March 2023 Global Report

A family transformed — Because you sent God’s Word to Pradnya

Idols and a shrine in her home, offerings of flowers and food left for the gods — these are among Pradnya’s earliest memories.

She lives in a majority-Hindu nation, and her family was devout in their faith, not only with the shrine in their home, but supporting local priests and taking part in rituals as well.

Pradnya thought her religion was supposed to make her happy, but it didn’t.

Then you sent the Book of Hope, and Pradnya began to learn about the one true God and His Son, Jesus.

“I began to read and found out that there is a living God who talks and blesses us. And I came to know that Jesus is the real Savior, even my personal Savior too,” she remembers.

Pradnya chose to dedicate her life to Christ … and she began sharing the Gospel with her family. Today her mother, her aunt, and her uncle have all chosen to follow Jesus! Pradnya and her family have been baptized and are attending the local church together.

Thanks for sending the Book of Hope to bring hope to Pradnya and her family!

Ministry Spotlight: Venezuela

Venezuela Programs

How you’re sharing hope with the next generation in Venezuela

Our partner churches and ministries in Venezuela are reaching the next generation with God’s Word through a variety of programs, including:

  • The GodMan film
  • OneHope youth films
  • The Book of Hope (several versions)
  • And Superbook

CBN’s popular video series Superbook premiered in 1981, and the programs have consistently engaged children with stories from the Bible in relevant and easy-to-understand ways, and introduced viewers to Jesus, too.

Now they’ve been contextualized and updated to speak to today’s children — and our Superbook Book of Hope uses illustrations from the modern Superbook films, plus Scripture text and added sections from the Book of Hope. This way, the book can stand alone or be used together with the Superbook films in Sunday school or Kid’s Club meetings.

The Superbook videos and Book of Hope are helping Venezuelan children find hope in Jesus!

Fast Facts

Three-quarters of the population of Venezuela live in extreme poverty.1

More than 7 million people have fled the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela.2

Shortages of medicine and basic goods in Venezuela contribute to the ongoing tragedy

Tom Phillips, “Hope and Doubt Among Venezuelan Refugees with Country at Fork in Road,” The Guardian, January 9, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/09/hope-and-doubt-among-venezuelan-refugees-with-country-at-fork-in-road.
“Venezuela Situation,” UNHCR, accessed January 16, 2023, https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/venezuela-emergency.html.

My Story of Hope

Meet Yosh

His father abandoned the family when Yosh was very young — he doesn’t remember his dad.

His mother struggled to provide for him and his 2-year-old sister.

Mom’s long hours of hard work left Yosh on his own and on the streets a lot.

In their home nation of Venezuela, economic instability and social unrest meant schools often didn’t function — sometimes teachers didn’t come to work because they had to rush across town and try to find food for their own families; sometimes they didn’t show up because they’d fled in the night to a neighboring nation in search of hope.

Twelve-year-old Yosh panhandled on buses and roamed the streets with his friends.

Until the pandemic, when he started connecting with our digital Superbook program online and later when he was able to attend classes in person. Then things began to change!

Today Yosh knows the love of Jesus. He’s connected with his local church, and he’s back in school and helping his mom and sister at home.

Your gift of God’s Word at a difficult time gave him hope and is transforming his family, too!

Faithful to the Calling

OneHope Founder Bob Hoskins Celebrates 80th year of full-time ministry!

OneHope Founder Bob Hoskins was called to preach the Good News about Jesus in 1943, at the age of 7.

His parents helped him launch his outreach as a child evangelist, and by the time he was 17, he was preaching international revivals!

Always faithful to go where God called, Bob and his wife Hazel moved to Beirut in 1965. There they launched the Way of Life literature ministry, sharing the Word of God in the Muslim world for 10 years — with over 400,000 people across the Middle East enrolled in the correspondence program.

After 15 years in the Middle East and Europe, Bob and Hazel returned to the United States where Bob became president of the newly formed Life Publishers, an international literature ministry providing Bibles and Scripture study tools in a variety of languages for the global Church.

But a vision from the Lord redirected Bob’s efforts in 1986, with a new mission of getting God’s Word to all the children and youth of the world — and in 1987 the first distribution of the original El Libro de Vida, what we now call the Book of Hope, began in El Salvador.

This year, as Bob marks his 80th year in ministry, OneHope will reach the 2 BILLIONTH child to receive God’s Word through this outreach!

We salute Bob for being faithful to his calling, and thank you, dear partner, for being faithful, too.

The Children of Southern Asia Need Your Prayers!

Southern Asia comprises multiple limited access nations which make it extremely difficult to share God’s Word — often believers are at risk of persecution. Nevertheless, our church partners persevere in reaching out with the Good News.

And they need your prayers:

  • Pray for Jesus to be made known throughout Southern Asia, especially among unreached people groups and those living in areas that are difficult to access.
  • Pray that those who are entangled in empty religious practices would engage with God’s Word and find joy in a strong relationship with Jesus.

Thank you for praying for Southern Asia, and especially for the next generation!

Faithful to the calling

Memo from Rob

My dad, OneHope Founder Bob Hoskins, received his calling to ministry as a young boy.

His parents fully trusted this calling and made it possible for him to grow up and be educated as he pursued life as an evangelist — and Dad’s ministry hasn’t ended yet. This year marks his 80th year in full-time ministry!

He forwards the vision of God’s Word. Every Child. as an active part of OneHope’s global ministry, providing visionary direction, fervent prayers, and care for the OneHope team. His international travel schedule to visit our worldwide partners is typically booked well in advance — he’s gone through more passport pages than anyone I know!

As you see in this special Global Report, he remains faithful to his calling. To celebrate his example of faithfulness, I’d like to share with you a piece of my father’s wisdom which I’ve always treasured — and which I think will be beneficial to you, too.

Programs, projects, and plans that in the moment seemed destined for success can actually end in failure. Not every idea is a good one. Some efforts completely flop. And that’s OK. It doesn’t mean you missed God, it doesn’t mean you’ll always fail. Instead think of the experience this way:

In the moments when you’ve done all you can to try a new venture … you’ve invested, given your best, and it still doesn’t work, it’s a wise choice to let it go.

Maybe you made a mistake, or maybe the timing isn’t right. It’s not an outright failure, but rather, it’s a valuable learning moment.

From that moment when you give up, you go forward armed with more knowledge and experience that will enhance your next effort — and what you’ve learned could spark an idea that grows into something great next time.

The important thing, my dad says — whether your project or program is a home run or a strikeout — is to persist in following your God-given vision. He’s in his 80th year of persistence, and he has more home runs than strikeouts, so I encourage you to trust his words.

NATION BY NATION

SENSITIVE AREA

Reya lives in a majority-Hindu nation where many children live in impoverished areas where preventable disease often exacts a harsh toll due to lack of education, sanitation, and hygiene. But Reya was enrolled in our World Without Sickness program. She learned about personal hygiene and about Jesus! Today she says, “I came to know about Christ through World Without Sickness, and now I go to church to know Him better.”

 

MEXICO

Mia is so grateful you sent her the Book of Hope! She says, “Before, I didn’t know anything about the Word of the Lord, but now God has opened His doors for me, and I am a daughter of Jesus Christ. Everything is better, my relationship with my family, my schoolwork, everything.” Thank you for showing Mia the way to new life in Christ.

God’s Word. Every Child.

You may have saved his life!

Abbas grew up devoutly Muslim — in a majority-Muslim nation.

For security reasons, we can’t say where … but it’s a place where boys can learn Arabic in madrassa (Islamic schools) so they can read the Koran — as Abbas did.

He had been taught that reading the Koran and serving Allah would give him purpose and direction, so he was dedicated in his studies and took his religion seriously.

But he found no purpose and no direction. Even when he tried to pray or meditate on his holy book, a well of emptiness seemed to engulf him. He had no happiness and no hope.

He was so mired in despair that he went to a park he knew would be deserted with a plan to commit suicide. As he made his way to the most remote area, he saw a book abandoned on a bench.

A friend like you had sent the Book of Hope for young people in his city … and he “just happened” to find this one on this day. In its pages he read, “God is love.”

“I cried and cried, and I didn’t know why,” Abbas remembers. “It was just this feeling — God is love — this was the answer I had been seeking.”

Abbas didn’t kill himself that day. Instead he went home, read the book, went on the internet, and found believers near him and a place he could fellowship with Christians and grow in God.

Today he is following Jesus as his Savior, and he is filled with joy!

Thank you for being there for Abbas when he needed you. Your gift of God’s Word made a life-saving difference.

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$1 shares the Gospel with 3 children. HOw many will you reach?