Over 20 churches in Marshalltown, Iowa distributed Bibles to 12,000 homes in the city on Saturday as part of a project called "Hope 4 You—Hope 4 Iowa."

According to the Christian News Network, the project distributed 10,000 English New Testaments, 1,500 Spanish Bibles and 100 Burmese Bibles as well as 500 large print English Bibles for visually impaired individuals.

Pastor Gerald Robison of First Baptist Church said he originally intended to distribute the Bibles through his congregation. However, pastors of other churches in the city immediately expressed an interest in joining the project when he presented it to them during a pastors' meeting earlier this year.

Robison said the project was aimed at lifting some of the "dark cloud of gloom" hovering over their communities.

"There had been a murder, an attempted murder, arson and a shooting death in our area," the pastor explained.

"With all the bad news around us, the pastors had been praying over the town and we saw this project as a way of delivering hope."

Robison said that the joint effort was made possible because of the participants' mutual belief that "Jesus is the source of real hope." He said that everyone involved simply wanted to share that hope with the community, who he said needed the hope the most.

"It is the prayer of the pastors and members of the 17 participating local churches and the hundreds of volunteers that together ... they will bring the message of hope found in Jesus Christ to every household in Marshalltown," Robison revealed.

According to the First Baptist Church pastor, local pastors clubbed together to raise the $18,000 needed to fund the Bible distribution.