“From an early age, I had a hole in my heart and soul that, through time, I began to realize could only be filled by God. Nothing, absolutely nothing I tried would fulfill me,” shared Dustin. “My attempts were secular and self-involved, missing two very important elements: Christ and fellowship.”  

It was a flat tire on the side of the road that started Valerie’s journey back to God. The cancer survivor and mother of two, was trying to re-establish her life in the midst of a breakup and mounds of medical debt. Then she lost her job. “If God was real, how could He allow this all to happen?” she thought. 

“Encounter God, Love People, Share Life.” This is the mission of Church on the Rock in Melbourne, Florida. 

Like most churches, Church on the Rock strives to live on mission within their own congregation, in their community, and globally. To do this more fully, they chose to partner with their local Love INC. 

Robert McCormack suddenly found himself with no place to live 10 years ago. His bank account had been wiped out. He had his two little girls in the back seat and their car was running out of gas on Bozeman [Montana’s] 19th Avenue.

“I was kind of desperate,” McCormack recalled. “I remember sitting by the side of the road, without any gas or money, without a cellphone, I didn’t have a dollar to my name, looking at my little girls in the rear-view, not knowing what I was going to do.

“I walked into a church, and it changed everything.”

Love INC is not a Christian congregation, but when workers from diverse church histories, inherited suspicions, and religious stereotypes come face to face they are facing more than each other… The single most effective and persuasive reason for the witness of Love INC to be taken with utmost seriousness is that they are one.

Service to people in need is not first of all some kind of help. The first service is recognition. Those who serve come first to give value to people in need, the marginalized, the displaced. Giving value is the first service rendered. This is so because to Christian servants, service to those in need is service equal to equal, image of God to image of God.

Amy had never worked outside the home or managed money. To keep her two youngest out of foster care, she needed to figure out how to do both, fast. “From the start, I was willing to do whatever it took to get healthy, in a safe environment,” said Amy. “I didn’t want a handout; I needed help.”

Michael reached out to Love INC National and started the process of bringing a Love INC to Tampa, Florida. As he began meeting with churches and social service agencies to share the mission of Love INC, Michael realized, “It was generally agreed that the missing component of addressing poverty was the churches and their resources.” Michael gained community-wide momentum.

It is true, tragically so, that people can serve others in need and undergo no transformation. Likewise it is true, tragically so, that the persons being served can undergo no transformation either. The exchange of “services” is reduced to a transaction and the assistance rendered has been reduced to a commodity.

All such activity can be passed and quantified and look good while at the same time serving only to dehumanize all parties involved.

In June of last year, Louisa and Jeremy were leaning toward divorce, relationally and financially burned out. They turned to IMPACT, the weekly transformational ministry program coordinated by Love INC of Littleton.

“At first,” shares Lousia, “We kind of did it because we figured what’s the worst that could happen? It was difficult in the beginning. We doubted it, but it’s one of those things that takes time before you see the fruit of the hard labor.”