A North Texas street preacher said his brief detention by police while sharing his Christian faith in downtown Dallas raises serious constitutional concerns and called on authorities to uphold free speech protections.
Landon Thurman, who leads the Dallas-based ministry Testimonies of God, said he was engaged in peaceful public evangelism outside the American Airlines Center on Dec. 18 as crowds gathered for a Dallas Mavericks game against the Detroit Pistons.
According to Thurman, the group was preaching from Romans 1 about “the power of God unto salvation” when the situation escalated after a ministry member, Will Dieterich, briefly stepped onto the edge of a planter bordering the sidewalk—an area officers later asserted was part of arena property.
Dallas police said off-duty officers responded around 7:20 p.m. to a complaint involving “a disturbance involving a loudspeaker in violation of the city's noise ordinance,” adding that they asked the group to reduce the volume after a nearby resident complained, a department spokesperson told The Christian Post.
Thurman said the responding officer ordered the preachers to leave the public sidewalk and cross the street, a directive Thurman said the group believed had no legal basis.
“I verbally objected to that instruction while speaking with [Dieterich], stating that remaining on the public sidewalk was legal,” Thurman said, explaining that he and Dieterich were then placed in handcuffs.
He added that officers repeatedly warned both men they would be jailed and held overnight, though no police vehicle ever arrived to transport them.
Video later posted online shows an officer initially stating the men were being arrested for “interference with public duties” and ordering the cameraman to move away from the area as the two were placed in handcuffs and led to a nearby seating area.
Police later said no arrests occurred, describing the encounter as a temporary detention “for officer safety,” without providing further clarification.
Following the incident, Testimonies of God published the video on social media, saying the outreach continued despite the interruption.
“We were arrested for preaching Christ on the public sidewalk, yet the Word of God was not hindered. Many souls heard,” the ministry wrote in a Dec. 21 post. “Many great Gospel conversations had, Bibles were given, and Christ was exalted.”
The ministry describes itself as a “Reformed Baptist evangelistic ministry committed to the supremacy of Scripture and the advancement of Christ’s Gospel,” with a mission to equip believers, proclaim the Gospel publicly, and offer biblically grounded apologetics resources.
