MANSFIELD — Raymond Cochran Jr. believes churches must take their ministry efforts beyond the walls of their buildings.
That’s why the senior pastor of the Oasis of Love Church was standing Thursday afternoon on a warm, late-summer day next to a dusty ball diamond at Cyclops Field on the city’s north side.
He and Louis Andres, the City of Mansfield public works director, announced a new partnership that will see the Chester Avenue church take the lead in restoring the nearly 16-acre park back to activity.
The historic four-field complex on the city’s north side was the center of north central Ohio’s slow-pitch softball universe throughout the 1980s and 1990s. As the popularity of the men’s game began to wane in the early-2000s, however, Cyclops gradually slipped into a state of disrepair.
There have been attempts by individuals and groups to restore the park in recent years, many of them hampered by the decline in adult softball popularity and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic a few years ago.
The youthful Cochran, whose church also offers a community-wide free block party each summer, said the partnership at Cyclops Field offers great opportunities to take the ministry effort to the people.
“It’s a great time to bring some people together. I want to have sports, but I also want to have mentorship for our youth and teach them the value of life. We are very grateful and very blessed (to have this opportunity,” he said.
The park partnership is a perfect fit for Andres, who began his career in 1978 with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources as a park naturalist, including 22 years as the manager at Malabar Farm State Park.
He said the city was excited to partner with Oasis of Love in creating opportunities for youth and adults in the community.
“We’re going to be making some improvements here for the community over the next couple of years in partnership with the church,” said Andres, who has focused many of his efforts during his first nine months on the job helping to improve the city’s public parks.
“We understand that there is a great need for community activities, especially sports and athletics. (Oasis) approached us and we worked out an adopt-a-park program with the church.
“Our goal is to be a partner with them. They’re going to take the lead and we’re going to help them how we can to help them accomplish their goals and get Cyclops Field back in operation (as it was) during its heyday and get used as a good facility again,” Andres said.
“One of my goals is to have some type of volunteer community support group for each park. We can’t do it alone,” adding the city will provide services as the church presents needs it encounters.
“We need to have the community help us. And if we can get partners like the church or nonprofit groups or people that want to help out the parks, we’re going to embrace it and we’ll work it out,” Andres said.
“We only have so much resources as far as money and time and talent. And by using these folks here, we’re going to reach a bigger audience and get it done more quickly,” he said.
“I think when we have community involvement, we get a better outcome,” Andres said.
Cochran said the church plans programming beyond sports for young people and families, seeking to encourage positive change in the community.
“We will have sports. We will have soccer. Baseball. Football. Mentorship programs, as well. We will have different seasonal events throughout the year. We’re just piecing it together, but there is going to be a lot of activity out here,” Cochran said.
Cochran said immediate plans call for updating the fields, concession stand and press box.
“We want to beautify this park. We want the people here to take pride in the city. As we said, it takes a team effort to do that … to be all over the city.
“But sometimes you have got to put your hand to the plow, too,” the pastor said.
“There’s some things that we can partner to do together. We want to beautify this place so that it’s serviceable. We want to make sure families can come here, kids can come here, seniors can come here … and get something out of here,” Cochran said.
“That’s really the goal and that’s what our church really is about,” he said.
Andres said parks make significant differences in communities.
“If you look at Mansfield’s history, the city parks were integral in all the neighborhoods. Every neighborhood had a park. There used to be 33 parks. Now we’re down to 22.
“So I want to make those 22 meaningful in every part of the community. Whether it be north, south, east or west, we want to try to provide some type of activity for play and for also for relaxing and also for gathering too,” Andres said.
“Parks are a big gathering part in the early history of Mansfield. So we want to continue with that tradition and upgrade them and make them valuable gems of the community again,” he said.
Cochran said it was about a year ago when he thought about adopting the park.
“I was driving by. Like (Andres) said, a lot of people just drive by. Something said to (me) to to stop there. The Lord just started to talk with me and said, hey, this is a good place.
“We have had a lot of violence here. That was a driving force that helped us to get outside of our (church) walls on Sundays. Sports has always been a great tool to bring people together, different races.
Andres said the park will still be available for softball and baseball games and tournaments.
“We’ll be doing those … they will just be through the church. Right now we had a private individual who’s doing it and that’s been kind of off and on. So this gives a little bit more stability to provide those programs.
“But also we have somebody that we’re holding accountable, as well, because we have a written agreement with them and we’ll say, ‘What is the city’s responsibility and what’s the church’s responsibility?’
“That way we have a good understanding and we can get more done rather than just having the groups here and there. So this will give us some structure and will give us kind of a long-term commitment towards the park as well,” Andres said.
Cochran said his congregation is excited to tackle the park project.
“There was shock, at first. Because it’s not something you normally see a church do. But we ask ourselves, ‘What would Jesus do go?” He’d go outside,” the pastor said.
“The block party was a big start. We’re just expanding that (effort). The church is very excited. They’re ready to work. We have a lot of volunteers eager to get started.”
