<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3CCPNU_0vjfs5as00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3CCPNU_0vjfs5as00" width="444" height="500" ><figcaption>Buy Now Dave Joseph moved from Perth, Australia to Orange City with his family this summer to take over as director of ATLAS Orange City Area. Board member Dan McCarty said many thought Joseph was perfect for the position almost immediately even with him being in another country. Georgia Lodewyk glodewyk@iowainformation.com</figcaption></figure>ORANGE CITY—New ATLAS Orange City Area director Dave Joseph faced months of paperwork, visa applications and consulate meetings before moving from Perth, Australia, to Orange City.“It was knowing what God has done over the whole process that made me go, ‘This is where I’m supposed to be,’ and the way that He broke down barriers and just provided so amazingly,” Joseph said.ATLAS board member Dan McCarty remembered the time and effort it took to navigate the process. The former COO of Orange City Area Health System used his human resource and administration background to help Joseph, his wife, Alicia, and their four children apply for visas and move from their home in western Australia to N’West Iowa.During this six-month stretch, McCarty said some people questioned why ATLAS chose to pursue a candidate all the way in Australia.“Never once did I second guess the process,” McCarty said. “From the very first time we talked, it felt to me like it was divine intervention, and this was our guy. We knew this was our guy.”Joseph moved to Orange City and started as ATLAS’s director on June 3. The process of moving, however, began much earlier. In May of 2023, Joseph first heard of the job from a friend, Mike Vande Griend, an Orange City native who had lived near Joseph and his family in Australia for several years. He told Joseph about ATLAS, which stands for “Attaining Truth, Love and Self-Control.” Founded in N’West Iowa, the nonprofit has 16 ministries across the United States.“He came over in May of last year and found out the director job was open,” Joseph said. “He said to me, ‘Dave, you’d be great for this,’ and I was like, ‘What? How would that ever happen? That’s America, we’re in Australia.’ He said, ‘Send me a resume. We’ll let God do the rest.’”<h2>Perth</h2>Originally from Queensland, Joseph decided to enter Christian ministry after high school, attending Bible college and going on to serve two different congregations as a youth pastor and lead pastor.Then life took him to a different direction. He moved with his family to western Australia where he worked in industrial abseiling as a rope access technician. This job would become foundational for his future with ATLAS.“It prepared me really well for this sort of stuff,” Joseph said. “It brought me into contact with a whole lot of different people from all walks of life and all situations. I wasn’t there as a counselor or anything like that. I was there as their work mate, but I was still able to do things like sit in a truck and pray with guys.”“Earlier in the year Alicia and I had prayed, asked God, ‘Just use us however you want,’” he said.They had planned to sell their house and move to a new plot of land. During this time, Joseph sent his application for the ATLAS director position to Vande Griend. He waited months, and by October, he was sure the opportunity wasn’t going to happen.“I was standing at the back of the work truck and he said, ‘Dave, have you heard from ATLAS yet?’” Joseph said. “I said, ‘No, I haven’t, Mike. I’ve kind of written it off. It would be nice, but I don’t see how it could happen. There’s probably going to be an easier solution for them.’”What followed later that month was something Joseph wasn’t expecting: an accident at work left him in the hospital with a torn patellar tendon with months of rehab and recovery ahead of him. His family put plans to sell the house on hold as Joseph would be on crutches for more than three months.“Two days later, I’m lying in a hospital bed at 2:30 in the morning, I hear a ding on my phone. It’s an e-mail from ATLAS saying, ‘We’d like to interview you,’” Joseph said.He spent the next few months bouncing from rehab to calls with ATLAS board and staff members. The nonprofit, which provides counseling discipleship and mentoring services for community members of all backgrounds, fit well with Joseph’s background in ministry and the working sector.McCarty said the board thought almost instantly that he was the right person for the role.“He has a real fresh perspective, so I think it brings a new mindset to the Orange City area,” McCarty said.<h2>Orange City</h2>Joseph’s wife, Alicia, has wanted to move to the United States since she was 12 years old.When she was young, her father was offered a pastoring role at a church in Colorado but opted not to take it.“I never quite got over the fact that we didn’t move to America,” she said.Her dream was always to live in a place where there were cornfields and she could drive a Ford pickup; their family has always loved farm life and being close to the country. In Australia, they had moved away from the city and attended a church in a town of 3,000 people.In March, while Joseph was waiting for his visa to be approved, the board invited the family to visit Orange City for a week. McCarty said they introduced the family to many Midwest traditions, like outdoor barbecues and bonfires. The family even drove 50 miles to Correctionville to see freshly fallen snow.“They instantly fell in love with Orange City and the area, and we instantly fell in love with them,” McCarty said.But as the moving process continued, housing proved to be another challenge for Joseph and his family.Visa applications stipulated that Joseph had to know where he and his family would be living, meaning that they had to find a house before the visa process was complete. While Orange City has announced long-term plans for more housing developments, Orange City’s more than 4 percent growth rate and influx of residents make housing options scarce for some incoming residents. Joseph said finding housing for his family was a group effort with the help of McCarty and other board members. The Joseph family moved into the Dover Church parsonage upon arrival.He moved to Orange City in June, but his family had to wait to apply for their visas until his came through. It took another three months of zoom calls over 13-hour time differences until they were finally able to join him in August.“The community here is awesome,” Joseph said. “You know, there’s so many good people with a heart to help people, and that’s really what encourages me.”In the past few months, Joseph has noticed plenty of differences, from opening a bank account to turning on water mains. When he first arrived, Joseph remembered looking for the water mains by the curbside. He was used to finding them there in Australia, where homes do not have basements. Giving up, he called an elder to help him locate it, who told him the water mains were inside.“So many small things like that are different,” Joseph said. “When you stack them all on top of each other, it’s like, ‘Wow.’”Since working with ATLAS, he has noticed the universal human experiences that connect people of different cultures and backgrounds.“It’s amazing how similar people are,” Joseph said. “There are definite differences in how things are done, for sure, but the problems people face and the challenges they face, they’re pretty much the same everywhere you go.”<h2>ATLAS</h2>Joseph’s start as director of ATLAS Orange City Area coincides with the organization’s 20th year in operation.At its core, ATLAS is a Gospel-centered mentorship program that offers confidential support. ATLAS does not replace traditional counseling and therapy services but can be a positive support to those struggling with relationships, addiction, loneliness or mental health. The organization also runs several programs in prison ministry, nursing home ministry and financial education. It is not affiliated with any church or denomination but keeps its Christian message central throughout its programming and initiatives.“We’re just normal people that love people,” Joseph said. “We just want to help people as best we can. If that’s finding them a therapist or counselor, or if it’s finding them a support group, or if it’s finding them a house or food or a job, we’ll walk them through that process.”ATLAS also serves as a community connector, helping people get in touch with community resources available to them. The organization’s staff needs to be quick problem solvers — providing respite for people in a wide variety of situations. Following June’s devastating floods, Joseph said staff often helped people work through Federal Emergency Management Agency paperwork via phone calls. Housing also proves to be another tough challenge for many individuals and families that contact ATLAS, Joseph said.“There’s a lot of need when it comes to housing at the moment,” he said.Joseph said ATLAS is working on expanding their bilingual offerings, especially for the growing number of Orange City residents who speak Spanish as their first language.In the past three months, ATLAS has added several volunteer bilingual mentors. The nonprofit has three full-time staff and several part-time workers, though none speak Spanish. One of Joseph’s long-term goals is to add a bilingual staff member to better meet the needs of Orange City’s growing and diverse community.“The community is changing,” Joseph said. “Being able to change with them where they need is going to be the future of ATLAS.”Nearby ATLAS centers in Sioux Center and Rock Valley have a bilingual staff member; Joseph said ATLAS Orange City Area also works closely with these other centers. He said each one is tailored to the needs of its community.“We work together to meet needs,” he said.Connections between ATLAS centers mean the organization has many ties and roots in N’West Iowa, and now Joseph joins its staff to further its impact in the community.“Seeing change in people’s lives is awesome,” Joseph said.</div></body>

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Dave Joseph joins ATLAS Orange City Area

ORANGE CITY—New ATLAS Orange City Area director Dave Joseph faced months of paperwork, visa applications and consulate meetings before moving from Perth, Australia, to Orange City. “It was knowing what God has done over the whole process that made me go, ‘This is where I’m supposed to be,’ and...