Joshua House plans to sell the Tyrone Armory and expand programming to Altoona

For over 20 years, Joshua House has been focused on helping youth find purpose.  Today, we are announcing our plans to sell the Tyrone Armory and expand our programming to Altoona.  

We feel the need in this season to shift our efforts from running a facility back to program development.  As an organization, this is a necessary step for us in continuing our vision to reach the next generation, help them find their purpose and equip them to live it out. The Tyrone Armory is truly an amazing building and a hub for the community.  In preparing to sell it, we wanted to find someone who could carry out the vision for the Armory to continue to be a community hub (Currently, it is home to Horseshoe Volleyball Club and the Tyrone Fitness Center). 

It is our sincere joy to announce that Nathan and Tracy Verilla are purchasing the Tyrone Armory.  Both Nathan and Tracy were involved with Joshua House in the early days and have a heart for the people of Tyrone.  The Verillas are after the heartbeat of God for the next generation and will build upon what has been established at the Armory for the community.  

From left to right: Theron Glenny, Mizpah Glenny, Tracy Verilla, Nathan Verilla, Jim Kilmartin, Jessica Kilmartin

““For over 20 years, our aim has been to positively impact the lives of our youth and see them become world changers. We have provided camps, races, leagues, and many activities in hopes to be a catalyst for young people to connect with God and find purpose. When I started in 1998, I didn’t know what it would look like but it has been amazing to see how many people have been blessed. We’ve taken teens whitewater rafting, to Niagara Falls, to the Jersey Shore, inner city Baltimore, Detroit, Toronto, Guatemala, Belize, & Madagascar.  For me, it has been a privilege and a tremendous honor to serve the Tyrone community for all of these years. Now, I am excited for Nathan and Tracy Verilla to take over the reins of developing the Tyrone Armory as a Hub for the Tyrone community and region.”  - Jim Kilmartin, Founder of Joshua House”

Below are some questions we anticipate being asked.  For any additional questions, please contact Theron Glenny or Jim Kilmartin.  Their emails are theron@joshuahouse.com & jim@joshuahouse.com.

Won’t Joshua House need a building to operate? 

• For the amount of programming we had planned, Joshua House programming does not take up near the capacity of the Armory, which is why we had amazing renters like Horseshoe Volleyball Club, Centre Soccer Association and Tyrone Fitness.  

• When we do programming from now on, if we need indoor space, we will simply rent space at the location where we want to do the program. This way, we won’t be tied to operating and taking care of a specific building and can more fully focus on our mission.

Will Joshua House stop working in Tyrone?  

No.  We plan to continue offering programs in Tyrone, but not sure on what basis.  At a minimum, we want to continue the Tyrone Roller Hockey League and Cross-town Basketball League in the Armory, and we will be able to rent space from the new owners.  

It’s important to note that Jim and Jessica Kilmartin and the Joshua House team have always had a heart for this region so we believe that in future years, in addition to offering programs in Tyrone and Altoona, we will offer programs in other towns and cities. Our donor and volunteer base is very regional.  With Pastor Jim and Jess overseeing Center City Church and providing oversight to Joshua House, our donor base and volunteer base has significantly increased regionally as Center City Church has grown. 

Is Joshua House relocating to another town? 

We are not sure where our physical address will be, but we do know in addition to offering programming in Tyrone, we will begin to offer programs in Altoona. 

Is HoopsFest canceled this Summer? 

Unfortunately, yes. We were really hoping to have it this July to celebrate the 20th anniversary.  We plan to now hold the 20th anniversary of HoopsFest Summer of 2021.

Joshua House COVID-19 Update

Dear friend,

We hope you and your family are doing well and are staying safe during these unusual times. 

We are acutely aware of the fact that this pandemic may be impacting each one of us differently and with various levels of severity. As for Josha House, we are still dedicated to our mission of helping youth find purpose. While we have temporarily closed the Tyrone Armory and paused all programs to adhere to our state leaders’ decisions, we are thankful for the technology we have to continue building relationships with teenagers during this time.  

We know this is a complicated and somewhat confusing time. Here are a few things to remember: 

• This too will pass 

• God is God

• This presents another opportunity to be a light in darkness and share the Hope of Jesus 

John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

Amidst this pandemic, we would like to thank our donors and volunteers who provide support throughout the year. You are incredibly instrumental in helping us reach the next generation.  Without you, we would not be able to push through these times. Just as many businesses have been affected, our rental revenue has declined quickly since our facility cannot remain open. We know our God is good and will provide. We look forward to the day we can reopen and continue our programs to help youth walk their path to purpose to learn important skills that will help them live out everything God created them to be and do.

Although we have hit the ‘pause button’ on our programs, we believe our programs will be a vital source of life for our community and region once this pandemic passes.  You can learn about Joshua House’s ‘Path to Purpose’ and 2020 programs at www.JoshuaHouse.com.  

There’s a prayer (from Numbers 6:24-26) the Lord once gave to Moses that we are praying over you today…

“The Lord bless you and keep you [protect you, sustain you, and guard you];

The Lord make His face shine upon you [with favor], and be gracious to you [surrounding you with lovingkindness];

The Lord lift up His countenance (face) upon you [with divine approval], and give you peace [a tranquil heart and life].” 

To our donors, volunteers, and the youth that we serve...if you are in need, we’re here to help. We’re here to pray with you, provide words of encouragement, and connect you to services available in our community. 

Sincerely,

The Joshua House team

Press Release - Announcing SportsFEST

Joshua House announces 1st annual SportsFest to be held in Altoona PA - August 3, 2019

Altoona, PA | July 1st, 2019 – The goal of this event is to increase awareness and raise funds to support, the Joshua House Community Center and its growth into surrounding communities of Central PA, while providing high quality and competitive athletic tournament for youth and adults in the region.

SportsFest will premiere in Altoona, PA, on August 3, 2019, as Joshua House celebrates the 19th consecutive year hosting its marquis event, HoopsFest, which is the largest 3-on3 basketball tournament in the northeast run by the organization out of Tyrone, PA.

SportsFest, will expand on the foundation built with HoopsFest and launch a sister event, introducing an all-new sports related line up that will include dek hockey and volleyball tournaments for both youth and adult teams at the newly renovated Lakemont Park, in Altoona. A 3-on-3 Volleyball Tournament will have divisions for 16U Boys/Girls, 18U Boys/Girls, Women’s Competitive and Men’s Competitive. A 3-on-3 Dek Hockey Tournament has 10U, 14U, 18U and Adult Rec Adult Competitive divisions. 3- on-3 basketball will be open to 12U Boys/Girls, 14U Boys/Girls, 16U Boys/Girls, 18U Boys/Girls, Women’s Open, Men’s Rec, and Men’s Competitive teams. The cost to register a team is $100 per tournament, per event.

“The athletic tournaments and fundraising for Joshua House are designed to support our goals to equip our youth. We accomplish this by supporting them as they build lives based on faith. The goals include mentoring them to create strong relationships, develop positive self- awareness, entrepreneurial spirit, and servant leadership. This year we are focusing both HoopsFest and SportsFest on “breakthroughs” for all involved with the events.” said founder Jim Kilmartin, who goes on to say, “It is such an honor to be able to host people from all over our community in successful sports tournaments. As always, we could not bring these quality programs to the area without the sponsors who help to make these events exciting and successful fundraisers.

As this is SportsFest's inaugural event in the Altoona area, we are actively seeking sponsors and volunteers, as well as teams and participants. We are excited to bring this to Altoona and the new Lakemont Park! Like with the success of our HoopsFest events, we strive to provide a quality event for many years to come."

About Joshua House

Joshua House’s Mission is to Help Youth Find Purpose by providing a community that offers after-school mentors and a sense of belonging, along with programs that support these efforts.

The Vision is to see generations of young people living out all that God created them to be and do. Joshua House began on the belief that every person has a 'promised land.’ Just as the biblical character, Joshua led the Israelites into their promised land, we help youth understand their promised land, their purpose in life. Joshua House is a place where people find their purpose in Jesus Christ through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. Knowing that the presence of God changes lives, we seek to be a catalyst in bringing this generation into God’s life-changing presence.

HoopsFest and the newly formed SportsFest launched as programs that enhance and support the Joshua House mission. For more information on becoming a sponsor, volunteering or attending SportsFest, please contact Brittany Solomon at brittany@joshuahouse.com.

Media inquiries, please contact angiey@yazogroup.com

Video: Announcing Cross-town Basketball 2018

2018 Cross-town Basketball League Registration is now open!  

The Cross-town Basketball League is for teenagers in 7th through 12th grade not playing on a varsity basketball team.  The league runs from January to March.

Practices: Wednesday nights from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm @ the Armory

Games: Saturday nights starting at 5 pm @ the Armory.  First game is January 20th.

CLICK HERE to register!!!  Registration deadline is January 10th.

2017 Year in Review Video

What an AMAZING year!  Please watch our 2017 Year in Review video below.

Click here to give your year-end financial gift for 2017. 

As we reviewed the programs and events of the 2017 (including our race series and HoopsFest), we realized that throughout this year, we have been able to touch close to 6,000 lives in big and small ways.  We are so thankful for your support via finances, time, energy, and prayers!  Hundreds of people like yourself willingly gave of their time and resources to impact this next generation. …and there was so much fruit!  

• 25 Dauntless Generation teens served on a missions trip to inner city Baltimore and received leadership training
• 7 teens got baptized after committing their lives to follow Jesus!
• 50 kids participated in Summer Camps
• 75 kids participated in our Youth Running Club during the school year
• Cross-town basketball has 6 teams and 29 players ages 13-18
• Tyrone Roller Hockey League (TRHL) celebrated it’s 10th year and had 7 teams and 80 players
• 314 ran in our 5k/10k/15k race series
• Thousands heard the gospel through HoopsFest
• HoopsFest expanded into Altoona and had 53 teams, 212 players, and 40+ volunteers
• HoopsFest Tyrone had 244 teams, 976 players and 150+ volunteers
• We served 400 meals to students during the school year
• We fed close 500 at our community Thanksgiving meal
• We started a new column in our local paper, the Tyrone Daily Herald, that runs every other Monday that's focused on helping parents help their family find and live with purpose.  All articles are also posted on our blog.
• Operation Christmas Blessing provided Christmas gifts for 31 families, 65 kids

We believe 2018 will be just as impacting as we focus on renovation projects in the Armory.  The project to renovate the upstairs gathering room at the Armory is a big step to drive forward our mission to help youth find purpose.  It will serve as an amazing training and equipping hub for Dauntless teens to be called out of wandering and into a life of purpose!

As 2017 draws to a close, would you consider giving towards this project?  Again, our goal is to raise $12,000 to be able to complete that room.  Your gift can truly make a difference!  

Click here to make a year-end contribution!

Thank you again for your past and future support!  We are honored & inspired to do more!

May 2018 be a year of revived purpose and deep impact!

Many blessings to you in the New Year!

Sincerely,

The Joshua House Team

Announcing Community Thanksgiving Dinner

We are so excited to invite you to our annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner held at the Joshua House Armory (926 Logan Ave. in Tyrone, PA) tomorrow, Tuesday, Nov. 21st 4:30-6:30 pm!  We want to emphasize that this is a community dinner, not just about feeding people, but an opportunity for the community of Tyrone (and beyond) to come share a meal together at the Armory.  If you need to pick up takeout meals or have them delivered to your home, please call us at (814) 684-2032 to reserve yours. 

As you come, we will be accepting donations of canned goods and non-perishable items that will go into Christmas baskets for families in need in our community.  This is part of our Operation Christmas Blessing program that provides gifts for children and baskets of household items and food for families here in Tyrone during the Christmas season.

Come join us tomorrow evening!  We would love to see you at the Armory for our Community Thanksgiving Dinner!

Announcing After-School Hours

Today we are excited to announce we are opening up for After-School Hours starting next Monday, November 6th!  Ever since we purchased the Armory, we wanted to utilize the it in multiple ways to serve the Tyrone community.  Our desire is provide a place for students to come after school to have a safe and healthy environment, opportunities to be physically active with open gym time, and positive adult influence in their lives during those critical after-school hours until parents get home from work.  

This year, we are very thankful for a grant from United Way of Blair County to help staff the program and provide after-school snacks and a weekly meal for these youth.   The grant enables the program to be free and open to any students in 5th-9th grades.  

Joshua House Founder and Director, Jim Kilmartin, states, "Providing an opportunity after school for the youth in our community that is safe, fun, and a place where they can connect is incredibly important.  We want the Armory to be a hub for the community and a safe haven for the kids to become all that God created them to be.  When our youth see themselves as God sees them then they can be empowered to make a the world around them better.”  

Tyrone Area School District Superintendent, Cathy Harlow, expressed her excitement about this program, stating, "This is such a worthy endeavor which will directly benefit our students.”  

Starting next Monday, November 6th, the Joshua House Armory will be open Mondays through Thursdays, after school until 5:30 pm on school days.  Please note that we will follow the Tyrone Area School District calendar.  

All 5th-9th grade students are invited to come down after school for:

• Daily snacks
• Meal (Wednesdays only)
• Get homework done (and receive academic tutoring if needed) 
• Open gym time

The Armory address is 926 Logan Avenue in Tyrone, PA.  

For more details or to volunteer to help with this program, call us at  814-684-2032 or email our program director, Mizpah Glenny at mizpah@joshuahouse.com.  

How we got here and where we’re headed

BY THERON & MIZPAH GLENNY

The following article is from our column published today in the Tyrone Daily Herald. 

We are very excited to start this new column focused on helping our youth find
purpose.  Whether you are a Mom or Dad, Uncle or Aunt, a grandparent, teacher or
coach, if you work with youth, this bi-weekly column is designed to encourage you and
equip you to impact the next generation.  In this first installment, we are going to share
a bit of our story so you can get to know us and identify with who we are, where we
came from and our hearts to help youth find purpose, in Tyrone and beyond.

When we first met and fell in love back in our college days at Messiah College, we
didn’t know how our future would unfold.  Mizpah wanted to be a medical missionary
and live in a hut in Africa serving the world’s poorest of humans.  Mizpah’s Dad is a
surgeon in North Carolina but growing up, she would go with her parents on medical
mission trips all over the world and on those trips, she fell in love with other cultures
and people groups and saw first-hand the desperate needs of people that don’t have the
quality of medical care we have here in the United States.  On the contrary, Theron’s
heart was set on moving back to Central Pennsylvania to either start another Joshua
House in Huntingdon or help Jim Kilmartin with Joshua House in Tyrone. Theron grew
up in Juniata Valley and when he was around 12 years old, he met Jim at a youth group
event when Kilmartin was still in high school.  Jim’s life and testimony had a major
impact on Theron and as Theron puts it, “I wanted to be like him.”  After college, Jim
started Joshua House because he saw so many teenagers who were aimless, wandering
through life and without purpose. Theron knew in his heart that he too wanted to help
youth find purpose and dedicated the rest of his life doing so.  

So, I guess you could say our paths didn’t necessarily line up - a hut in Africa or Central
PA? We both wanted to serve people and help them become all that God created them
to be, but ‘where' was the question.  Most people when deciding where to live decide
based on where they get a job.  Theron was reading a book at the time by Bob Beckett.
 Bob was a pastor out in Hemet, California and God challenged Bob to be committed to
the people of his city in a radical way so that he could see lasting, and generational
impact.  One of the lessons that Theron learned from this book was that making this
important life decision on where to live was less about where he and Mizpah got a job
and more about who they were to be connected to and do life with. He knew in his heart
they were to be connected to Jim and Jessica Kilmartin and come serve the town of
Tyrone and learn from them.  After getting married in 2005, we moved to Tyrone and
have been here ever since.  When we made the decision to come here, all the other stuff
fell into place - job for Theron, physician assistant school for Mizpah, place to live, etc.

Mizpah is a physician assistant by trade and works part time with UPMC Huntingdon
while also directing the programs at Joshua House on a volunteer basis.  Theron works
in software sales for Outreach Corporation based out of Seattle and works with business
leaders throughout the country helping their sales teams generate more revenue.  He
also serves on the board at Joshua House and alongside Mizpah, lead a team of amazing
volunteer leaders who put so much time and energy into investing into our
community’s youth through the various programs Joshua House does. We’ve got two
sweet kiddos (& one on the way!).  Our son Elah Roar is 9 and our daughter Sarah is 7. 

When we are not hanging out with our family and friends or doing Joshua House stuff,
we do have some hobbies.  We are both outdoorsy.  Mizpah loves to go on hikes and
runs.  She also loves to play volleyball.  Theron loves to play hockey.  So much so that
he does a backyard ice rink each year during winter.  He also enjoys bow hunting and fly
fishing. 

We both have been blessed with amazing parents and great mentors over the years.
 Two of those mentors, who have led Joshua House for the last 19 years, are Jim and
Jessica Kilmartin.  Their hearts to serve our area and see our youth impacted is
contagious.  Their efforts, valiant.  This past April, the Kilmartins started a church in
Altoona called Center City Church which exists to see people awakened to God, revived
in His presence, and empowered to see lives, families and communities
transformed. The church is thriving and has grown quickly in just six short months.
 They have a large vision for the church and for Joshua House.  This vision includes
starting other Joshua Houses in multiple towns and cities.  Jim, Jess and their family are
moving to Altoona this Fall, but will continue to provide oversight for Joshua House for
years to come. The mission to help youth find purpose was birthed in them here in
Tyrone, and what was started here will give life and purpose to youth all over
Pennsylvania, and beyond. 

We will be sharing more with you over the coming months on various topics.  If you are
one who has a heart to see our youth become all that God has created them to be, you
won’t want to miss this column.  Our schools, churches, and other community
organizations can put on amazing programs, but kids still have to go home and it’s in
the home where the most influence happens.  Through this column, we want to
encourage you and equip you to impact the next generation in your homes.  It truly
takes a village to raise a child and help them find their God-given purpose.

If you have an interest in joining our mission to help youth find purpose, we would love
to hear from you!  It truly is a blessing and honor to be able to serve the youth and
families of our community, and we would love to have more people join us.  The armory will be undergoing a few renovations this Fall, but later this Fall (likely November), we
plan to open up After-School hours, which provides homework help for students, open
gym time, and free meals.  Details for this program will be available soon, but if you are
interested in helping out, contact Mizpah at mizpah@joshuahouse.com.  For more
information on other Joshua House programs, check out our website:
www.joshuahouse.com.