November Update

It has been two weeks since Laura and I closed on the old neighborhood grocery store building on River Street. So it is official: 148 River Street will be the first home of the Redemption Movement church plant!
I have filmed a walk-through video and will post it on the blog very soon. But as the video will show, this building fits the definition of a "fixer-upper." For the past month I have been consumed with getting the place repaired and ready for Laura and I to move into the apartment portion on the second floor...in six days!

As I type to you with rust stained hands from working on the plumbing, I can't help but feel like Tom Hanks from the classic movie "Money Pit." Although my situation is not nearly as extreme, I sympathize with Tom in finding new projects around every corner that need to be fixed while my faithful and sweet wife tries to make the best of it.



I think this property will be a blessing to the new church in a variety of ways.
1. A face in the community: When we tell people which church we are from, they can associate it with a physical location, (as opposed to meeting in a home).
2. Everybody loves "Friendly's Grocery Store": Many local people grew up shopping at the old grocery store, and most people I talk to show interest and appreciation when I tell them I am restoring "Kay's old store." I think the familiarity of the building will take down a few barriers people have in their mind about visiting a church.
3. A place to meet!: One of the biggest issues I have seen new churches face is finding a place to meet. Trying to find something that is the right size and affordable can be a huge headache. Very few church plants start in their own building, most begin in the pastors living room or sharing a building with another congregation.
4. The landlord is on your side: It is also rare when the Pastor owns the building. The advantages to this are; the church can't be kicked out when the lease is up, the church can renovate the building as needed, and rent will be cheap-to-free.
5. Saving Money: The church will not have to tie up $600-$2,000 a month in renting a facility! This will free us up to use the money on things closer to the heart of our mission, like outreach. This is very significant as the new church struggles to become financially independent because it lets us focus on our identity first and money later. Plus, it relieves a lot of the stress associated with fundraising off the shoulders of the leadership.
6. No set-up-tear down: This is big, most church planting examples I have seen will rent a facility on Sunday morning, have volunteers wake up at the crack of dawn to setup chairs, sound equipement, etc., and at the end of the day the same people tear down everything and transport it back to wherever. This model works for several churches, but I am thinking it would be too much for me to prepare quality sermons, work a part-time job, and spend up to 7 hours a week moving stuff. I think there is a better use for people's time then moving chairs every week, and having a church home affords us this opportunity.

I hate to be so building-focused, it goes against everything I am, but it is my hope that if I am building-focused now, before we have any people, I will be free to be more people-focused when the church officially starts.
So feel free to swing by the building and say "hi," just remember to bring your toolbox.

The Redemption Movement

It is finally time to reveal the name for the new church! Henceforth, we shall be known as The Redemption Movement!
One of the greatest luxuries a church planter has is to give the church a name that will communicate the churches values, vision, and purpose. I believe "The Redemption Movement" captures these ideas beautifully. Each word has deep meaning, I want to briefly explain "Redemption" and "Movement," and then show how a combination of the two creates a mission statement for the church.

REDEMPTION

This word is a theological term that answers the "why?" to the Gospel story. God interacted with history, sent Jesus to die on the cross, in order to redeem His people. The idea of redemption overlaps meaning with the words "atonement" and "salvation," two other theological ideas crucial to explaining the Gospel. Here are two definitions of "redemption" by real theologians.
1. Christ's saving work viewed as and act of "buying back sinners" out of their bondage to sin and to Satan, through the payment of a ransom.--Wayne Grudem
2. The work of Jesus on the cross results in the deliverance from bondage, and a freedom which means a reconciliation with God, of slaves who had been freed by him and are now his adopted sons, in the Son who ransomed them.--James Atkinson
I think culturally, redemption is a safe word. Everybody enjoys saving money redeeming coupons, and what's not to like about Bob Marley's "Redemption Song"?

MOVEMENT

There are three ideas that I want to communicate with "movement".
1. In the Bible, the way the church grows in the book of Acts can be classified as a movement. For example, Jesus commands his followers in Acts 1:8, "and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." In today's context, it is like Jesus is saying He wants His Gospel message to begin in the city, spread to the county, to the state, to the nation, and to the world. Jesus wants His message not to just be told and retold in a single church building, but He wants to see His Gospel spark a movement that engulfs the world.
2. The movement that we see in Acts can be classified under this definition: "a series of organized activities working toward an objective." The objective: spread the Gospel, the means of spreading, church planting. At the Redemption Movement, we share the same objective as the church in Acts, and everything we plan and do will be to further the Gospel.
3. The world of art also lends us great meaning to movement: "a distinct structural unit or division having having it's own key, rythmic structure, and themes and forming part of an extended musical composition." I believe God's plan to redeem humanity can be compared to a well thought out and composed work of art, there is movement, beauty, truth, and eveything works together for God's purposes. The church and it's activities, or movements, should reflect the beauty of a living God that is always moving throughout His creation.
Culturally, I think the term "movement" is more acceptable then "church." I believe in church, and by every definition the Redemption Movement will be a church. But when our culture thinks of "church" they think of buildings, suits and singing, or even scandals or how organized religion is unnecessary for today. "Movement" is a bold word that lets everybody know that we have big intentions to start a movement that changes how things are done around here.

If we combine these ideas of "redemption" and "movement," we come up with this as our church mission statement. The Redemption Movement: a participation in the Divine movement, composed to restore lost and hurting people who are valued by God, with the hope and freedom paid for and found in Jesus Christ.
The Redemption Movement begins 2010 in Oneonta New York.

Approved!

On September 16 Laura and I went before the Oneonta city planning committee concerning the possibility of using the River Street property for the new church. It was a fairly nerve-racking meeting, I've been living in New York now for about one month and I did not know anybody on the committee. But God is good, He answers prayers, and we were approved!
Read the full article here: The Daily Star
There were a few neighborhood residents that voiced concerns, and that is understandable since nobody knows anything about us or what our plans are. I tried my best to answer questions from the committee and local residents, and I think overall it went over well and nobody was bent on stopping us. It was good to see the neighbors and I will make efforts to get to know the neighborhood better as Laura and I move into the building and make it our home--fruit baskets, dinner invites, whatever it takes. Getting to know the people of Oneonta is pretty much our mission right now anyways.
In the end a vote was taken and we were approved by a 5-2 vote!
That's the latest, three steps down and 25 more to go until we can kick off this church in Oneonta. God has been incredibly faithful every step of the way!

Buildings and Newspapers

One of the biggest challenges for a new church is finding a place to meet. There are several options to consider: you can meet at the pastors house with a small group, you can rent a movie theater or school auditorium, share the building with an existing church, the possibilities are quite vast really. There is one place in Oneonta that Laura and I feel would be very practical for our needs, it is an old grocery store on River Street with an apartment upstairs that we could live in. It is a building that needs work but would be great to get us started.
We have not purchased it yet, but are going through the proper channels in order to do so. This means real estate agents, finical brokers, lawyers, engineers, contractors, and city offices. Please pray for us about all this, especially for Wednesday, September 16 when we have a public meeting with the Oneonta Planning Committee about the proposed River Street property.
If this meeting goes well, then Laura and I can proceed, move to Oneonta, and have a central location for our ministry.
I received an unexpected surprise in the middle all this when I got a call from Jake Palmateer, a local news paper reporter, about our plans. I answered his questions and to my surprise, the next day there was a generous article about our building plans and the backgrounds of Laura and I.
You can read the full article here: The Daily Star
Here are the highlights:

ONEONTA _ The city Planning Commission will consider a proposal for a new church in the Sixth Ward when it meets Wednesday.
A couple from Missouri who recently moved to the area are proposing to convert a former grocery store at 148 River St. into an independent church and residence.
Proposals for a coin-operated laundry on Chestnut Street and a new restaurant on Main Street are also on the agenda for the meeting, which will start at 7 p.m.
Kaler Carpenter said he and his wife, Laura, did a national search for a small college community in which to start their church. They discovered Oneonta and visited in July before permanently moving to Otsego County a month ago, he said.
“Oneonta had everything I was looking for,” Kaler Carpenter, 26, said. “It just came across methodically through research.”
Carpenter said the name of the church will likely be The Redemption Movement and said it would be a “Christian Protestant Bible church.”
The church would have seating for 10 people in the 26- by-30-foot building, according to the site plan submitted to the city.
The building would serve as the meeting space as the congregation gets started ,and the church would look to move to a larger space after it grows, he said.
Carpenter said once the church has enough members, he would look to have it legally recognized as a church. Carpenter said he and his 28-year-old wife met while they were students at Central Bible College in Springfield, Mo., and married three years ago.
The purchase of the building from owner Donald Lindberg would occur only if the site plan is approved by the city, he said.
If the site plan is not approved, he and his wife would look for another location in Oneonta, he said. The couple is renting an apartment in the town of Maryland pending their move to Oneonta.

So there it is! I don't won't to go too far into building details right now, since nothing is official yet. But who knows, this old vacant store might be the home of the new church. It is neat that something good came out of this long and complicated process. God is faithful!

Oneonta Culture Study Survey Results

The results are in for the email short answer survey sent to the residents of Oneonta NY and the surrounding area. The survey was designed to help me better understand the area's culture, especially in regards to people's religious perceptions. For a more detailed explanation about the survey and what my goals were, please read this previous blog post.

I think the first lesson I learned from the survey is that mass communication to strangers is an ineffective tool that is not worth the time and effort. It took lots of time and energy to compile 3,000 local email addresses and create a professional-looking document; but, with less than 1.5% of people responding I went ahead and pulled the plug after sending out 1,250 surveys. I also had to face the reality that out of the few responses I received, some people were genuinely offended at receiving a religious survey...so not a good first impression for a new church.
This goes against the training I received as a church planter, to use all media to mass market the new church to everybody. I was never comfortable with that advice, I think I prefer the old time-proven church growth method of word-of-mouth. The media blitz idea is designed to advertise the church to 20,000+ people so that hundreds will attend your first public service. I think this is fine if numbers is your goal, but I desire slow and quality growth so I think I will back away from future attempts of mass marketing to strangers. This survey confirmed to me the value of slow and natural church growth.

But even though I pulled the plug early, I still received enough feedback to compile the results with hopefully some degree of accuracy. Here are the results:

Question 1: "Would you say the values and economy of the Oneonta community, make it easy or hard for an individual entrepreneur to start-up a new service-oriented business?"
50% = Hard
25% = Easy
12.5% = Success is possible
12.5% = Depends on the business (service = easy, retail = hard).
*A few concerns about starting a new business in Oneonta were taxes, and the cost of rent and real estate.

Question 2: "Would you say Oneonta offers sufficient evening entertainment for it's residents, or do community members often travel to larger cities for evening entertainment?"
44.5% = Residents both find entertainment in Oneonta and travel to larger cities.
22% = Lot's to do in Oneonta
22% = The entertainment available does not serve all age groups well.
*Many residents will seek activities in Oneonta, but drive elsewhere to shop. Some people expressed how teens and young adults do not have sufficient activities offered to them.

Question 3: "What social needs in Oneonta do you feel to be the most prevalent and the most urgent?"
44% = Issues dealing with teens and young adults: drinking, drugs, lack of community involvement.
33% = More shopping options.
22% = Need of a stronger Christian influence.
22% = Poverty and the need for more jobs.

Question 4: "Do you think a new church making strong efforts to reach the social needs of Oneonta would be welcomed by the community?"
60% = Yes
30% = Not sure
10% = Too many churches already

Question 5A: "Do you believe that God is concerned with you on a personal level?"
67% = Yes
11% = "Higher power" yes, "God" no.
11% = Not Sure
11% = No

Question 5B: "If yes, would you say you believe in the message of the Bible as taught by Christianity?"
67% = Yes
33% = No

Question 5C: "If yes, does your belief in the Christian faith include participating in a local church?"
56% = No
44% = Yes
*Of those who attend church, some drive outside Oneonta to be a part of a church that better suites their needs. Of those who do not attend church, some have strong feelings against church, while others see church as boring or just after their money, or they do not have time for church.

Question 6: " How would you describe the influence churches have on the culture of Oneonta and the surrounding area?"
44% = Strong and positive influence.
33% = Churches need to do more.
22% = Unsure
*Several people spoke well of the churches different social programs, while others see a lack of connection with young people.

Question 7: "What is your opinion of a new church using modern methods and technology to communicate their message?"
66% = Great
22% = No opinion
11% = Technology is useless.

Question 8A. What is your opinion of Evangelicals?
60% = Do not like them for various reasons.
20% = No opinion
10% = Do not know who they are.
10% = They're great.

Question 8B. What is your opinion of Pentecostals?
60% = Do not like them for various reasons.
20% = No opinion
10% = Do not know who they are.
10% = They're great.

Question 8C. What is your opinion of Catholics?
70% = Do not like them for various reasons.
20% = They are great and respected.
10% = No opinion

Question 8D. What is your opinion of non-denominational churches?
50% = Do not like them for various reasons.
20% = No opinion
20% = They are great.
10% = Depends on the congregation.
*Combining the results of questions 5 and 8, I would have to agree with some of the conclusions made in a book I am currently reading about religion and culture by Dan Kimball called, "They like Jesus but not the Church." This tough reality poses many new challenges when starting a new church in the midst of a culture that opposes "organized religion" and does not deem it necessary to be a part of a local congregation. But I believe if a person is open to the idea of a personal God (67%, question 5C) then that is a great place to start.

Overall, the results of the survey have been helpful, but it looks like the best way for me to learn about the Oneonta community is to build relationships with people and to indiginize myself by living in the area for an extended period of time. The mindset of indigenization has traditionally been used to train foriegn missionaries, and the way I see it I am a missionary, and Oneonta is my mission field. Living in Oneonta and learning about Oneonta, this is what I am currently doing. I pray that while I am living here God will show me important cultural insights so I can put into place church miniseries that will reach Oneonta and do the most good for the community.

The New Church At-a-Glance

Currently, the new church is a "church of the mind;" meaning, there are no walls, no elders or members, no service times--pretty much nothing is in place right now that would qualify it as a "church" in the eyes of most people. But the church does exist--as a God-infused dream in the heart and mind of my wife and I. We are both working on the hard step of turning a dream into a reality by establishing the necessary foundations (walls, piles of paperwork, purpose statements, ministry teams, etc. x10).
Many times I am asked "What kind of a church are you starting?" Because the church is only in my mind at this stage, this question can be difficult to properly answer. To help myself and others, I want to share in this blog some of the key church characteristics that are on my heart, this is the church-at-a-glance.

Church Classification

Christian-Protestant-Evangelical-Bible as the authority.
We are also an independent/nondenominational church right now. This is not our first choice, but most church organizations do not want to invest in a new ministry for Oneonta NY, due to the town not growing and Oneonta already having a church represented from each organization.

Doctrine

1. Our distinctive, to not be distinctive: Many churches stand apart from each other by believing different interpretations of the same text and building a distinct identity around that particular interpretation. I would like a different, more unifying approach: to hold tight in one hand the essentials of Christianity (the Lordship and Divinity of Jesus, the Trinity, the Bible as the inspired Word of God, the necessity of repentance and a faith commitment to Jesus, and so on.) while the other hand, I want to hold loosely the things so many churches disagree about (end time events, the application of spiritual gifts, what individual holiness looks like, the particular definitions of communion and water baptism, and so on.) Think C.S. Lewis "Mere Christianity."
2. Gospel-Centered: I want the focus of preaching/teaching on the Good News of Jesus Christ. By keeping the Gospel message central, other pet issues that can easily distract a church will not make it through.
3. Expository Preaching: The Bible will be interpreted and taught using the authors original meaning for their audience (literally or metaphorically depending on the passage), and applied with the intention of guiding the church community and individual life.
4. Kingdom Minded Ministry: God's Kingdom is both here today while simultaneously on the way. This means we will participate in the Kingdom of God by bringing the beauty of the Kingdom to earth via the lives of those around us. This will translate into less of a focus on "the Heaven to come", and more emphasis on bringing about "Heaven on Earth."
5. Worth of Every Person: every person is valued and loved by God. We are to treat people accordingly.

Worship

1. Music: mainly modern, but I do not want to get stuck on any one genre or instrumentation, so I want to encourage a variety of music types, and instruments, and even different worship bands with different styles.
2. Beyond Music: I want to teach heavily that worship saturates all parts of our life, and not just a song service. Worship is everything we do as a church: communion, giving, meditating on the Bible, and everything you do with your life, even outside the walls of the church.
3. The Lord's Supper: I would like to take communion almost every time we meet, to help us keep our focus.
4. Water Baptism: I want to encourage all believers to take the plunge as a public expression of your new faith in Jesus Christ.

What will the church look like?

1. Casual: no need for suits and dresses, come as you are and even sip some coffee during the sermon. I would also like to "de-sacredtize" physical things that I believe churches get distracted with: for example, instead of "the sanctuary," it will be "the big room," no Sunday school, no altars, I would even like to find a better alternative to the American-Sunday-morning-church-service format, a "beyond Sunday morning" if you will.
2. Preaching: I am conversational in my preaching (not old school yelling), which means I preach as if I am talking normally with you. The preaching will be heavy on the teaching of the Bible, and light on personal stories. I also love to use teaching illustrations: physical props, videos, field trips, whatever God puts on my heart to bring the point home.
3. Experimental Church: the message will be the same, but the format of church services will be always changing in order to fit the current needs of the current group and avoid religious ruts.
4. Technology: I want to make use of all the different technologies that will be helpful to our purposes.
5. Simple Church: Flashy stage shows and T.B.N. golden/flowery sets will not be on the menu. Instead I desire a church that is is simple. I of course would like things to be neat and tidy, but not to the point where you intimidate people with the magnificence of the building. I would even like to go so far as to make church more of a participation/fellowship event, and less of a come-and-watch-our-fine-tuned-stage-performance event.

Values

Each value will manifest itself in the life of the church.
1. Relationships: lots of church activities geared towards making friends with each other. With the biggest relationship focus being your relationship with Jesus Christ.
2. Community: The church will strive to genuinely care for and love each other. This will mean making sacrifices for each other and truly being a "family of God," not just a social club that meets once a week.
3. Outreach: it is from your relationship with God that you find the strength to pour yourself out to help others. I would like the church to be a giving church, to each other, to complete strangers, and to the community of Oneonta. I would like to have small teams of people regularly going and doing acts of kindness, and the church hosting/participating in several community outreach events.
4. Seeker-sensitive: this term means that the way the church presents itself will be "sensitive" to people who are "seeking" truth (but not watering-down the message). People who are "seekers" may not be convinced of Christianity, and may not even know anything about it. This translates into a lot of explanation with preaching and church rituals, I cannot assume that everybody in the audience has heard this Bible story before and even understand why we sing in church. This should make it easier to invite people to church.
5. Church Unity: we will pray for and participate with other Christian churches in the community.
6. Community Involvement: we will pray for and participate with community groups that may not be Christian but are working toward the same goals.
7. Creativity: God who is the Creator, want us to be "co-creators" with Him, in the sense of us using our God-given talents and gifts for His glory, and help bring beauty and order to His creation.
8. Engaging Culture: instead of trying to create a Christian sub-culture and harp about how bad the world is, I would like to use our time and resources to engage the culture around us with the Gospel of Christ. The church will not be a safe fortress to hide from the scary world; but rather, the church will be a headquarters to coordinate operations of love to the culture around us.
9. Non-Political: Picking a political side will take away credibility when ministering to those who are have chosen a different side. I do not want involvement in politics to hamper the work of the church.

Church Government

1. Elder-Led, Member informed: We will have elders and deacons as prescribed by the New Testament. Not boards like corporate America. The members will be informed and have benefits, but it will not be an American democracy where you have to vote on everything. Basically our church government structure we will strive to be a New Testament church, and not run like an American business.

I will fine tune this blog entry as God's fine tunes this vision. I hope this will be helpful in communicating what kind of church we will be. Right now it is only, "a church of the mind," but I am super excited about making the dream a reality!

Moved to Oneonta!

It is the middle of August and Laura and I have successfully moved to Oneonta New York! Plus, the internet is finally up and running at our apartment, so be on the lookout for blog updates in rapid-fire succession.

Before we packed up the truck and moved up here (which is a blog entry in-and-of-itself), we took a week and visited Oneonta, and we loved what we found. Overall, we found the visit to be encouraging, in that all the things I researched about the community turned about to be true. What a relief it was to not find the town totally different than what I expected it to be, and have to start the search over again. God is faithful! It was also a relief that I didn't have to spend 6 months traveling to a new city every week like I originally planned, but through technology and prayer God dropped 1 specific town on my heart, and led me to it.

I want to share with you a video of our first 10 minutes in Oneonta from our July visit. It is not the greatest video in the world, but I think it captures well the excitement of following God, as well as chronicles this big step in the church planting adventure. Plus, as a community minded individual, I have always been interested in peoples first impressions of communities. I especially think any viewer from the area will enjoy seeing their town from a fresh perspective.



Laura and I have been living in New York for a week and a half now and things are moving quick. Here are some highlights: we have found a lawyer to advise us in drafting the paperwork to start a church, we have already found a possible building to start the ministry in, and we have a name picked out for the church (to be revealed later). Plus I won the "choice truck" trophy at a local carshow!

There is no shortage of news to write about, and Laura and I are amazed by God in new ways everyday as we step out in faith and stretch ourselves to make this happen. Thank you for your prayers, and feel free to contact me and I will try not to talk your ear off about all this :)

Survey Time!

If you are coming across this blog for the first time because you clicked on a link that was in a survey you received in your e-mail, then I welcome you to read more and check out the first steps of a new church, and also I thank you for your participation in the survey.
Finding out new things about Oneonta is my passion, the better I know the community, the more good I believe the church can do. Exhausting my online sources about Oneonta, and needing specific religious questions answered, I thought an e-mail survey would be the best way to ask a high number of people specific questions. I originally thought a phone survey would work, but upon trying I felt too much like a telemarketer, and I know how people feel about telemarketers...let's just say it is not a good association for a new church's first impression. I also know people dislike spam e-mail, so I tried to personalize and localize the survey as much as possible. E-mail was probably my best option seeing as I am currently living in Missouri and cannot feasibly take a day trip to Oneonta, set up a booth on Main Street, and ask people survey questions.

Here is a copy of the survey questions I sent out to over 3,000 e-mail addresses in Otsego County. Each question is designed to give me insight into certain issues that a church planter must be informed on to shape a church that effectively impacts the community. What I want to do is answer my own questions with my motives behind the questions. A sort of "behind the scenes" if you will.

1. Would you say the values and economy of the Oneonta community, make it easy or hard for an individual entrepreneur to start-up a new service-oriented business?

*Starting a new church is similar to starting a new service business in many ways. If a community is purposely structured to make it easy on a new business, it should also be beneficial for a new church to start up. The answers I get back for question #1 will not shake my commitment to church plant in Oneonta, but I do want to know what I am in for.

2. Would you say Oneonta offers sufficient evening entertainment for it's residents, or do community members often travel to larger cities for evening entertainment?

*One of my main pushes I would like to do with a new church is not to have main gatherings on Sunday mornings (when all the other churches are meeting), but instead, to mainly meet on Friday or Saturday evening, lasting late into the night. I need to know, do people stick around Oneonta on the weekends? Are people looking for more options on how to spend their free evenings in Oneonta? Answers to these questions will be very important in choosing when to meet and what level (if any) of entertainment should the church offer?

3. What social needs in Oneonta do you feel to be the most prevalent and the most urgent?

*I believe strongly that a church should reach out and help people in their community. I can guess what needs exist based on statistical data, but hearing directly from people living in Oneonta will tell me so much more. I would like the outreach efforts of the church to be maximized, these answers will help with that.

4. Do you think a new church making strong efforts to reach the social needs of Oneonta would be welcomed by the community?

*Okay, I'll be honest, question #4 is less for the surveyor and more designed for the surveyee. This is my settle way to connect the grim needs contemplated about in question #3 with the hope to meet those needs a church can offer. It is unfortunate but I have found many people do not even consider the church as a source of help in troubled times ("all they do is gather and sing"), question #4 will hopefully help people see this new church, and every church, in a new light of helpfulness.

5A. Do you believe that God is concerned with you on a personal level?

5B. If yes, would you say you believe in the message of the Bible as taught by Christianity?

5C. If yes, does your belief in the Christian faith include participating in a local church?

*Where does a new church start with the content of the preaching? The goal is to have unchurched people put their faith in the Jesus revealed in scripture, and from there participate in the church community to grow their faith in Jesus. Is Oneonta full of Christians and I will be preaching to the choir which means I can get deep with Bible teachings? Or is Oneonta full of skeptics who do not see purpose in the Bible or church? If I know the spiritual state of the audience, the approach with the sermons I preach will change significantly depending on what stage the audience is generally at in their journey with God.

6. How would you describe the influence churches have on the culture of Oneonta and the surrounding area?

*I believe churches should be very influential in shaping the culture of a community--I do not believe faith is a personal hush-hush thing. This influence is to be achieved not by political means, but by Christians authentically living out their faith within the community, and by actively doing good for the community. Question #6 is meant to see if Oneontians generally share this value or not.

7. What is your opinion of a new church using modern methods and technology to communicate their message?

*I am sure we do church in the Midwest different than in the Northeast. I am big into video, slideshows, modern music, all those things. I get the impression the Northeast is heavier on the liturgy aspect of ministry. I do not think one way is bad and the other is good, but I would hate to impose my way of a modern church onto a culture that is offended by it. But if people are open to new methods and technologies then I will fire up the video projector and pop the popcorn.

8. What is your opinion of these Christian groups: 1. Evangelicals? 2. Pentecostals? 3. Catholics? 4. Non-denominational? (If you do not have an opinion please indicate with "no opinion.")

*This is to determine how heavy a new church should present its' denominational ties.

In the next month I have to make a presentation of the church's purpose, mission, ministry strategy, etc. etc., to my superiors for approval and support--this progress will be chronicled on this blog. I feel the more research I put into it the better it will go, especially in the area of designing a church for Oneonta instead of imposing my ideas of a church onto Oneonta as I perceive it. Thank you for your help and your insight, feel free to check back often and even drop me a line. Your interest in this project will go along way in esatblishing a good church for the Oneonta community.

Meet the Carpenters!

Meet Pastor Kaler

Kaler's story begins in the small farm community of Carrollton Missouri (4,000 people, county seat). His parents, Tom and Nancy, owned and operated a true "mom & pop" business called "Carpenter Nursery Landscaping and Greenhouse." Kaler and his sister Roxanna were raised helping the small company, and Kaler's experience left a good impression on him about hard work and the importance of striving for the betterment of the community. In High School Kaler was in several activities: he was president of Key Club--which left a big impression about civic responsibility, and started a Bible Club that met every morning for devotions and prayer; but music was his favorite, where he played the alto saxophone and continues to play it in church to this day.
Church was always apart of Kaler's life. Up until the age of 11 he was raised in a nearby newly-started Charismatic church called "Victory Christian Fellowship." From 11-14 his family spent time in the Presbyterian church, and then a new independent Evangelical church. In Jr. High Kaler's family landed in the local Assemblies of God church where he felt called to go into ministry at a summer camp in 1999. This led him to attend Central Bible College in Springfield MO where he met his wife Laura. Unbeknown to both of them until years later, Kaler and Laura both attended the same summer camp as teenagers.
In Bible College Kaler was active with an evangelism team that ministered to new army recruits, played his saxophone on a worship band, and wrote humor columns for the school newspaper. But it was at a Springfield church called "Timbercreek Community Church" where Kaler spent most of his time, attending for 5 years and participating in an internship program that lasted 3.5 years, in which time he helped Timbercreek plant a new church called "Timbercreek West."
During the summers Kaler would go back to Carrollton and lead a summer youth ministry at his home church. In 2005 Kaler saw the need for a more permanent youth ministry in his home town (no professional youth ministers in a county of 10,000 people) so he moved back to start a youth group and called it "3rd Place Youth Group." When the group began there were only 2 teenagers and within a year there were over 30 in regular attendance, most of whom had never been to church before.
It was during this time in Carrollton that Kaler married his girlfriend Laura, who had moved to Carrollton to help with the youth ministry. In 2007 Kaler and Laura felt that it was time to move on to Senior Pastoring and left the youth ministry to look for a new church to lead. It was during this search for open ministry positions that Kaler and Laura felt the Lord pointing them in a more specific direction: church planting. Kaler and Laura had a new mission from God, but did not have a specific place to start a new church yet. So in order to prepare for this venture the couple moved to Washington Missouri to be a part of First Assembly of God Church, pastored by Laura's brother, Rev. Paul Scheperle. After living in Washington for 1.5 years, the Lord gave them direction to plant in Oneonta New York, and they are greatly anticipating this completely new chapter in their lives.

Kaler's hobbies include: All things Nintendo, movies (both watching and making them)--actually he likes anything involving a flashing screen, board games & ultimate board games, taking care of his classic truck, playing his saxophone, and making new friends.

Meet Pastor Laura

Laura Scheperle grew up in Missouri's capitol, Jefferson City. She too grew up in church, as a kid her family attended the Lutheran Church, but the most life-changing decision for the Scheperle family is when her parents Gary and Brenda switched to the Assemblies of God church. It was a church that challenged it's people in holiness and offered vibrant worship; and consequently, Laura and two of her brothers (Paul and Steve) felt called to full-time vocational ministry and all 3 Scheperle siblings pursued that goal at Central Bible College in Springfield Mo. Laura's 3rd brother Bill is an engineer at Missouri University and helps her Dad Gary on the family farm with the help of 4 beautiful kids.
In High School Laura was a music whiz. Playing her trombone all the way to the Missouri All-State band 2 years in a row, it probably helped a little that Brenda her mom was a music teacher. Like Kaler, Laura also started a Bible club at her High School called "Youth Alive," where they had devotions and planned evangelistic events. Most of Laura's time as a teenager was spent with her church youth group where she made strong friends that she still keeps in contact with.
At Central Bible College she continued to pursue her two passions: youth ministry and music. In 2004 she graduated with a bachelor degree in each field of study. While at CBC Laura spent 3 years on a traveling school music team called "Heartsong" and was the president of the group her last year. She also learned new instruments: guitar and keyboard, and learned how to direct a choir. In her last year at CBC she began to date Kaler, this happened after a 2 year friendship blossomed through a fan club she started for the Christian rock band "Five Iron Frenzy."
After graduating, Laura moved to Radcliff Kentucky to Youth Pastor at a Korean-American church. Laura spent a year working with Korean-American teenagers, but as things got serious with Kaler she moved to Carrollton Missouri to help him with his youth group. Laura was a key part of the growth of 3rd Place Youth Group, relating well to the teenage girls, and teaching several young people how to play instruments. Laura also started an all-church choir and directed 3 holiday cantatas. During this time Laura married Kaler in July of 2006 at her old church in Jefferson City.
In 2007 Laura left the Carrollton church with Kaler and moved to Washington Missouri to help her brother Paul at his church. At First Assembly of God, Washington MO, she has been active playing guitar on the worship team, leading a youth worship band, and leading a new small group for young adults. Currently, Laura is saying her goodbyes to her Missouri friends and family and preparing for the move of faith to start a new church in Oneonta New York with her husband Kaler. She looks forward to taking day trips and visiting New York City.

Laura's hobbies include: song writing and recording, being with her hubbie Kaler, watching movies, cooking, shopping, and hanging out with friends and family.

Simple Church is Beautiful

Our new church's simple stage and Christmas decorations, 2013.

It's June 2009, and there are still several steps I must take before officially launching a new church. Assessments, interviews, marketing, procuring a meeting place, the list is long and rather daunting. Most of the requirements I face excite me. However, there's one requirement in particular that weighs on me: fundraising.

I'll do it because I have to, and I have faith that God will provide. But my thinking here is that, "if the mission of the church is to tell lost people about Jesus, how much fundraising should this actually take?" It's a fair question to ask, especially when breaking down the daunting church planting mission to it's simplest form: proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ.

For my vision of church, I wish to keep things simple as simple as the mandate that Jesus gave to his followers. Here are a few thoughts on the benefits of keeping a new church as simple as possible, and why this is actually a beautiful thing.

Simple Church Follows the Biblical Church Growth Model

The story of the church begins in the book of Acts with a small group of faithful people (about 120) left over from Jesus' ministry. We know they were organized in leadership, and that they had a clear mission, but we don't hear much about money. When the Holy Spirit gave birth to the church on Pentecost, the numbers of believers increased rapidly. Instead of taking this large crowd and pooling together resources and raising funds for a bigger place to meet, the church simply moved their meetings to a very public and very free place, the Temple courts. It's interesting to me how willingly the church moved out of the upper room, and into the public forum. If such a revival were experienced today, I wonder how many modern churches would remodel and expand their simple upper room into an elaborate revival headquarters.

Another simple church story from Acts is found in chapter 3. Days after Peter preached his sermon, Peter and John are approached by a beggar near the temple asking for money. Did Peter and John dip into the church's benevolent fund or call up the para-church outreach ministry? Peter's response is stunning, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Then, Peter physically helped him up, and the cripple was healed, giving praise to God.

Wait. Hold up. Peter was the leader of the growing church, didn't he have some cash on hand from his full-time salary as Senior Pastor? You know, the salary he worked years to raise before starting the Jerusalem church? No, it says Peter had nothing.

I have to admit that I have lied to street beggars before and told them that I had nothing to give when I was really bursting at the seams with cash, but I think Peter honestly had nothing. Unlike my awkward response to beggars, I am sure Peter did not tell a “convenient lie.”

Did the church have any money at this time? Yes, just 4 verses prior, we get a romantic snapshot of the early church and we see offerings being taken up. What are they doing with these funds? Paying salaries? Buying tracks of land to build on? Shopping for the sound equipment? No, read closely, “All the believers had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.” They didn't have a building, and the money they raised went toward helping each other. What a beautiful, yet simple picture of church.

Simple Church is Practiced Around the World

I recently attended a discipleship training class taught by a foreign missionary. He told how, in the poor African country he serves in, he trains several local pastors who have started multiple new churches. What does it look like to start a new church in the poorest part of Africa? Years of networking and fundraising? Obtaining loans to build a building? Dumping piles of cash on an amazing church website?

He showed us a picture that told a thousand words. It was a newly trained pastor, sitting under a tree with a group of new converts, teaching the Bible. What a beautiful yet simple church.

The Redemption Movement enjoying a simple meal outside, 2013.

Simple Church is Beautiful to Postmoderns

Government bailouts. Greed. Exploiting workers. These are negative images a growing number of Americans associate with giant corporations. People who mistrust the slick/impersonal style of the corporate machine might have reservations about trusting well-funded churches that attempt to copy the professional attitudes of corporate America. A church built on “professionalism and excellence” and has a building resembling a mini-mall with every program imaginable (each with a cool hip logo), will only scare away people with trust issues who are seeking a simple and authentic encounter with God.

While I do believe the mega-church model has its benefits, not everyone is attracted to the mega-church way. A church with used furniture, meeting at an old storefront or a living room, using just the basic sound equipment, having candles instead of fancy stage lights, all while learning about Jesus from a pastor with ripped jeans and a T-shirt; everything about this church is designed to help a young postmodern man or woman feel comfortable enough to give the people sitting around them  trust enough to open up about their serious questions about faith.

What a beautiful yet simple church.

9 Quick Facts on Why Church Planting is Important

I have found that being a church planter is lonely. It is particularly lonely in the area of passion. It seems few people share my enthusiasm about church planting. What makes it even harder is that I often find people within the Christian community who do not even value starting new churches. I often get a response like, "There's enough churches!" or, "We should spend our efforts revitalizing old churches." I think the divide comes from not understanding the seriousness of the need, so to help bridge the divide I thought I would share just a few statistics that shine light on the need for new churches.

1. New Churches & Denominational Growth
"Studies show that if a denomination wishes to reach more people, the number of new churches it begins each year must equal at least 3% of the denominations existing churches. Based on this formula, mainline denominations are failing to plant enough churches to offset their decline.” -Bill Easum

2. New Churches & Evangelism
"All (growing) denominations surveyed placed church planting as a very important, if not the number one, strategy for evangelism...The fact is, starting a new ethnic congregation or focusing on a particular generation in a new start is much easier than trying to change the culture of an established congregation.” -Survey of the Reformed Church in America on Growing denominations.

3. New Churches & Evangelsim
"On a per-captita basis, new churches win more people to Christ than established churches. Bruce Mcnichol explained the findings of his research in Interest magazine:

• Churches under 3 years of age win an average of 10 people to Christ per year for every 100 church members.

• Churches 3-15 years of age win an average of 5 people per year for every 100 church members.
  
• Churches over 15 years of age win an average of 3 people per year for every 100 church members."

4. New Churches & Conversion Growth
And with #3 in mind, Alton Garrison sites in the Spring 2008 Enrichment Journal, "Nearly half of all churches in the United States did not add one new person through genuine conversion in 2007."

5. The National Church-t0-People Ratio Decline
The North American Mission Board recently recalculated the church-to-population ratio based on statistics from the U.S. Census.

• In 1900, there were 28 churches for every 10,000 Americans.
  
• In 1950, there were 17 churches for every 10,000 Americans.
  
• In 2000, there were 12 churches for every 10,000 Americans.
  
• In 2004, there were 11 churches for every 10,000 Americans.

6. The American Mission Field

• There are 120 million secular undiscipled people in the United States.
  
• The U.S. Is the largest mission field in the Western Hemisphere.
• The U.S. Is the fifth largest mission field on earth.
  

-George Hunter “The Rationale for a Culturally Relevant Worship Service,” Journal of the American Society of Church Growth, Worship an Growth 7.

7. The Decline of American Churches

• 80-85% of American churches are on the downside of the church life cycle.

• 3,500-4,000 churches close each year.

• 72 churches close each week.

-Win Arn, “Planting Growing Churches.”

8. The Deline of American Christianity

• The percentage of Christians in the U.S. Population dropped 9 percent from 1990 to 2001.
  
• The number of unchurched has almost doubled from 1991 to 2004.

-Win Arn, “Planting Growing Churches.”

9. New Church Success Rate
Even with the dire need for new churches, simply starting one is not a guarantee for long term success. “99 percent of church plants survive the first year, 92 percent the second year, 81 percent the third year, and 68 percent the fourth year.” -North American Mission Board

*Facts: 1-3, and 5-8 are from Ed Stetzer's book "Planting Missional Churches."

These are just of few of the reasons why I feel the need is so strong to plant new churches in America. It does give me hope that more and more churches are popping up around the country, and many denominations are becoming increasingly aggressive toward church planting. In some ways it almost feels like a trend for young Christian ministers, but I pray this is not a short lived trend but instead a valid church movement which sparks a Great Awakening.

Too Much Time With Adobe Photoshop

Admittedly, I have to watch myself because I can be somewhat of an administrative nerd and spend too much time at the computer making logos, videos, and all things digital. Here is proof, this is the front of my new business/prayer card I made to pass out to everybody who wants to keep track of Laura and I.



I am teaching myself photoshop, and I am still pretty new at it. Overall, I am pretty stoked about how this turned out. If this license plate is not taken, maybe I will try and snag it for my truck. I think the blues on the NY plate will compliment my blue truck.

Americas Top 43 Ripest Towns for Church Planting

In my previous blog article I highlighted 9 statistics about Oneonta that attracted us to start a church here. Specifically, we were looking for a community that had all of these things going for it :

• A college town.
• Town growth (or the lack thereof).
• Percentage of population with degrees.
• Poverty levels.
• Church-to-people ratio.
• Percentage of people unaffiliated with any religion.
• Percentage of people who live/work in the community.
• Percentage of people who commute to the community. 
• Town size.

We exhaustively compared these statistics to every college town in the lower 48 states. This helped us to locate a community that we felt would most benefit from a new church like the one we were envisioning.

Objectively Ranking America's College Towns

Methodology: For every one of these 9 categories we assigned a maximum value of 10 (90 points max). We then ranked each statistic from 1-10, in accordance with the national average. Next, we totaled the values of all 9 statistics and divided the sum by the maximum score (90), in order to arrive at a percentage/score for the town. This allowed us to rank and compare prospective church planting communities by percentages, with the higher the percentage equating to the greater the need the community has for a new church like The Redemption Movement.

It was a very revealing study that highlighted the need for church planting in America. To narrow down our search, we came up with a list of every town that scored more than 60%, which produced this list of the top 43 ripest college communities for church planting, 2009:        

1. Hanover, NH.................pop. 8,532...........86.9%
2. Boulder, CO...................pop. 93,552........78.7%
3. Middlebury, VT............pop. 6,380...........78.4%
4. Laramie, WY.................pop. 27,469..........75.3%
5. Oneonta, NY...........pop. 13,225..........74.9%
5. Macomb, IL...................pop. 18,701.............-
5. Iowa City, IA.................pop. 67,062.............-
8. Ann Arbor, MI..............pop. 115,092........74%
9. Missoula, MT................pop. 67,165...........73.5%
10. Oxford, OH..................pop. 22,210..........72.6%
11. Corvallis, OR................pop. 51,125...........71%
12. Carbondale, IL............pop. 20,413...........69.9%
13. Fairfield, IA.................pop. 9,163.............69.6%
14. Lamoni, IA...................pop. 2,420............69.4%
15. Mansfield, PA..............pop. 3,223.............69%
16. Glenville, WV...............pop. 1,465.............68.8%
17. San Francisco, CA........pop. 764,976.........66.9%
17. Lawrence, KS...............pop. 89,852...............-
19. Keene, NH....................pop. 22,893...........66.8%
19. Ithaca, NY....................pop. 29,974................-
21. Manhattan, KS.............pop. 51,707...........65.9%
22. Bar Harbor, ME...........pop. 2,752..............65.7%
23. Columbia, MO..............pop. 99,174............65.3%
24. San Luis Obispo, CA....pop. 43,516...........64.9%
25. Big Rapids, MI.............pop. 10,596...........64.7%
25. Houghton, MI..............pop. 6,924.................-
27. Brattleboro, VT...........pop. 8,160..............64.6%
28. Terre Haute, IN..........pop. 58,932............63.7%
28. Chadron, NE................pop. 5,489..................-
30. Ames, IA......................pop. 54,745............63.4%
30. Bangor, ME..................pop. 31,853.................-
32. Duluth, MN..................pop. 84,397............63.2%
33. Farmington, ME..........pop. 4,159..............63.1%
34. Auburn, AL..................pop. 54,348............62.4%
34. Portland, ME............... pop. 62,825................-
36. Bozeman, MT..............pop. 37,981.............62.1%
37. Prairie View, TX..........pop. 4,513..............61.9%
38. Charleston, IL..............pop. 20,296...........61.3%
39. Spokane, WA...............pop. 200,975.........60.4%
40. Muncie, IN.................. pop. 65,410...........60.1%
40. Kirksville, MO..............pop. 17,139................-
40. Lebanon, NH................pop. 12,729................-
43. Urbana, IL....................pop. 39,484........... 60%

Subjectively Singling Out Our Destination

You will notice that Oneonta is tied for 5th at 74.9%. Choosing Oneonta was a subjective choice made by considering objective data. With Oneonta ranked fifth, this list of 43 may appear deceiving, but for us, choosing a community that scored strongly in all 9 categories was more important than the town's total score. For example, a town could rank highly despite not scoring in all 9 of the required categories. Safe to say, Oneonta scored highly in all 9 categories.

The benefit of having a list like this is that it helped narrow down the subjective search of studying the community's culture for the purpose of finding a city that would be a good fit for our church--a process that would have been impossible to do for every college town in America. For this subjective look at our potential community, we asked questions like:

• Is there already a church in the community doing what we want to do? 
• How many new churches are in the community? 
• Could we effectively minister to the community's culture?
• Would we enjoy living there?
• And of course, finding that "special something."  

Notice that this whole process was guided by the desire to start a new church based on a community's need for a new church, as opposed to looking for a community where a new church is in high demand. This need-based approach to church planting has proven to be one of the biggest challenges for our church plant. 

At the end of such an extensive research project, we prayerfully ended up in Oneonta. If we didn't do this project, we wouldn't have moved here, seeing that we previously had never heard of Oneonta. Also, unlike other "ripest cities for church planting lists" that used different criteria (and never listed Oneonta), our research allowed us to apply different criteria based on our unique calling, passions, and giftings. 

In July of 2009 we moved to Oneonta, New York to plant The Redemption Movement, and the rest is history. If you're a church planter looking for a community to start a new church in, feel free to contact Pastor Kaler for assistance with drafting a similar model for your own ministry.

Why Oneonta New York?

My wife and I moving to New York will be a total change for us, especially because we will not know anybody who lives in Oneonta. This begs the question, why did I pick Oneonta New York to start a church? What makes this small community of 15,000 people so special?
For almost 2 years now I have been called to church plant but did not have a location. During this time I have worked to save money to church plant, and researched where and how to plant. At first I looked locally, but not finding what I was looking for I broadened my search to include the entire mainland United States. My search was intense, and I believe God led my search, I also believe God leads different people in different ways. Maybe for some pastors they can pray and hear the voice of God say, "Move here." But it didn't work that way for me. The Lord chose to lead me by placeing values on my heart that pointed me into the direction of researching these values in order to find a specific community. This was mainly done through researching city statistics. Statistics tell important facts and clues about what a community is like, and I recognize that different communities produce different types of churches. Knowing this, I asked the Lord what city statistics and cultural values to look for so that the new church can make the strongest impact possible for the Gospel.

1. College Town

• Colleges produce leaders, “reach the university, reach the world (Chi Alpha mission statement)”

• College students want to make a difference, and are willing to volunteer. A church that does heavy outreach ministry will connect with this young crowd.

• College towns are made up of educated people with critical thinking skills. I believe this group to be attracted to exegetical/seeker-sensitive preaching.

• Young college communities are generally more open to new out-side-the-box ministry ideas that church plants are known for.

Colleges in Oneonta:

• 2 Colleges: SUNY College: public college, 5333 students, and Hartwick College: private college, 1170 students.

• 1/3 of population has a bachelor's degree.

2. Poverty

• A community with physical needs is ripe for outreach. Asthe apostle Paul said, "I am eager to help the poor," and I generally believe those who are impoverished to be more open to the Gospel.

Poverty in Oneonta:

• 30.3% of residents had an income below the poverty level in 2007. That is more than twice the state avg.

• 17.4% of residents had an income below 50% of the poverty level in 2007. Also more than twice the state average.

3. Community Growth: Stagnant or in Decline

• Similar idea behind poverty. I believe a town that lacks new commerce and growth may not be as positive about the future as a fast growing community and would appreciate a new positive church preaching the hope of Christ.
  

• Towns in decline do not typically attract new churches. A new church would be big news.

Town Growth for Oneonta:

• Population change -0.4% since 2000.

• An average of 16 building permits are issued per year. For a town of of 16,000+.

4. Unchurched People

• My biggest target group are those who are unaffiliated with any religion.

Unchurched in Oneonta:

• 61.1% of people in the county are unaffiliated with any religion, this number is most likely higher in the main town of Oneonta. This percentage is significantly higher than most counties in the U.S.
  

• The 2009 American Religious Identification Survey recognizes the Northeast as the most irreligious part of the country.

*This desk was "Church Planting Headquarters." Discerning God's will on where to start a new church: it took me over 3 months to compile and assess approximately 500 pages of research. The project was fueled by gallons of Mountain Dew and required 6 seasons of "Stargate SG-1" playing in the background to keep me company. And I looked at enough church websites across the nation that they all began to look alike. Of course, prayer was also very much involved.

5. Church-to-People Ratio

• This contributes directly to the unchurched percentage. The higher saturation of churches in a community, makes the element of church competition stronger. I desire a ministry that minimizes the need to compete with neighboring churches, and instead, has a greater freedom to stay on mission and do what's important.

Oneonta Churches:

• There are around 17* Christian churches in a town of 16,000+. That is almost 1 church per 1000 people. Compared to national averages, this ratio is significantly high. For example, in Missouri, where I am from, almost every town has 1 church per 200-500 people.

*Update 6-6-09: The number of churches within city limits varies with different websites and sources. Some sites have the number as low as 12, I've heard other reports saying it is as high as 33. And it is hard to determine the doctrine and mission of the church based solely off the church name. But the point of this statistic is the "Church-to-people" ratio, which is still considerably lower than the rest of the nation. Here are some sites listing the different churches in Oneonta:
Church Angel National Church Directory (12 Churches, 9 Protestant)
Sweet Home Oneonta Houses of Worship (23 Churches, 17 Protestant)
Daily Star White Pages (26 Churches, 16 Protestant)

6. Ministeries offered by Churches

• There are some very specific ministeries I envision this new church doing. It does not make sense to plop a specific style/type of church next to an existing church that is already doing the things the new church plans to do.

Churches in Oneonta:

• After reviewing the churches websites of Oneonta, I came to the conclusion that there are good churches in the town, but they are not doing some of the ministeries I would like to do (this goes back to lowering the element of church competition.)

7. Lack of New Churches

• Every church planting organization has produced statistics that show dozens of benefits a new church can bring to a community, and the effectiveness of new churches reaching new people. Click here to find out more.
  

New Churches in Oneonta:

• *I've heard there have been 3 recent attempts at church planting in Oneonta, and none are around today. This tells me planting a new church in Oneonta will be hard, but I also feel it is needed. Please feel free to contact me with more information about new churches in Oneonta.
  

*Update 6-6-09

8. Geographical Influence

• The type of ministry that I want to do, is most effective within a close-knit community.

• I believe that the higher percentage of people that live and work in a town, the more responsive the town will be to a church dedicated to helping the community.

• I would also like to be a part of a church that plants new churches in the surrounding area. I believe a church that is headquartered in the most influential town in the county, has a responsibility to minister to the surrounding smaller communities.
  

Oneontas' Influence:

• 70.6% of the people that live in Oneonta also work in Oneonta. This number is significantly high, especially for the New York.

• The town population increases by +34.2% every day with commuting traffic, making Oneonta very influential for the area.

9. Town size

• I have a town size that I am personally comfortable with, and Oneonta fits that range. I would prefer a town that is big enough that you don't have to send talented young people away to have a good future. And small enough to have that close-knit small community feel to it. I am rural at heart and not a fan of the suburbs or the big city.

Oneonta Population:

• Town population is 13,225, add the dorm residents and the population is 16,761. And over 61,000 people live in the county.

This is a very brief overview of the reasons we are moving to Oneonta New York to start a church. I could write tons more about all this, but I understand blogs are supposed to be rather short. Some of these statistics are objective, and some are subjective, and some are more clear than others. But what makes Oneonta rise above all other towns in this search, is it ranked very high in all 10 of these catigories, something no other town in America pulled off. Go Oneonta!

Pastors Blog: Stardate 2009

It is hard to believe that Laura and I are actually doing it, we have committed ourselves to moving to Oneonta New York and starting a new church! Doing a church plant feels like a big/scary/exciting (take every emotion and put it in a blender) adventure, especially when we are rookies at this sort of thing, but I know this gut-wrentching conquest is actually the typical experience from following the adventureus Lord of Creation.

As we all know, every good adventure has a logbook, and just like Captain Kirk, I too feel compelled to chronicle my findings and happenings as I encounter new life, but unlike Kirk I will be reporting all this to you, not the Star Fleet Federation; although, if the Federation wishes to help fund this church plant I do accept Federation credits.
On a serious note, I desire this blog to serve as a communication tool to help the new church plant. Here are a few purposes I see with the blog.

1. Church History: this blog will be a step-by-step record of how a new church started. And what a valuable resource this will be for church members to look back on and read. I also hope it might inspire others to church plant and learn from the early successes and failures of the Oneonta church.
2. Missionary Newsletter: for all practical definitions of the word, Laura and I definitly feel like we are doing the work of missionaries. I grew up in churches that finically supported foriegn missionaries, and they always sent the church newletters of their progress. I hope this blog can be accessible to our friends and loved ones who care about my wife and I. May this blog act as a virtual newsletter for us to communicate our progress and share our needs.
3. Valuable Feedback: I welcome all feedback from all peoples. If you have some solid advice or you see something I do not, please post a comment and share with me your thoughts. I have some big descions to make coming up, and I would like my descions to be highly informed and smart sounding.

Also, I am thrilled to finally have something worth blogging about! For years I have wanted to sign up for a blog, but until now I felt I never did anything big enough with my life worth sharing with the world. It would have read something like this: Today, I played Nintendo, worked at Wal-Mart, went to church, and now I am going to ramble a few pages about politics...I think the interent has plenty of these blogs.
I will try to stay current with this thing, and I pray some good will come out of it and I hope it is not a time-waster. Please, feel free to contact me, and thank you for adventureing with me on the first steps of this incredible God journey.