Inside “Courageous Hope”: A Father’s Faith That Changed the World

EARLY FAITH 

“Like most young boys, I dreamed of adventure. I knew what I wanted to do with my life: I was going to become a stunt pilot,” seven-year-old Bobby Hoskins decided. His skyward aspirations soon landed, however, when Bobby’s parents took him to a special church meeting. The visiting evangelist shared the gospel, talked about the Holy Spirit, and invited people to come forward for prayer. Though Bobby had come to faith in Jesus a few years prior, he wanted more of what the speaker described and asked her for prayer. He clearly recalls the vision he received: “As I rose higher, somewhere into the heavens, Jesus appeared to me. He told me that He had called me to be His messenger and that I was to be a preacher of the Gospel…I explained to Jesus that I couldn’t become a preacher because I had already decided that I was going to fly stunt planes when I grow up.” Nonetheless, little Bobby was persuaded that night, and his life’s plan set. He was soon allowed to share a Bible message in his church, and started receiving invitations to speak at many others. Just five years later, Bobby was preaching as many as three hundred times a year.    
 
“When I was twelve years old, I experienced another momentous event that forever changed my life.” Bobby was scheduled to preach at a pre-crusade meeting in Stockton, CA. Before speaking, he prayed that hundreds of people would respond when he invited them to receive salvation. Looking out over the packed auditorium, Bobby delivered his message then gave the invitation. “Instead of seeing the large crowd that I had expected, only twenty or thirty people made their way forward.” Disappointed, he repeated his appeal a second and third time, with only a few more joining them.  Though he knew he should rejoice over each person who’d come forward, he felt he had failed. Years later, as a young man, “Bob” developed a new perspective.  “The letdown I experienced that night has kept me humble and has protected me from becoming prideful. As my platforms grew, I remained mindful that any opportunity I was afforded was not something that I had engineered, but that God has allowed.”  

DANGERS ABROAD 

Bob went on to spend the majority of his adult life as a missionary in the Middle East, Africa, South America, Asia, and Europe. He married Hazel Crabtree in 1959, and in 1964, they helped plant churches in the Middle East and North Africa. The ministries they established included correspondence courses, radio ministry, a seminary, and the organizing of missionary outreach to that area of the world. In 1965, the Hoskinses moved to Beirut, Lebanon, where they lived for a decade while raising their three children. During those years, Bob and an associate, Warren, took a ministry trip to Iraq, met with future church leaders in Kirkuk, and were then stopped at a Baghdad roadblock on the way back. Police demanded to know why they had gone to Kirkuk. Unsatisfied with their answers, the police then took the pair to a hotel and interrogated them in separate rooms.  “One would come into the room where I was being held and stick a gun up against the side of my temple, threatening to blow my brains out if I didn’t tell him everything,” Bob says. The questioning continued most the day until the pair was finally released.  

Just a few years later, with political tensions rising in Lebanon, Bob and Hazel decided to move back to the States. Bob soon returned to the Middle East on a ministry business trip, and checked on their Beirut apartment.  He found the door ajar, then walked in to find the place completely ransacked. A note on the counter from their housekeeper said, “Mr. Hoskins, there are men trying to kill you,” and warned him to leave immediately. Bob then stayed at some friends’ home.  As everyone prepared for bed the next night, Bob says, “all hell broke loose. The sound of machine-gun fire echoed through the air, bullets pinging against the side of our building.”  Bob soon heard the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs toward the apartment. For reasons unbeknownst to him, the men suddenly retreated. The same thing happened twice more before he looked and saw them driving away. He later learned that one of the most vicious commando groups was out to take his life, and considers their odd retreat the protection of God.  

ONEHOPE 

In 1987, Bob launched Book of Hope International Ministries, which published El Libro de Vida (The Book of Life), a harmonized account of the life of Jesus based on all four Gospels. The first 968,000 copies of The Book of Life were delivered that year to every school child in El Salvador at the request of the country's Minister of Education. As the ministry expanded beyond print to digital media, the ministry was renamed OneHope in 2009. OneHope is currently reaching children and youth worldwide through print, film, storytelling, and digital apps, and is the largest distributor of God’s Word. By partnering with the local church, they have had the opportunity to work in every nation across the world. More than two billion children and youth have been reached with a relevant Gospel message, with the goal of another two million children and youth reached by 2033. OneHope and CBN developed a staunch partnership years ago, helping to promote each other’s materials. Through a QR code in OneHope’s print materials, all recipients are given access to Superbook, CBN’s popular animated Bible series. Rob Hoskins became OneHope’s President and CEO in 2004.  

Rob says that the philosophy of OneHope has long been, “The power is not in the sower, but in the seed,” referring to the Gospel message.  To maintain that philosophy, he cites two overarching prayers that his parents continually prayed when it came to ministry:  

• “Clean hands and pure hearts.”  They did all they could to ensure things were being done correctly, with integrity and accountability.  

• “Pray for people, not money or even open doors.”  They knew God could and would provide for whatever He called them to do and wanted their focus to be people.  
   
Rob believes his father’s legacy will be, “Every Child. God’s Word.”  From his dad saying “yes” to Jesus as a seven-year-old boy, and later as a missionary and ministry leader, everything came down to the calling of putting the Gospel into the hands of every child on earth.  
 

To learn more about OneHope ministry or to donate, click the LINK!  
 

CREDITS

Bob: Author, Courageous Hope (Spero Publishing, 2025) / Co-founder, Past President, OneHope, 1987 – present / President, Life Publishers International, 1980-1987 / child evangelist and foreign missionary in the Middle East, Africa, South America, Asia, and Europe, 1964-1975 / Founding Board Member, Museum of the Bible / Ambassador at Large for the 4/14 Movement / married to Hazel for 55 years until her death, three grown children, grandchildren / now married to Helen

Rob:  Co-founder and President, OneHope, since 2004 / senior advisor to the World Evangelical Alliance / member of the Empowered21 Global Council / Doctor of Ministry degree in World Missions and Cross-Cultural Studies, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary / teaches master and doctoral-level programs at the Hoskins School of Mission at Southeastern University / married to Kim, two grown daughters, three grandchildren