Bob Hoskins (philanthropist)

Bob Hoskins
Religion Christianity
Denomination Evangelical
Personal
Nationality American
Born (1936-04-15) April 15, 1936
Ponca City, Oklahoma
Senior posting
Period in office 1943 - Present
Religious career
Website www.onehope.net

Bob Hoskins is an internationally known philanthropist based out of Pompano Beach, Florida. He founded OneHope (formerly Book of Hope International) in 1987, with a mission to provide a message of hope to children and youth through various forms of media.[1] He has spent the majority of his life serving as a missionary, reaching people in countries in the Middle East, Africa, South America, Asia and Europe.[2] Hoskins has devoted over 70 years to various ministries.[3]

Early life

Hoskins was born on April 15, 1936 in Ponca City, Oklahoma to his parents, Charles and Lucille Hoskins.

By the time Bob was 7, he launched his evangelism ministry, regularly speaking at tent revivals and Christian crusades in the United States. He dropped out of school that same year to pursue ministry full-time. From that age until the age of eighteen, he traveled throughout the United States in citywide crusades. Due to his travel schedule, he received his education from private tutors who traveled with the evangelistic team.[3]

In 1953, Hoskins traveled to British Guyana. While working with a group of newly baptized believers, Bob launched a salvation and healing crusade that resulted in the conversion of thousands.

At 19, Bob met Hazel Crabtree at a church event where he was preaching in Little Rock, Arkansas. Four years later on September 5, 1959, they were married in a ceremony in Sacramento, California before leaving for the mission field.[4]

Career

Early ministry

In 1964, the Hoskins followed a vision to plant churches in the Middle East and North Africa. The ministries they established under the name Middle East Outreach included correspondence courses, radio ministry, a seminary and the organizing of missionary outreach to that area of the world.

In 1965, Hoskins and his wife moved to Beirut, Lebanon, where they lived and raised their three children until returning to the United States in August 1980. While there Bob launched The Way of Life Literature Ministry, which after 10 years, 400,000 people enrolled in their correspondence program.

Hoskins has worked with thousands of likely and unlikely partners and volunteers—including public health officials, national departments of education, and relief organizations.

Life Publishers International

After 15 years abroad, Hoskins returned to the United States with his family in 1980 to lead the newly formed Life Publishers; a language literature ministry that creates materials in Spanish, French, Russian, Romanian and many other languages.

In 1980 the Hoskins relocated to Miami, Florida, where Bob assumed the presidency of the newly formed Life Publishers International. He continued in leadership of Life Publishers until 1996, when the denomination with which he was affiliated sold the publishing entity to Zondervan Publishers.

OneHope

In 1987, Bob launched Book of Hope International ministries. Over the next 30 years, as the ministry expanded beyond print to digital media, the ministry was renamed OneHope. OneHope was founded with a goal to provide all the world’s children with the message of the Bible.[5] The first 968,000 Books of Hope—customized, Bible-based children’s publications—were soon delivered to every schoolchild in El Salvador at the request of the country’s Minister of Education.[6]

In 2004, Bob’s son Rob Hoskins became president of OneHope and expanded its outreach through new media formats and platforms, including The GodMan—an animated film about the life of Jesus—sports clinics, concerts, and interactive games.[4]

OneHope launched a multi-year, multi-country research initiative to examine the spiritual state of the world’s children in 2007.[7] The data gathered from surveys of 153,652 school-aged children on 5 continents is being used to customize OneHope’s programs and materials to each of the 44 countries’ unique cultural challenges.

In 2008, OneHope delivered their 500 millionth Book of Hope to a child in Colombia. Today, OneHope has distributed more than a billion around the globe.[1][8]

Publications

Hoskins has authored a number of books, including the classic, All They Want Is the Truth, which has been translated into multiple languages with over a million copies distributed.

  • The Middle East and the Third World War (1982)
  • All They Want Is the Truth (1985)
  • The Destiny Changing Book (1986)
  • They Still Want the Truth (1987)
  • Russia, The Miracle of the Open Door (1991)
  • Winning the Race for Russia (1992)
  • Voices of Destiny (1993)
  • Study War No More (1994)
  • Affect Destiny (2003)
  • The Indestructible Seed (2004)

Personal life

Bob has traveled in every continent and country in the world. He has preached in over 160 countries.

Hoskins has been recognized by several industry leaders because of his work around the world.[3] In 2013, Bob Hoskins School in Angola launched and was named in his honor. In February 2014, Hoskins was honored with celebrations in the United States, Dubai, and India, for having completed 70 years of full-time ministry.

Bob married his wife Hazel on September 5, 1959. Hazel was a 1954 alumnus of Central Bible College in Springfield, Missouri.

Immediately after marrying, Bob and Hazel begin their lifelong service as missionaries to the world, working on continents of Africa and South America and in the mission fields of France and Lebanon. Hazel wrote a book about their experiences as missionaries in Africa called, Honeymoon Safari, which was released in 1963. The next ten years were spent traveling as missionary evangelists in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Since founding OneHope, Hazel Hoskins, who was a partner in the ministry, worked closely with the organization, especially in ministry to girls and women. Hazel authored a book, …And I Sat There in February 2014. On June 22, 2015, Hazel died at the age of 81.[9]

Bob currently resides in Hillsboro Beach, Florida. He has three grown children and eight grandchildren.[4] Bob Hoskins has survived cancer 3 times and is also partially blind.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 OneHope uses award-winning film to reach Latin Americans at Christian Telegraph; published May 22, 2010; retrieved August 4, 2014
  2. 1 2 Bob Hoskins : Bob was diagnosed with cancer....but it was people knowing he had cancer that got OneHope into Vietnam at United Christian Broadcasters; by Gary Hoogvliet; published September 20, 2011; retrieved August 4, 2014
  3. 1 2 3 Ryan Foundation felicitates Bob Hoskins at Daiji World; by Rons Bantwal; published April 10, 2014; retrieved August 4, 2014
  4. 1 2 3 Like Father, Like Son at Charisma Magazine; by Jennifer Leclaire; published November 2012; retrieved August 4, 2014
  5. ↑ "Book of Hope" Brings Gospel Message to Children Worldwide at Crosswalk.com; by Allie Martin; published June 13, 2005; retrieved August 4, 2014
  6. ↑ One Hope Ministers at Winter Games at Faith News Network; published February 23, 2010; retrieved August 4, 2014
  7. ↑ One (Big) Hope at Charisma Magazine; by Jennifer Leclaire; published November 1, 2012; retrieved August 4, 2014
  8. ↑ 1 Billion Reached: OneHope Hits Major Milestone With Global Children's Ministry at Charisma News; by Jacob Stevens; published February 19, 2014; retrieved August 5, 2014
  9. ↑ http://onehope.net/feature/hazel/
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