Todd Tiahrt: “today the House was opened in prayer by my friend and pastor, Joe Voss. Joe is from a tough neighborhood in St. Louis.…”

“today the House was opened in prayer by my friend and pastor, Joe Voss. Joe is from a tough neighborhood in St. Louis. As a teenager, he was sent to a correctional school for boys, but thanks to Salvation Army officers, Major Froeberg and Clarence Harvey, who is currently a Divisional Commander here in D.C., Joe turned his life around. He went to Forest Park Community College and graduated from the Salvation Army Seminary in Chicago in 1970. Joe married Connie 25 years ago and they have a 21-year-old son, Joey, and a daughter who is 18, named April. But the real story is what Joe and Connie are doing today. He has just finished heading up a building program for a new sanctuary without borrowing money. Instead of mortgage payments, Joe and the members of Valley Center Assembly of God are investing in young boys and girls, many from single homes, through a scouting program called Royal Rangers and Missionettes. They are not only working with the teenagers in their church, but also reaching out to the gangs in Wichita. They have even reached out to those trapped by prostitution, by drugs, and by alcohol through their 'Christ in the Streets' program. Joe has exchanged pulpits with black congregations in our community, allowing them to come into Valley Center Assembly of God, while he goes to other community churches. Some would say that this is innovative for a church to reach outside its walls.…”