1st Church of the Funnel Cake

If you are visiting our blog because you happened across a friendly face next to a truck giving away delicious funnel cakes while going about your business in Oneonta NY, then welcome! Mmmmm, funnel cake...

...mmm, that was a good one. So, yes, this April and May we are packing the truck, firing up the fryer, and canvassing the town to give away funnel cakes! We have a twofold purpose to this: One, we love going out into our community and showing people the love of God in practical ways, such as serving needs and giving away goodies. We call this our Acts of Kindness Ministry. It is a fun way to serve, and we have been doing a variety of AOK projects ever since 2010. The funnel cake outreach has been particularly fun, watching people walk by our "Free Funnel Cake" sign, do a double take, and say "Seriously!" ...mmm, everybody seems to enjoy biting into a crisp, sugary...

...oh, sorry. Where was I? Right. The second purpose with our funnel cake outreach is to meet people and tell them about God and our church. This outreach works out especially well for this purpose because it takes a few minutes to fry up a funnel cake; time we use to engage in conversation. Nine times out of ten we get the opportunity to talk about God's love and the church because people are always a bit skeptical as to, "What's the catch?" We've found the conversational route to be non-intrusive, and if someone doesn't feel like talking about religion, they don't have to.

This simple funnel cake outreach is important to us in regards to launching the church. Before we launch the church, we want to develop a launch team. Hopefully, this team will come from people that we'll meet while doing outreach activities, like giving away funnel cakes. The plan is to "funnel" interested people to information meetings where they can learn more about the vision and the plan of the church. When it comes down to it, using our God-entrusted resources to give away funnel cakes and talk to people face-to-face seems like a smarter, healthier, and more enjoyable way to meet people, spread God's love, and promote the church than traditional marketing techniques.

So keep your eyes peeled Oneonta, and be on the look out for our 1977 two-tone blue "Mobile Ministry Machine" and fryer. Or, simply follow your nose! Mmm....

We Are Having Ourselves a Block Party!

Event: 6th Ward Block Party
Date: Tues., May 15
Address: The Redemption Movement, 148 River St., Oneonta, NY
Time: 3-7pm, (bands begin at 5pm)
Admission: Free, all ages.
Description: The Redemption Movement would like to introduce ourselves to our Oneonta neighborhood, the 6th ward, by hosting a family-friendly block party!
Parking: Gilbert Street (walking and carpooling is highly encouraged), After 5:15pm additional parking will also be available at Oneonta Christian Community School.
Activities: Live music, chili cook off, more food, bounce house, games and more! (Bring your own chair is you want to sit)
Live Bands:

Lightning Killed My Parents

The Redemption Movement is pleased to welcome Lightning Killed My Parents for their first show in Oneonta! LKMP is "a 9 piece ska/rock band from Fredonia, NY. Formed in late 2010, this band is based on three concepts: having fun, playing music, and producing enough energy to make the crowd pass out from sheer excitement."

Atlas Arrows

Also showing up for the party is the indie rock/alternative band Atlas Arrows! Hailing from the booming suburbs of Binghamton NY, Atlas Arrows began in the Fall of 2011 and includes former members of local indie band Where's Ulysses. In January of 2012 they released two songs now available for free download, and they are looking forward to touring and sharing their music with you.

Purpose: We want to be a blessing to Oneonta! Our heart is to be a church for the community, this means we value using our resources to bring people together, thus making our community stronger. A block party is intended to be a fun event where neighbors can come together and fellowship with each other. And in today's digital age, where it is easy to have hundreds of facebook "friends" without even knowing one's physical neighbors, we are excited to provide an event that creates an opportunity for neighbors to be introduced to each other for maybe even the first time. And in this spirit of friendly introductions, we at The Redemption Movement would like to introduce ourselves to our neighbors! We have been making plans and improving this old storefront of ours since 2009, and we now feel that we are finally in a position to open the doors to our work-in-progress and introduce ourselves to the community we love. This party is by no means our official launch (we are planning to launch Easter 2013); in fact, our facilities are still under construction--so please look past our mess, but the desire to host an event that blesses our community is so strong that we simply cannot wait until 2013! So construction messes and sound system glitches be darned, we are throwing ourselves a block party!

Update: The party was a success!