In Mark 5:19, Jesus said to the formerly demon-possessed Gerasene demoniac who wanted to travel with him, “Go home to your people … .” That is what Cleveland native Tony Loseto and his wife, Beth, are doing.

“At first, many people shy away from the idea of planting a church where you came from. It seems difficult. People know you,” Tony said. “But we can relate uniquely with our people as an outsider could not. I would encourage people to go back to their hometowns to plant churches or serve in ministry, if possible. You will be amazed at how God is able to work.”

Mount Airy Baptist Church is helping the Losetos plant Gateway Church in the Old Brooklyn area of Greater Cleveland. The Easley church signed a three-year covenant agreement in September with Gateway, promising to provide financial and prayer support and leadership development and to send and host mission teams. Tony stated, “It is neat for longstanding churches to partner with church plants where both churches can benefit. We want to serve them as much as they are serving us. The blessing goes both ways.”

The Easley congregation sent a group to tour the Cleveland area in March. Ron Taffer, associate pastor of discipleship and missions, said, “In Cleveland, we saw a city with abandoned church buildings and a homeless community in need of ministry. We felt the overall sense of lostness.”

Tony and Beth visited Mount Airy in early June, and the church sent another team to Old Brooklyn later in the month. Mount Airy layman Charles Lane was part of that group and noted, “Living where we live, there are a lot of churches. We assume people are okay. After going to Old Brooklyn, I realized the depth and breadth of lostness.”

South Carolina Baptist Convention missions mobilization director Tim Rice helped connect Mount Airy and Gateway in Old Brooklyn. The SCBC started a partnership with Ohio in 2010 and has been sending teams to the Cleveland area since 2012.

This church plant will be the fifth Gateway church thus far in the Cleveland area. Tony said, “We are working very closely with both the Gateway Church network and Mount Airy. Mount Airy has stood alongside us, and we have stood with them. We do not feel alone in planting the church. I cannot overstate how huge a blessing Mount Airy is to Beth and me.”

Beth and Tony met in Louisville, Ky., where they were students at Boyce College on the campus of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. They became part of a church that was strong in Bible teaching and discipleship. He said, “We grew in our understanding of who Jesus is and what He had done.” The couple came to the realization that what they experienced at their church in Louisville was rare in Cleveland. “Since I grew up in Cleveland, the sense of calling in our hearts has been to plant a church there.”

Tony was born again at age 10 through the persistent witness of his Uncle Vince, who had ministered to the family for several years. “My Uncle Vince led me to Christ. He was faithfully sharing the gospel with my parents before I was even a thought. He always gave a reason and explanation for the hope he had found in Christ,” Tony noted.

Beth grew up in Alabama, while Tony grew up in Cleveland as the son of parents who immigrated to America from Italy. They were good friends for three years before they started dating. He said, “We thank God that He allowed us to be patient and grow in our relationship. We are definitely a tag-team combo in ministry. We make it a point to include each other in as much as we can. We find that, as a couple, we are able to minister to people in a fuller way than we could as individuals.”

That partnership extends to the kitchen, where he excels as a cook and she enjoys baking. “She follows a recipe that is planned out, and I cook with a little of this and a little of that. We do not always work well together, but we have learned to enjoy and appreciate what the other dishes up,” he added.

After graduation from college, the couple worked in property management before doing an apprenticeship for vocational ministry with the North American Mission Board. That process began in August 2013 as they began their preparation to launch a church plant in the Cleveland area.

Gateway Church, Old Brooklyn, will meet in the high school where Tony’s mother attended with television personality Drew Carey. Relatives of the Loseto family will be part of the church plant.