Pastor Joe Cameneti: Connecting With People is Essential

Joe Cameneti, lead pastor at Believers Church in Howland and Boardman, is coming back strong. You can read more about Believers at its website.

What are some ways the COVID-19 outbreak has affected your organization, and how is it rebounding?

I think for our church, and all churches in the Valley, COVID-19 revealed areas where we were undeveloped or underdeveloped. 

We had two major issues that COVID presented.  Both had to do with us not being able to physically gather together. 

First, connecting with people is essential if we’re going to help them grow spiritually. All of a sudden, we couldn’t meet together on the weekend or in connect groups, which means we couldn’t connect. We discovered that we had not developed connecting virtually via Zoom or Skype for connect groups.  We had to rush to set up online connect groups and connections, which we did.  We also had to make tons of phone calls to make sure people were OK as they walked through this challenging time. Those calls really helped and continue to help for those who aren’t able to come back yet.

Secondly, because we could not meet on the weekend, we had to guide all those people to our online livestream services. Thankfully, we already had livestream set up, but we had not marketed it well. Most people weren’t aware it was there.

So we began holding our weekend services in our empty sanctuary with a worship songs segment and me delivering a message to a camera.  We were surprised to see that it worked and the vast majority of our people began watching online! We also picked viewers up from all over the Valley and the nation because their churches weren’t set up to livestream.  Thankfully, their churches have caught up and now they can watch their own churches online!

We also were concerned that COVID would impact the offering since we weren’t meeting. Before COVID, about 30 percent of our people gave digitally.  We weren’t sure if the other 70 percent would continue to give if they weren’t in church. Again, to our surprise, giving only went down slightly, which we were able to compensate for by cutting our budget. 

How has the outbreak affected your personal life?

Personally, this virus caused me to realize how much I enjoyed talking to people in the lobbies before and after services. I began to deal with a light depression because that was taken away from me. COVID also presented greater opportunity to worry about finances, people and the future. I had to work hard not to allow my thoughts to bring fear and anxiety so I could be strong enough to exhort and lead the people of Believers Church as they walked through the most difficult challenge of our lifetime!  It was a daily battle. Thankfully knowing how much God loves all of us brought me through and enabled me to help others with positive exhortations.

What steps are you taking to come back strong?

We have begun to hold services again. We have about 40 percent of our pre-COVID live attendance. Thankfully, the ones who can’t come are watching online. The part of service that everyone missed the most was the live worship songs — singing together.  Each week the attendance goes up as more and more people are feeling more comfortable with coming back to church.  

What advice are you sharing with the people you love?

Stay safe and stay positive! If you’re physically compromised, continue to watch online. I keep emphasizing that this will end and we will come out on the other side! We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us!