couriers to keep stacks of Scripture in their own homes. One shed behind a courtyard is stacked floor to ceiling with sacks of relief goods and hidden Scripture. The believer who works out of it left a hand-written sign in English: “Light prevails over darkness, and we are the selected messengers of peace and illumination. Jesus.”
From those storage locations, couriers carry the Bibles into communities. A single courier may make a dozen stops in one afternoon, meeting recipients in plazas and markets and traveling to rural villages.
A BIBLE IN EVERY BASKET
With war and a collapsing economy affecting daily life, nearly every Bible distribution run this year has included relief supplies. Rice, oil, tea and canned goods are packed together with a Bible or New Testament. A visit offering needed food can open a door that a visit offering Scripture alone might not. In this way, families receive something for both their immediate physical needs and their spiritual needs.
The strategy has led to unexpected opportunities. Recipients report discovering and reading the Bible tucked among their groceries, sometimes during quiet evenings when the lights and internet are down.
For those who cannot read, the ministry has found another way to make Scripture accessible. A $1,900 investment in a 3D audio Bible printer has allowed recorded Scripture to reach believers who had never been able to access the Bible on their own. One field report simply said, “This woman met Jesus because we gave her an audio Bible.”
STILL MOVING
The ongoing conflict in the region has made an already difficult process even harder. Roads, checkpoints and communication have been disrupted, forcing couriers to reroute shipments, delay some distribution runs and depend more heavily on trusted local believers to carry Bibles the final distance.
Starlink terminals and cell phones provided to field leaders have helped printers, warehouse teams and couriers remain connected even when national networks go dark. That communication allows them to coordinate routes and identify safe drop points as conditions change.
Persecution has intensified in the region. A Bible distribution partner was arrested and tortured for seven days. After putting his house up as collateral for release, he was forced to flee the country with his wife and young son.
In spite of immense challenges, the work continues, Bible by Bible. Each one travels through danger to reach people who otherwise may have no access to God’s Word. For persecuted believers, Scripture strengthens faith in difficult circumstances, nourishes underground churches and equips them to share the Gospel. For those who do not yet believe, it offers an opportunity to encounter the truth of God’s Word for the first time. Almost half a million Bibles have made that journey since 2017 - each one carrying the hope of Christ into a place where it is desperately needed.