8 | November 2024
Meet Church Planters Tony and Beth Loseto, Gateway Church Old Brooklyn
Gateway Church Old Brooklyn is a nearly ten-year-old church plant in Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighbor- hood. The church was planted in 2015. Personal Information: Tony is a native of Cleveland; Beth is from Alabama. They met while attending Boyce College, the under- graduate school of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. The Losetos have been married for 13 years and are fos- ter parents. “We have had several kiddos pass through our home and are currently on our way to adopting an 8-year-old girl,” Beth said. Tony’s Call to Church Planting: “I grew up in the Cleveland area very well-steeped in Roman Catholicism as the son of an Italian immigrant. I knew a great deal of the religious practices of Roman Catholicism, but did not know the redeeming power of faith alone in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Through the continual evangelism of my uncle over a period of five years, and the death of a family member, God opened my heart to see and believe in the Savior that Christ alone is. In the years that followed, I always carried an awareness of how many people in my city were in need of hearing the gospel of Jesus from the plain teaching of the Bible. In Kentucky, I pursued a ministry degree at Boyce College and was introduced to the concept of church planting and its effectiveness at reaching unreached people with the gospel. From the beginning, the in- tentionality of church planting was something the Lord “I knew growing up that I felt called to mission work and loved different cultures. I thought those things would lead me to ministering in a different country or continent, but instead God called me ‘up north’ to Cleveland.” Challenges of Church Planting in Cleveland Beth: “Church planting in Cleveland is often more like church planting amongst an unreached people group and extremely different from the spiritual climate I was used to when I lived in the ‘Bible Belt’ in the south. With only 8.5% of Cleveland’s population belonging to an evangelical church, most people we interact with may have heard of Jesus but have absolutely no idea why he died on the cross or why it matters that he rose again. burdened my heart to pursue.” Beth’s Call to Church Planting:
Church planting is tough in Cleveland because we are sowing gospel seeds in areas they have never been sown before. It takes time to see the fruit from those seeds. People in Cleveland have a hard time trusting people. This makes ministry a very slow process which is hard in a small church with limited resources. A lot of our ministry is done outside the church walls. People in our community aren’t quick to trust churches. No one in Cleveland will come visit your church just be- cause you put a church sign out. They will come once you build relationships with them. Getting to share the gospel with people that have never heard it before makes all the toughness worth it.” Tony: A challenge for churches in Cleveland is remem- bering that disciple-making will likely not begin with a lost person’s Sunday morning church attendance and a conversation with a pastor. Disciple-making in Cleve- land often begins with a believer sharing the gospel with a lost friend or family member, living it out for them to observe, and leading them to faith in Jesus Christ over a period of months or years. Blessings of Church Planting Beth: “Gateway Church Old Brooklyn is a melting pot of backgrounds. We have people from all differ - ent walks of life – different ethnicities, socioeconomic backgrounds, life seasons – but all have one Lord. Jesus being the one thing we all have in common Story continues on the next page... Church Planters Tony and Beth Loseto, Gateway Church Old Brooklyn
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