About Joel…

Joel Rainey has been Lead Pastor since 2016. In addition to being our primary teaching and preaching pastor, he is the lead visionary, a friend and encourager to missionaries and church planters, a developer of leaders, and the head of the Covenant Pastoral Residency, among other responsibilities. He is an avid hunter and outdoorsman, is passionate about his family, and loves living and working in the Wild and Wonderful.

He leads Covenant from a rich background of 30 years in pastoral ministry, along with missions and cultural engagement experience on five continents. He is passionate about Christian evangelism, peacemaking, and religious freedom. Pastor Joel's heart beats to see the Kingdom of God impacting every domain of society through the active engagement of the church. His life is dedicated to equipping Christians to see their lives and vocations within the framework of a call from God to serve people Jesus died to save.

His influence beyond our Covenant family includes theological education, as an adjunct professor at Anderson University and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and writing, as the author of four books, one of which is "The Story," an overview of the narrative of Scripture. The book is available here. On occasion, he contributes to publications like The Washington Post, Christianity Today, and various Lifeway outlets, and he has represented the evangelical Christian perspective to media outlets such as CBN News, Al Jazeera, and the New York Times.

He and his wife Amy have been married for 28 years, have three children, and love being part of the Shepherdstown community.