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COVID-19 Update

For now, Love INC will remain open and operational, even though some changes are being made to protect our staff, volunteers and our community.

We are still receiving client calls and working though intakes. So if you are in need, or if you hear of anyone in need during this time, you can still feel confident sending them to Love INC. Although we have not seen a huge increase in calls yet, the requests from our clients have changed as more and more people are affected by COVID-19.

Please note that our biggest request so far has been for grocery delivery. Many individuals we have talked to are already self-isolating, and are now in need of someone to drop off the essentials at their home. Please let us know if you are a healthy non-immunocompromised individual who might be able to help with this.

As always, it is our mission and endeavor is to Love people In the Name of Christ, and even though the world seems crazy right now, that mission has not changed. It is our prayer that during this time of uncertainty, you might look to Jesus Christ for hope, joy, certainty, and peace. Even during times of crisis and fear, we know that we can trust the one who holds the world in his hands, and loves each of us deeply.

Love INC National - Annual Report - Affiliate Highlight, Heart of Montana Love INC

Giving Love INC a presence in a new community is no small feat, and can often take time. But when we catch the vision and passionately pursues the calling to bring the Love INC movement to our neighborhood, the Church is further mobilized to transform lives In the Name of Christ. 

Heart of Montana Love INC was an affiliate in the making for five years before they hired an Executive Director. Although they had a slow start, many faithful individuals carried the vision of Love INC forward, fighting and sacrificing to see it come to fruition in Central Montana. 

In 2018, Danielle Barth caught the vision for Love INC like so many before her, and just helped her affiliate celebrate their one year anniversary. Looking back at what drew her to Love INC, she reflected, “I think the biggest thing for me is the partnership with churches. I get to be in relationship with many different churches and congregations and pastors and see the combined efforts of those churches to reach hurting people and help bring about transformation.”

“Just to see where we’re at today, one year in, is kind of staggering. When it’s operating in the best way, Love INC helps bring people who are in need right to the church, towards Jesus, and towards transformation. The amount of churches who have come on-board with our local Love INC and caught the vision for what we’re doing is a huge part of the success we’ve seen in Montana. We’re seeing our churches do what the Church is called to do.” 

Yet a local affiliate is just one piece of the Love INC movement. “When I think about the Love INC movement across the country, across the globe,” Danielle shares, “I think of lots of different communities being mobilized together to not just meet needs, but to love and walk alongside people. All of us are called as Christians to live out the Great Commission, but many of us don’t know how to practically do that. Through Love INC, we’re offering a practical way for Christians in our communities to live out their faith and the Great Commission, and to love people In the Name of Christ.” 

We’re so grateful for Executive Directors like Danielle and developing affiliates like the Heart of Montana who so passionately pursue God’s heart for unity within the body of Christ, and are digging deep to build a foundation for transformation in their communities.  

Catherine Vlieger | Associate Director of Marketing and Communications

Love In the Name of Christ National

Helping Churches Help People—134 Communities in 29 States

Love INC National Interview with Heart of Montana Love INC's Executive Director:

Danielle Barth is the Executive Director of Heart of Montana Love INC, and has led their affiliate in this position for the past two years. Danielle is passionate about the work of Love INC, and how this ministry is a tool to be used by the church. It was our pleasure to interview Danielle, asking her questions about her affiliate’s past, and future!

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Hello Danielle!  Thank you so much for sharing a bit about yourself and the Heart of Montana Love INC with Jennifer [Love INC National rep] on her recent visit to Lewistown! I loved all that you had to say and would like to learn a little more about you and your affiliate. We’d like our other affiliates, as well as your local community to know more about you and your ministry. So first off, when did you open your Clearinghouse call center?

February 25th, 2019. 

How was our first year of operations different than you expected? Tell us about the good and the difficult.

In many ways, our first year of operations was a whirlwind. In other ways, it was extremely slow going. We opened our call lines on a chilly Monday morning in February, and proceed to receive three clients almost immediately. This was an amazing way to kick off our start, and really helped to fuel us as we launched. Several months in though, the call volume had not increased, and we would have a week or two pass at times without a single new client. These were the "slow" days - the days when I wondered if we were going to make it, if this "Love INC thing" was going to work in our town, and if churches were actually going to step up to get involved. Fast forward six months to the beginning of September. Our call volume had steadily increased, from a call or two a week, to several calls every day. We planned and held a huge fundraiser in September, and by the grace of God, it was more successful than we could have dreamed. With 160 people in attendance, and over $9,000 raised, this fundraiser really launched us into a new season. The word began to spread about Love INC: church partners began coming on-board, pastors started reaching out, clients continued to call in, and referrals were happening like crazy, from Christians to non-Christians alike! The months that followed are where the "whirlwind" began. We finished out October 2019 with 20 calls, November with just over 30, and then December with 30 as well. By the end of 2019 we had had over 150 calls, with 40 intakes completed, and approximately 175 individual lives touched (other members in the client's household). We started off our month ten of operations in January 2020 with four new church partners on-boarded - taking our total church partners from six to ten! As I look back now at our year to date statistics, we have received over 80 calls into the Love INC Clearinghouse THIS YEAR. God has been faithful, in helping us plant seeds and in making things grow. I believe it is now our job to be faithful ourselves with this ministry he has allowed to flourish. In this season of busyness, I am often saying, "We have to run to keep up with what God is doing!" And praise be to God for it. 

What are your hopes for the future of your ministry and community? 

My hopes for the future of our Love INC affiliate is that we might continue to be a bridge: A bridge between those who are hurting and broken in our community, and the churches and ministries and resources who are able to help walk alongside these individuals. I pray and hope that we will continue to mature and excel in this area of making connections, especially between our Love INC clients and the Church. When I talk to our pastors and local church congregations, I tell them that Love INC wants to offer them OPPORTUNITY and ACCESS to those who are hurting and broken right here in our community. I have a board member, Danny Oosting, who puts it well when he says, "All of us as Christians are called to live our the great commission, making disciples, baptizing and teaching all that Jesus taught... but for many of us, we have no idea how to go about doing this. It is my deepest belief that Love INC can offer practical, manageable ministry opportunities for the Church to live out the great commission and their faith, and in so doing make disciples." That is my dream: that Heart of Montana Love INC might be a tool to be used by the church right here in Central Montana. That the Church might use us as a tool to live out the great commission and reach lost and broken people for Christ. 

How can we be praying for you this coming year? 

Please pray for our board, our staff, our volunteers. Pray we would continue to grow our base of invested partners, not just in donors, but in church members, community members, and new Love INC volunteers. Please pray for wisdom and guidance for us as we transition into Transformational Ministries. We are currently holding one class twice yearly, and plan to add several more in 2020. Please pray for our Gap Ministries, as we look to expand those as well. Pray for our community, rural and spread out as it is, that we would come together to reach people for Christ and offer them love in His name. Over all, please pray that we would continue to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Pray we might consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12).

You know that this work is hard. Anyone who has tried to love someone in the Name of Christ, sacrificially, generously, radically.. there is blood sweat and tears involved. So thanks be to God that he has already given us the victory, that when we keep our eyes fixed on Him, we will not grow weary and we will not lose heart; instead we will be filled up to the measure with all the fullness of God.

Catherine Vlieger | Associate Director of Marketing and Communications

Love In the Name of Christ National

Helping Churches Help People—134 Communities in 29 States