Mean Streets Get Tough Love Victory Outreach Pastor Understands Woes Of Temptation

Alvin Moreno felt God’s presence the first time he stepped inside the former Mansion House Nursing Home.

He saw beauty in the boarded-up, freezing halls at 3011 E. Wellesley. He saw the future. He saw his family. He saw his altar.

Moreno is the pastor of Victory Outreach, a church that ministers to gang members, drug addicts and the homeless. The north Spokane church is a branch of Victory Outreach International, founded in 1976 in Covina, Calif.

While Moreno and his followers moved into their new home Friday, water dripped from a hole in the roof. People shivered in the dark.

None of that bothered the pastor. “I can see it all, right down to the color scheme,” he said. “I can picture my altar right here.”

For now, the 28,000-square-foot building is warmed by space heaters and filled with joyful hearts. All but a few rooms are covered in grit and grime.

Eventually, the space he leases for $1,500 a month will help Moreno change the lives of more of Spokane’s downtrodden.

“It has a lot of potential,” he said. “We’ve always got to be looking ahead. It’s kind of like the people we work with. They have so much potential. But it’s always a lot of work to get there.”

Moreno, a former heroin addict, came to Spokane in January 1996 to open a Victory Outreach church and addiction recovery center. Until now, the church rented a small home at 1528 W. Indiana.

The search for a bigger building brought them to the Hillyard neighborhood. It’s a perfect spot, Moreno said. People who need help will know Victory Outreach is just down the street.

Along with church services, youth programs and evangelism, five former addicts now live at the site.

The men are part of Victory Outreach’s recovery program, staying clean and working on their spiritual growth after spending time at a county detoxification center.

No psychology, no treatment programs. Moreno and men’s home director Joe Sambrano advocate only one tool for treatment: the Bible.

“It’s a spiritual boot camp,” Moreno said. “They develop a solid prayer life.”

During the next several months, when the men aren’t working on their spirituality, they’ll be putting their muscles to work renovating the facility.

They’ll tear down walls for the sanctuary, set up classrooms, repaint offices. Some will cook meals for families, mop floors and hit the streets to preach to prostitutes, addicts and delinquents.

Moreno, who also lives in the church, will work with his followers to bring God back into their lives.

“There is so much of an urgency,” he said. “We’re still in our pioneering stages. You’ve got to make a way.”

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