Ross Wootan has been involved with Love INC close to 4 years. He started volunteering around the time that Love INC moved into the house on Santiam Road in Albany. The house needed a little TLC plus various preparations to transform it from a family home to a ministry center. A large group of volunteers from various churches made this happen and Ross was one of those volunteers.
Ross decided to volunteer more when he saw that Love INC was a ministry that was meeting needs in the communities of Linn County, and it was designed to promote unity in the church. One way he has contributed to the ministry has been as a Love INC Board member. The Love INC Board is made up of individuals from various churches who agree with the statement of faith and the Love INC missions statement. He said that serving on the board is a pleasure because all the members buy into the Love INC mission statement:
The mission of Love In the Name of Christ
is to mobilize local churches to transform lives
and communities In the Name of Christ.
Decisions at the Board level are generally made by consensus due to the buy-in on the mission statement. Buy-in creates unity.
Another area that Ross has been involved in has been the Transformational Ministry Classes offered to our clients, people attending our churches and others in our community. In the Transformational Ministry Classes we seek to help people reach their potential and learn valuable life skills. Ross likes the idea that these classes are giving people a “hand up” rather than just a “hand out”. Ross has been in leadership roles in the Affirming Potential and Faith and Finances Classes.
Ross says he enjoys the family atmosphere of working with the staff and volunteers in this ministry. He also says that for Love INC in general, it is sometimes a challenge being the liaison between Christ’s Body and the clients who need help and promoting unity in the Body of Christ. We need God’s guidance to accomplish His mission.
I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.
That they may all be one, just as you, Father are in me, and I in you, that they also
may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you
have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one. I in them
and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know
that you sent me and loved them even as you love me.
John 17:20-23