Hoskins Park Ministries

The Hoskins Park Ministries pond has not always been the beautiful sanctuary it is today. Well, it was beautiful before, but it has blossomed into what it is today over many years of hard work by everyone that loves HPM! Here is the photo story from the original pond to what it is today.

Story of the HPM Pond! Started in 2002, completed in 2008

Johnny Allen moved onto the property (currently Hoskins Park Ministries) in 2001 and I moved in Easter Sunday of 2002. You will see the pictures of the property when we lived on it way back then! It was just a large field with the empty houses and a lot of trees! Check out the large tree in front of 111 S. Crigler Street! It dwarfs the house! That was the first tree that we took down back in 2002. You will also notice the current pond area was full of trees and shrubs as well, that made it impossible to even see the house next door (120 Cromer). It was loaded with poison ivy too. I used to be covered with poison ivy from spring to winter as I cut all that shrubbery out myself (with the help of some great tree folks, when they were too large for me to handle myself). And of course some of the men helped out.

The early days long before the current pond:


As you watch the pictures, just remember that the cross you see is in the same place as it has always been. Everything changed around the cross rather than the cross changing around any other object. It will give you a reference to the changes made to that area. Speaking of the cross, it came from Forest Hill Church. When FHC was building their new facility, they had to enlarge the parking lot. Few people knew there was a cross in the woods … but it was a place I used to go (as did others at FHC) to pray. It was a tranquil spot. In fact, that cross was also there during the days of PTL, when it was located at the property now owned and occupied by Forest Hill Church. Anyway, as the story goes, I happened to be at the church when the bulldozers were going to plow down that cross to make a parking lot. I asked the man running the bull dozer if he would gently push it down without destroying it so I could take it to my house. He said fine and did! I got some friends and we loaded it onto a pick up truck and put it in the back yard of my house off Archdale road. That is where it stayed until I moved into the Hoskins Park area, again, Easter of 2002. So that cross is really a piece of Forest Hill Church (and PTL)! But its God’s cross representing His Son, which is the point. It reminds us of the reason for doing the work we do – because Christ died for our sins, has completely forgiven us for all our faults, and asks us to love Him back by loving His poor. Furthermore, you will also notice that there was no Gazebo at Hoskins Park back then. That was added around 2003 or early 2004. That has never moved either, as you watch the pictures. The first pond was put in sometime in the 2003/2004 timeframe as well and then the pond as you see it today was started in 2005/6 and finished in 2007/8. It took us about two years to complete that pond from the original one.

Evolution of the current pond:



Another interesting point was the reason for the larger pond. It really was out of my frustration with a waterfall! I was trying to build a waterfall for the little pond (it was a plastic pond you put in yourself) but when it was done the waterfall leaked so bad that the water was always missing from the pond (I did not seal the cement so it leaked through it)! I dug up my custom made water fall to fix the problem and then we just kept digging! We dug the hole (that eventually became the current pond) and as it got larger and larger we liked what it was evolving to so we kept going. That took about a year! Finally we prayed for God to provide someone to help us finish what we had started (since we didn’t have the money or expertise) – but we did have a vision of the big picture of what it would look like. I was rummaging through “pond” books and checking out other ponds around to make this one great! Anyway we prayed that God would provide and He did! I went to church one morning during that time and I approached a fellow I knew and he flat out asked if we needed anything at Hoskins. I had not said a word to him about anything. But I answered his question and told him about the pond. He donated all the funds to pay for the pond as you see it today! And he recommended a guy he had recently met to do the work (Johnny from Ponders Pond Construction)! It was ALL God! As you look at the pictures, just remember you are looking at about 6 years of His Story. And thanks for checking out God’s work at Hoskins Park! To Him be the glory!