Experience

As a business owner, liturgical designer and architectural consultant for churches for more than 20 years, I understand the importance of creating a successful vision-driven organization. Having worked on more than 250 religious building projects with countless volunteers, vestries, chapters, councils, sessions, elder boards, etc., I have the necessary experience to lead and work in a team environment while remaining nimble to adjust to changes and unforeseen conditions.

I have been active in the church my entire life. In high school I was very involved in my church youth group, and in college I served on my home church building committee. This eventually was the genesis for Voorhees Design, a liturgical design consulting and construction firm. I was ordained in 2005 to the priesthood in the Diocese of Los Angeles and in 2007 was elected to the Standing Committee, becoming its president in 2010. I was then elected to the Corporation of the Diocese board in 2010 and continue to serve to this day. I was a delegate to General Convention in 2013 and have been the chair of the diocesan Commission on Architecture for the past 10 years.

In 2013, I was called to serve St. James the Great, starting with no funding, no congregation and no staff, but with a beautiful, yet neglected, church facility. Utilizing an innovative team concept from the beginning, we successfully built the congregation to an average Sunday attendance of approximately 150 with a budget in excess of $500,000. I have been able to remain in service to the congregation through our current unfortunate situation, keeping congregants’ focus on serving the community and deepening their spiritual roots.

Truly feeling a call to the global community through my connections in the greater church, I founded BuildingAFRICA, a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering rural Africans by developing HEAT™ Centers that deliver Healthcare, Education, Agriculture and Technology services to create sustainable communities.