The Preacher on Horseback and the Hilltop Church That Bears His Name
Hoge Memorial Presbyterian Church sits at 2930 West Broad Street in the heart of Columbus's Hilltop neighborhood, just a few miles from where the city's very first church was organized in 1806. That first church - thirteen souls gathered in a Franklinton courtroom - was the work of a young Presbyterian minister named James Hoge, who had ridden into the frontier settlement on horseback with two federal judges. Hoge spent the next half century building the Presbyterian witness in central Ohio, helping to found the Columbus Presbytery, campaigning for Ohio's first free public schools, championing the establishment of both the Ohio School for the Deaf and the Ohio School for the Blind, and earning a reputation as one of the most influential citizens of the young state capital. The congregation that took his name after his death in 1863 still carries his story on its walls, in its stained glass, and in the way it serves the surrounding neighborhood more than a century later.
Today the church describes its ministry in a single phrase that appears throughout its literature: feeding the community physically and spiritually. The phrase is more than a tagline. It points to a network of outreach efforts that have made Hoge one of the most active small congregations on the Hilltop: a food pantry that serves roughly a hundred families a month, a Saturday-evening meal and worship program called HM3, an urban ministry partnership with five neighboring Presbyterian churches, and a building that opens its doors to Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous groups, a Girl Scout troop, and a long list of community events.
Two Buildings, One Congregation
Hoge Memorial has worshiped in two locations in its history. The first building, at 29 South Eureka Avenue, was erected in 1907, the same year the church organized with the Reverend James H. Hatfield as its first pastor. It was in that building that the Woman's Home and Foreign Missionary Society took shape with eight charter members, and that the Personal Workers Bible Class adopted its motto, More Souls Saved for Christ.
By the late 1940s the Eureka Avenue building had become inadequate, and the Reverend Alfred J. Wold - a Norwegian-born pastor who had taken the pulpit in 1939 - began planning for a new home. Ground was broken on March 23, 1952, at the corner of West Broad Street, construction began in June, and the new sanctuary was dedicated on May 30, 1954. The building, valued at more than half a million dollars in its day, was designed in a style that several later partner churches - notably Overbrook Presbyterian - share. Under Wold's leadership the Sunday School grew to roughly 800, the largest in the Columbus Presbytery. He served 21 years, was named Pastor Emeritus, and was honored by the Ohio House of Representatives, which elected him chaplain for three terms.
Stained Glass That Tells the Story of Presbyterianism
The 1954 sanctuary is filled with stained glass designed and installed by Russell S. Heizer of Westerville, Ohio. The east transept holds the Memorial Window, the gift of Mrs. Martha Foster Copeland, a descendant of Dr. James Hoge. It pairs the figures of John Calvin, the French reformer whose teachings shaped Presbyterian church government, with James Hoge, the first Christian missionary to the Franklinton settlement. Together they symbolize the roots of the congregation and the wider Reformed tradition.
The chancel window centers on the Ascension of Christ, with Alpha and Omega, the open Book, the Lamb on the Seven Seals, the descending Dove, and the Hand of God raised in benediction. The west transept is the Stewardship Window, with scenes of preaching, teaching, medicine, labor, arts, transportation, and agriculture surrounding a figure of Christ, captioned with Matthew 10:28 - The Son of Man came to serve. Smaller nave windows carry the traditional winged symbols of the four Gospels: the man for Matthew, the lion for Mark, the ox for Luke, and the soaring eagle for John. The Old Testament prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel are honored in their own lancets, along with figures from church history - John Wyclif, St. Jerome, St. Paul, Moses, Melchizedek, King James, and the Bible Translators. A large three-lancet window facing Broad Street is illuminated softly each night by spotlights, a quiet beacon on the Hilltop.
HM3: Hoge's Music, Message, and Meal
Of all of Hoge's ministries, the one most closely identified with the congregation is HM3, which stands for Hoge's Music, Message, and Meal. Every Saturday at 5 p.m. the doors of Wold Hall, the lower-level fellowship room, open for a half-hour gathering that begins with music, moves into a short message or testimony, opens time for prayer requests, and concludes with a hot meal served around 5:30 p.m. Communion is offered whenever a minister is present. Anyone is welcome.
The program was born in 2009 out of conversations between Robin Wilson, then the church secretary, and her husband Ed, an aspiring Methodist minister-in-training. The Wilsons had visited a similar ministry in Circleville called The Filling Station and wanted to bring that model to Columbus. When their own congregation would not sponsor the idea, they brought it to Pastor Leigh Holder-Bobo and Hoge's Outreach Committee. HM3 began as a monthly gathering, became twice-monthly, and by January 2010 had settled into its weekly Saturday rhythm.
What makes HM3 distinctive is its informal shape. Many of those who come, the church explains, are not comfortable in a formal Sunday service surrounded by stained glass and people in formal attire. Some are homeless; some simply need a hot meal or a listening ear; some live with disabilities that have made them feel unwelcome in more traditional settings. The Wilsons tell the story of Jimmy, a man with Tourette syndrome who had been asked to leave other churches because of his outbursts, and who found at HM3 a place he calls his church home. Panera Bread in Grandview donates leftover baked goods each Friday; the HM3 meal may be the only food some guests have the next day. Outside churches and small groups now rotate through the kitchen to prepare and serve the meal, and a related personal care pantry of hygiene items is distributed once a month.
The Food Pantry at Hoge
The food pantry predates 1978 and is among the oldest continuing ministries on the Hilltop. Originally overseen by the Deacons, it served fewer than a hundred families a month out of a single room, with deliveries handled by a group called Westside FISH. As need grew, the pantry was expanded to four rooms with shelves and pallets at the opposite end of the building, and clients were invited to come to the church to choose their own food. Today the pantry typically serves more than a hundred families each month, drawing from zip codes 43204, 43223, and 43228.
The pantry is open the last two consecutive Tuesdays and Wednesdays of each month from 12 noon to 1:30 p.m. An onsite coordinator handles ordering and the administrative work required by the Mid-Ohio Food Collective; a volunteer coordinator schedules the workers; and on operating days teams handle intake, walk clients through the shopping area, gather refrigerated and frozen items, restock shelves, and assemble hygiene kits. Guests may come once a month. Rockwood Cleaners in Columbus has donated hundreds of cardboard boxes over the years so that clients have a way to carry their food home. Hoge describes the pantry as one of the largest on the Hilltop.
Westside Urban Ministry
Hoge also serves as the outreach post for the Westside Urban Ministry, a mission sponsored by the Presbytery of Scioto Valley. Six Presbyterian churches are active in the cooperative: Broad, Covenant, Concord, Overbrook, Westminster, and Worthington. Recent projects have included an annual coat drive that delivered 260 coats to neighborhood elementary and middle schools and to West High School, and a Cowboy Bucks partnership with West High, in which students earn vouchers for the school's Christmas Store by arriving on time and demonstrating good behavior. The WUM congregations study together how to do mission well, working through resources like When Helping Hurts and consulting with seminary interns. The cooperative approach means Hoge's modest membership is multiplied by the hands and resources of its sister congregations.
Christian Education for All Ages
Christian education at Hoge has evolved over more than a century but has always centered on the same task: learning about God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and growing in faith together. At present, adults gather for Bible Study on the first and third Sundays of each month. Children attend the first part of the Sunday worship service with their families and then move to the Children's Room for Sunday School, except on the first Sunday of the month, when they remain in the sanctuary for the entire service. Past generations recall larger Sunday School programs under pastors like Alfred Wold, when the Sunday School was the largest in the Columbus Presbytery and a single class might draw a hundred students.
Music at Hoge
Music has always been a thread running through Hoge's life. The adult choir rehearses every other week, with a brief break during June, July, and August, and gathers for a half-hour dress rehearsal before each Sunday service. The choir director chooses music to fit both the church season and the message of the week, drawing on a range that includes occasional tambourine or drums, guest violin or harp at Christmas, and a clarinetist who regularly provides music at HM3. Choir members describe rehearsal as a time of celebration and learning, and the only prerequisite for joining is the joy of sharing God's praises.
Worship Today
Hoge worships in a traditional Presbyterian pattern. Communion servers, greeters, and lay readers are assigned monthly by the Worship Committee. The part-time pastor, Tom Billman, preaches twice a month, usually on the first and third Sundays; visiting ministers fill the pulpit on the other Sundays. Billman, a lifelong Presbyterian and ruling elder from Covenant Presbyterian Church in Upper Arlington, accepted the call to Hoge on September 1, 2019, after completing the Certified Ruling Elder program through the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary. He and his wife Linda are members of the congregation.
Under the partnership that began in the ministry of Pastor Ed Sensenbrenner, Covenant Presbyterian has supplied a steady stream of guest preachers and musicians. The relationship is two-way: when Hoge needs help with food boxes, HM3, or shut-in visits, Covenant volunteers show up. The arrangement has given Hoge a reliable pulpit while giving Covenant a place to put its commitment to the Westside into practice. Other guest preachers have come from across the Presbytery of Scioto Valley, with many retirees and commissioned ruling elders stepping in on a rotating basis.
The church year follows the usual rhythms of the Reformed tradition. Soup and Service gatherings were held during the Wednesdays of Lent. Maundy Thursday and Ash Wednesday services are offered either at Hoge or jointly with other area churches. Palms are distributed on Palm Sunday, Easter flowers brighten the altar and are later sent to shut-ins, and poinsettias are ordered for Christmas. A Blessing of the Pets service and seasons of Trunk or Treat have been offered in the past and may be revived. The annual Easter Egg Hunt, restarted in 2017, draws between 170 and 190 children from the surrounding neighborhood, and the Birthday Party for Jesus in December brings another generation of families through the doors.
Friends of Hoge
No account of Hoge today is complete without naming its partners. Covenant Presbyterian Church in Upper Arlington is the closest partner, providing pulpit supply, music, and monthly volunteer teams at HM3 and the food pantry. Worthington Presbyterian Church opened its membership to Hoge in 2009 and has sent youth groups to pack food boxes and help with the Easter Egg Hunt. Concord Presbyterian Church, south of Delaware, and Bloom Presbyterian Church, in Lithopolis, send quarterly teams to Hoge to serve at HM3. Westminster Presbyterian Church in Lincoln Village has shared meals, youth involvement, and steady encouragement. Overbrook Presbyterian Church, whose building design echoes Hoge's, sends worship leaders and musicians.
Other partners stretch well beyond the Presbyterian fold. New Albany Presbyterian Church has shared musical talent at HM3. Hilliard Presbyterian Church hosted a mission event at Hoge as part of its MTwoT program. Glenwood United Methodist Church, Hoge's neighbor just to the north, has long supported the food pantry with money, food, and volunteer time. Cypress Wesleyan Church has been vital to HM3 and to filling food boxes on the third Saturday of each month, and Crosslink Community Church now serves meals at HM3 every other month. Girl Scout Troop 50331, which meets in the Hoge building every Tuesday evening, has cooked and served HM3 meals, packed pantry boxes, and helped with the Easter Egg Hunt.
Businesses have stepped in as well. Panera Bread in Grandview Heights donates its leftover baked goods each Friday to support HM3. Rockwood Cleaners, voted the top dry cleaner in Columbus in 2014, has donated hundreds of cardboard boxes for the food pantry and supplied plastic Easter eggs with candy. Harman Elementary School conducts a yearly food drive at Christmas and brings the collection to Hoge, a project that the children carry out with the same seriousness as the adults around them.
AA and NA at Hoge
Hoge shares its building with recovery groups in a partnership that reflects the congregation's understanding of itself as a clinic whose focus is helping others. Four Alcoholics Anonymous groups and two Narcotics Anonymous groups meet at the church each week. Their meeting times are listed on the Hoge online calendar. AA is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength, and hope in order to solve their common problem and help others recover from alcoholism; the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking, and there are no dues or fees. NA offers a parallel fellowship for those who want to stop using drugs. Hoge opens its doors because it believes a church that accepts its community does not come across as a glimmering shrine but as a place that supports people in their struggles.
The Hilltop Through Time
The neighborhood around Hoge has changed dramatically over the decades. In the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, members of the church lived east of Hague Avenue, and the Hilltop was a stable community with locally owned businesses along West Broad Street - three banks, a department store, Isaly's ice cream, three or four drug stores, the Rivoli Theater, Roush's Hardware, and a bakery that filled the block before Eureka Avenue. Members recall five-cent ice cream sodas, twenty-five-cent dinners, and roller skates purchased from the hardware store for under three dollars. As cars became more common and shopping malls drew businesses away, the commercial heart of the neighborhood thinned. By the postwar years, families who had been part of Hoge for generations moved farther out, but the church stayed put. Today, as one longtime member has written, Hoge continues to try to be a cornerstone of the community for many years to come.
The Pastor's Office and Hoge's Honored Veterans
In Wold Hall, two picture frames next to the double doors hold small photographs of Hoge members who served in the armed forces, primarily during World War II. The list of names - among them Dean D. Barnes, Thomas E. Webb, James E. Jones, William C. Jones KIA in Italy on December 19, 1944, Elwood Lee MIA on December 25, 1944 and declared dead a year later, and dozens of others - is a quiet roll of honor for a generation of Hilltop families who sent their sons and daughters to war.
Getting Connected
The church office is open on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visitors who arrive for Sunday worship will find the part-time pastor in the pulpit twice a month and a guest preacher on the other Sundays; adult Bible Study meets the first and third Sundays. Children are welcome in worship and in the Children's Room for Sunday School. The food pantry welcomes volunteers and donations; HM3 welcomes groups willing to prepare and serve a Saturday-evening meal; and the building is available for community groups that share Hoge's spirit of service. The building at 2930 West Broad Street has stood on the Hilltop since 1954, and the congregation's promise to feed the community both physically and spiritually is renewed every week.