Hoskins Park Ministries

Please read the full article at: Charlotte Weekly/Union County Weekly: “Called to Serve”:

Called to serve
Christian ministry exemplifies love’s power over poverty
by Regan White
regan@thecharlotteweekly.com

As the sun sets on a temperate February evening, the sweet, battered scent of fried chicken fills the air in a small section of the Hoskins Park neighborhood in west Charlotte. The warm glow from the kitchen window illuminates portions of lawn as men from neighboring houses are drawn with plates to the crackling sound of the oil and the promise of mashed potatoes. It’s a portrait of cozy domesticity in a neighborhood rife with crime. Established in 1904 as a mill village to house the workers of Hoskins Mill, today Hoskins Park is a haven for crack dealers, drug addicts and violence. But house by house, something special is happening in a corner of the neighborhood. Ask Edwin Freeman, a 45-year-old who struggled with drug abuse since the late ’80s before landing in the Uptown Men’s Shelter and a yearlong drug rehabilitation program. It was there he heard about Hoskins Park Ministries – a Christian group providing transitional housing, clothing, food, prayer and assistance to the poor and homeless. For more than five months now, Freeman has been employed with HPM, performing maintenance work on the ministry’s nine houses. “When I first got here, I had one relapse, and I haven’t (had one) since,” he said. “The love that is shown here is like no other. The love of God is being shown here. It makes all the difference in the world.”

The Rev. Tom Wheeler and Pastor Johnny Allen (front row from left) join some members of the Hoskins Park Ministries’ family on the steps of Wheeler’s restored home in west Charlotte.

Want to help?
HPM’s No. 1 request is for prayers so that the ministry will receive what it needs. The group also needs monthly financial support; licensed plumbers, electricians, carpenters and mechanical contractors; and assistance with its baptismal pond. HPM has received support from countless groups at Forest Hill Church and welcomes further involvement from other churches. For more information on how to help, call 704-399-2365 or visit www.hoskinspark.org.

Recently, I had a dream. In the dream I was standing on some type of platform overlooking a portion of land. It was not familiar land to me when I think about what I saw in the dream, but in the dream the land was familiar to me - it was where I lived (in the inner city, amongst homeless men). In the dream I had my hands raised and was praying for the land and the people. I was rebuking Satan in the name of Jesus and praying for God’s blessing over the land and property. I was praying for specific people too, asking God to bless the property and each person who lives here, while rebuking Satan, “Satan, I command you to leave in the name of Jesus. By the blood of Jesus you have to go. You are rebuked!” Something like that. Anyway, at the end of the dream I started to get scared. I knew I was stirring up the enemy. And then I woke up.

When I woke up I had the same fear as in the dream. This happens to me from time to time in my house, in reality. Often times I wake up and see someone outside, smoking crack cocaine, or urinating on my property, or banging on a neighbors door or window for them to let this person in. And so I pray. Anyway, I got up out of my bed and started doing the same thing in real life as I was in the dream. “Jesus, I pray you would cleanse this house of evil in the mighty name of Jesus. I pray you would protect us from evil. I pray for all the men on the property as well and in the ministry” and I started praying for them by name, “and Satan, I rebuke you in the name of Jesus. I command you to be bound and chained and cast back into the pit of hell where you came from, in the name of and by the blood of Jesus!” I was walking around the house praying like this and opening the shades to look outside because I suspected something was going on. Again, usually, when this happens, I do see something outside. It was about 2:15 am, by this time.

And I did see something outside. I looked out one window and saw two African American men walking across our property. I could not see who they were but I had to check it out. I quickly slid on my slippers, grabbed my cell phone, opened the dog, called Luci (my dog) to go out ahead of me (she is a sweet dog who can be really mean at the right time!), and I quickly approached the two men walking across the property. It happened to be two of our guys. I asked them what the heck they were doing (and not so pleasantly!). They explained the police just left the ministry after escorting one of our unruly participants off the property. Evidently one of our guys had been drinking and threatening several participants at 2 am, about the time I was dreaming and rebuking the devil. It all worked out well and was handled well by the staff at Hoskins Park Ministries, particularly by Johnny Allen and Edwin Freeman, but the situation could have been explosive. One man can cause a lot of damage when the enemy gets him in his grasp. And this man was in the devil’s grasp. But it all worked out.

I laughed because the Lord often times has reminded me that 90% of my calling is about showing up, just being there. What amazed me was that even in my sleep God used me, and by the time I woke up, the incident was already over! What an awesome God we serve because He truly is Sovereign! And to think He lets us participate in His work, even in our sleep - now that is humbling! But thank God He also uses men like Johnny and Edwin to serve him at 2 am when they are wide awake and facing trouble. I praise God for men like them.

So - be encouraged. God can handle whatever your situation is right now, and He may not even need you to be awake! But evidently He does need our prayers!

To Christ Be The Glory!

-Tom Wheeler