September 2021 Pulse

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September 1, 2021 – Love INC Pulse

“May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ” (2 Thessalonians 3:5)

God Provides – The Jesus Taxi is a mobile blessing unit. And it’s fun! You can sign up to join us at http://whatcomloveinc.org/jesustaxi This month, we begin running weekly. We will visit widows who need a screen door adjusted, memory care patients who need some fellowship, and disabled people who need help cleaning their refrigerator. Whether your role is carrying a mattress for the child of a battered woman in new housing, or whether it’s praying and fellowshiping in the kitchen of an isolated senior, we would love to have you ride with us.

Table Captains for Our Fall Fundraiser – Ready to be a table captain for our November 12 Fundraiser? Table captains simply invite 6-8 people to fill a table as we share what God has done with Love INC this year. Also, table captains (+1) are invited to our kick-off event on September 22nd at Appel Farms Cheese. This delicious 70 minute evening will feature a taste of local Whatcom charcuterie as we thank table captains and give them the information they need to bring/invite people to our fundraiser. Want to help or have questions? Email oskar@whatcomloveinc.org or call 360-671-6201.


The Rev. Nathaniel Kidd, PhD

Director



Oskar Norlander

Relationship Coordinator 

August 2021 Pulse

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August 1, 2021 – Love INC Pulse

 

““Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).

 

Cheerful – This month we would like to say thank you to the wonderful volunteers of My Church who helped us move to our new office location, helped to clean up before we did so, and at the same time provided volunteers for our call center. Thank you sisters and brothers! Also, we want to say thank you to the students at Northlake Community Church as they have added great new doses of God’s love to the Jesus Taxi. Thank you! Also, we surely must say thank you to YWAM North Cascades staff and students who have been providing such a vibrant faith-filled backbone to the Jesus Taxi. These volunteers support Jesus Taxi volunteers while working joyfully with vulnerable populations. We are truly thankful this month for all of you who love and support the work God is doing with Love INC.

Jesus Taxi – The Jesus Taxi is a mobile blessing unit. And it’s fun! You can sign up to join us, and for an orientation, at http://whatcomloveinc.org/jesustaxi

Save the Date – Our fall fundraiser will be Friday evening, November 12.

 


The Rev. Nathaniel Kidd, PhD

Director

nathaniel@whatcomlovenc.org

  


Oskar Norlander

Relationship Coordinator 

oskar@whatcomloveinc.org

July 2021 Pulse

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July 1, 2021

“God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11).

 

NNN (Neighbor Needs Notice) – God provides! We have seen increasing action with our Neighbor Needs Notice (NNN). Not only are more people responding to help, but Jesus Taxi volunteers are able to take donated items to those in need. We’re encouraged, and you can see what we are talking about here: whatcomloveinc.org/nnn

Save the Date – Our fall fundraiser will be Friday evening, November 12.

Volunteers – God continues to provide! Here are the first names of volunteers God has blessed us with since our last newsletter, either through the Jesus Taxi, through call volunteering, through office help, or with Jesus Taxi administration: Eva, Justin, Andy, Amanda, Ethan (#1), Matt, Heidi, Fleur, Jack, Wayne, Reid, Emily, Luke, Ethan (#2), Marlie, Ryan, Corban, Ellie, Olivia (#1), Karen, Kailee, Jadie, Elle, Sarah, Isaac, Gary, Lauren, Keelee, Olivia (#2), and Kellie. We are encouraged by all of these wonderful people, and we ask you to pray for them! 

Jesus Taxi – The Jesus Taxi is a mobile blessing unit. And it’s fun! You can sign up to join us, and for an orientation, at http://whatcomloveinc.org/jesustaxi

God Is in Charge We entrust our work to God, and He goes before us. Because of his gifts, we are doing a better job than ever of connecting neighbors-in-need to Jesus people and church congregations. Would you like to join us? Send your advice or questions to oskar@whatcomlovein.org

 


The Rev. Nathaniel Kidd, PhD

Director

nathaniel@whatcomloveinc.org

 


Oskar Norlander

Relationship Coordinator 

oskar@whatcomloveinc.org

 

June 2021 Pulse

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June 1, 2021

“And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:14-16).



Whatcom Jesus Taxi
God provides! This month, Jesus Taxi volunteers from six different congregations visited a battered woman who had been sleeping, along with her daughter, on the floor. We visited a disabled woman whose bed was broken. We visited a woman who was recently widowed. We visited a man whose recent debilitating health problems make it hard to take care of himself. We visited a homeless woman, delivering a Love INC partner donation to help her obtain notarized copies of her marriage license and school transcript records.

God provides even more! Beginning this month, the Jesus Taxi will be running three shifts monthly, including a minimum of 27 volunteers each month PLUS an orientation is being scheduled for one congregation’s middle schoolers and their families, PLUS we have a confirmed orientation date with another congregation’s students and leadership (25-30 people). We could see 30 to 40 volunteers monthly by the end of June. These numbers include, and are bolstered by, the support we have received from YWAM North Cascades, who are providing 5 vehicles and 10 volunteers twice each month.

The Jesus Taxi is a mobile blessing unit. And it’s fun! You can sign up for an orientation at http://whatcomloveinc.org/jesustaxi



Oskar Norlander

Relationship Coordinator 

oskar@whatcomloveinc.org


Heidi Olson
Call Center Director
heidi@whatcomloveinc.org


The Rev. Nathaniel Kidd, PhD

Director

nathaniel@whatcomloveinc.org


Mattress Connection with Northwest Sleep Solutions

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God provides! We are so thankful with exciting news: Northwest Sleep Solutions in Fairhaven has partnered with Love INC to donate gently-used mattresses for the Jesus Taxi. Scott and LeAnn Caseria have run this locally owned and family operated business for many years, and we want  express our thankfulness for their help.

 

Daniel and Ben carrying a Northwest Sleep mattress delivery to Love INC office. These first two mattresses went to a woman who just fled abuse and to an until-recently-homeless youth. Thank you Daniel and Ben, and thank you Scott and LeAnn!

Mattresses are a consistent need reported to our Call Center: neighbors call us looking for help acquiring a mattress at least ten times per month.

We want to continue to build our network and resources to demonstrate the love of Jesus by meeting this need! 

If you want to be a part of this ministry, first, we invite you to pray. But also, we are looking for:

  1. Additional sources of new and “gently used” mattresses that we can pass along to neighbors in need
  2. Churches who would be willing to help with the logistics of storing and staging mattresses 
  3. A truck or two that our Jesus Taxi volunteers can use to help move mattresses
  4. More Jesus Taxi volunteers

May 2021 Pulse

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May 1, 2021



“…not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.” (Zechariah 4:6).




Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Whatcom Jesus Taxi
This month, the Jesus Taxi visited an isolated senior, a young man who has been on dialysis for eight years, an unemployed man who received help paying his cell phone bill through our Neighbor Needs Notice, and a young homeless couple. When we wrote a follow-up email to the homeless couple yesterday, asking if we could use some photos of them here, guess what they said? They wrote, “That is definitely ok with us, thank you.” And then they sent another email saying, “Hey Oscar, you know Jesus loves you?? He loves us all!!”

From Our Office
Karen volunteers in our office on Monday afternoons, and we are grateful for her. Please pray for Karen as she steadfastly serves each week with Love INC.





Oskar Norlander

Relationship Coordinator 

oskar@whatcomloveinc.org


Heidi Olson
Call Center Director
heidi@whatcomloveinc.org


The Rev. Nathaniel Kidd, PhD

Director

nathaniel@whatcomloveinc.org


Phone Partner: Interconnect Systems

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Whatcom Love INC is grateful to partner with Interconnect Systems as a consultant and partner in managing and maintaining our phone system.

Volunteers at work in the Love INC office

When the Whatcom Love INC office was broken into and vandalized in May 2020, in the middle of the pandemic shutdown, Interconnect was prompt and effective in helping us to get a new system set up that made sense for our changing needs in the midst of an uncertain and rapidly changing situation. Since then, Interconnect has been generous with their time in helping us to understand our system and adapt it to our changing needs. 

We are grateful for their support of Whatcom Love INC, and their presence and work in our community!

Making Jesus Connections

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The Heart of our Ministry

At Love INC, our work of seeking to mobilize the local church in local mission for the sake of the least, the lost, and the lonely in our community means we interact and work with churches and church people, neighbors in need, social service agencies, community agencies, local government, local police — you name it! Our operational flowchart can thus end up looking quite complex. 

This is why it is important to keep one simple organizational principle in mind: it’s all about making Jesus connections.

What is a Jesus connection? Very simply, a Jesus connection is a relationship that we help bring about between a neighbor in need and a Jesus person who is willing to reach out to them and walk with them. 

What we see as we look out on the Church and our community is this a lot of this:

People who are looking for help from a church but don’t know where to start!!DISCONNECT!!

Jesus people who want to help people in the community, but don’t know where to start

So, what we are trying to provide is this: 

People who are looking for help from a church but don’t know where to start 

Jesus people who want to help people in the community, but don’t know where to start

We do this by: 

  1. getting to know our neighbors in need on the one hand, 
  2. getting to know Jesus people in the community that want to help on the other; 
  3. prayerfully making a connection, and 
  4. walking with Jesus people in the challenges and complexities of walking with neighbors in need, and helping us all to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus along the way.

November in the Call Center — Stats, Figures, Prayers

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Despite the holiday, November in the Call Center remained busy.

We’re figuring out how to do a better job connecting people in need with churches in their community — indeed, we had a breakthrough in our internal processes that will allow us to do even better at this moving forward. In the meantime, here’s what November looked like on the old system: we were able to put more than half of the needs expressed to us in front of local Jesus people!

Praise the Lord with us for this growth, and pray that it would continue; that we would have grace and strength and wisdom to minister to the needs of all that come to us, by helping them to connect to the big heart of the Church in our county! 

Almighty and gracious Father, in this season of thanksgiving, we give thanks to you for the fruits of the earth in their season and the labors of those who harvest them. Help us to be faithful stewards of your great bounty, that our needs would be provided for, and that all those in need would be relieved, to the glory of your great name, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirt, one God, now and forever.

How you can help people in Bellingham who don’t have shelter as it gets colder

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Interested in helping our neighbors without a place to live as we come to the hardest part of the year for living outdoors? We called up the City of Bellingham and asked what their greatest needs were that we could pass along to our contacts in churches.

Here are two specific things they mentioned: 

  1. Volunteer: More volunteers are urgently needed in order to open overflow shelters this winter. Without volunteers, the extra shelter space cannot be opened. CTK is partnering with the Lighthouse Mission to administrate space at the old drop-in center. Sign up by December by using this link: https://ctkserves.org/volunteer
  2. Donate: Special donations can be made to Lydia Place or the Opportunity Council to help pay for motel stays for families and seniors. https://lydiaplace.org/donate/ or https://www.oppco.org/donation-information/
Of course, you can also give through Whatcom Love INC. We work to connect people in need directly with churches and people who are eager to love their neighbors who are experiencing need, providing coaching along the way to help ensure that the connection gives a positive outcome for both the one who gives and the one who receives. Let us know if you are interested! 
 
We would also invite you to join us in praying for people without adequate shelter during this season. If it is helpful to you, incorporate this prayer into your petitions: 
O God, almighty and merciful, you heal the broken-hearted, and turn the sadness of the sorrowful to joy. Let your fatherly goodness be upon all whom you have made. Remember in pity all those who are this day destitute, homeless, or forgotten. Bless the multitude of your poor. Lift up those who are cast down. Befriend mightily those who are suffering innocently, and sanctify to them the endurance of their wrongs. Cheer with hope all who are discouraged and downcast, and by your heavenly grace preserve from falling those whose poverty tempts them to sin. Though they be troubled on every side, suffer them not to be distressed; though they are perplexed, save them from despair. And teach your people, Lord, to remember their need, and constrain us to improve their lot. Grant this, O Lord, for the love of him who for our sakes became poor, your Son our Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.