His Heart Ministry is love in action

Earlier this year, Katrina Buse came upstairs from her prayer room in tears.

She knew what she had to do and knew it wouldn’t be easy.

“I’m going to have to quit my job,” she told her husband Scott.

Katrina’s decision came from something that had been building for a couple of years. Through daily scripture and quiet prayer, she had come to see God was calling her to something she kept putting off.

Adding to the weight in her heart to follow this calling from God, she received encouragement in other ways. Like from a patient at the nursing home where she had worked who handed her a cross, saying that God had told him to give it to her.

“The cross said ‘His will, nothing less, nothing more, nothing else,’” Katrina explained, tearing up.

It was a solid push to start the ministry that had been building in her heart.

“My dependence is on God now,” she said, “and He is the source of where He’s taking this.”

What He’s taking it toward is His Heart Ministry — a countywide effort Katrina launched to connect volunteers from area churches with Dubois County residents who need help of any kind.

“We don’t need to look for missionary work outside of our county; we have needs right here,” Katrina said.

So for now, she is concentrating on helping anyone in need in Dubois County. Those needs range from cutting up a downed tree in an elderly person’s yard after a storm to mowing grass for someone rehabbing a broken leg to driving a family member to a medical appointment when loved ones have exhausted their time off work. With her husband’s contracting skills, they’ve even taken on more complex projects, like repairing a leaking roof for a disabled individual and their caregiver.

The scriptural foundation is simple. As Galatians 6:2 puts it: “We are to carry each other’s burdens and this way fulfill the law of Christ.”

Katrina’s goal is to support Dubois County residents in any way she can, but the calling to go countywide didn’t come all at once. When Katrina first felt the pull two years ago, Scott suggested she start within their own church before expanding. She took his advice — but over the past several months, felt that caution wearing on her.

“God told me I was dragging my feet,” she says. “He told me I was being disobedient — that I cannot love God and be disobedient to His call at the same time.”

Katrina envisions each congregation in Dubois County providing a contact person and a pool of volunteers with varying skill sets. The work doesn’t always require a hard hat.

“God gives us each gifts, and you might not be the construction person — you might be the IT person,” she says. “That might look like helping an elderly person figure out how to use their phone.”

The connections are important for Katrina as well. She’s personally transported one individual to several doctor appointments and helped him check in through the electronic kiosks that have become part of the medical process.

“It was really rewarding,” she said. “Talking with him and just being helpful.”

The ministry operates under the umbrella of St. James Lutheran Church in Holland and partners with organizations such as TriCap and Generations to identify people who qualify for assistance. The ministry does not provide direct financial assistance but accepts donations for project materials. If you would like to support their efforts, checks can be made payable to St. James Lutheran Church at 105 N. 2nd St., Holland, IN 47541, with “His Heart Ministry” in the memo line. Katrina plans to establish the ministry as its own 501(c)(3) within a year.

Currently about 15 volunteers from St. James Lutheran are involved, and Katrina hopes to grow that base by presenting the ministry to church councils across the county.

Her vision for success is simple: “Having the churches respond and volunteer for projects, and being able to serve our neighbors — and getting more unity within area churches working together.”

Anyone interested in volunteering or referring someone in need can contact His Heart Ministry at 812-610-8950.

For Katrina, the mandate in her life is simple.

“We’re to love our neighbors as ourselves,” she said.

When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus responded that it was to love God, she said. “Equal to this is to love your neighbors as yourselves.”

If not, then why are we here, Katrina asked.

“It’s time for people to feel the love of Christ,” she said.