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!
——
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