The O-Town Scene: Take the Stage

By Emily Popek, Interim Editor of the O-Town Scene
June 6, 2013

Editor's Note: Fashion, Music Helps Us Find Our Tribes

I was not a cool kid growing up...And I learned that, by standing out rather than fitting in, I was sending signals to others like me...It was at concerts that we started to find the rest of our tribe--the kids from other schools who ventured out to hear punk, ska, hardcore and alternative music at places like the Lions Club.
As I grew older, I often wondered who was behind the scenes at some of the venues I frequented. In this issue, you'll get to meet the people behind two local music venues who are bringing bands to the area... Anything that gives people a way to connect with their tribe is good by me.

BRING THE NOISE: New Venues Bringing More Music to Area

Two local couples are living the axiom "Be the change you want to see" when it comes to the local music scene.
Rather than bemoaning the lack of opportunities to see live music, these enterprising duos have decided to be part of the solution and open up their doors (figuratively speaking, in one instance) to bands from near and far to offer local fans more chances to hear live music.
Why do they do it? How do they do it? And is there barbecue? Find out the answers to all this and more:

SUSQUEHANNA TRAILS CAMPGROUND: Dean and Joanne Tribe

(Visit www.otownscene.com for the full story)

THE REDEMPTION MOVEMENT: Kaler and Laura Carpenter

Kaler and Laura Carpenter at The Redemption Movement on River Street in Oneonta on May 31. Photo by Julie Lewis, The Daily Star

When Kaler and Laura Carpenter moved to Oneonta in 2009, it was with one goal in mind: to start their own church. Four years later, they've achieved that goal; the couple hosts informal Friday night services, and Sunday ministries, out of their storefront-cum-church, The Redemption Movement, housed in a former grocery store on River Street.
But somewhere along the way, they started hosting rock shows, too.
"It wasn't originally part of the plan," Kaler Carpenter admitted. "But we want to be a church that's focused on giving back. We want to open our space up to the community. So we got into doing shows as a way to do something for the community that's both family-friendly and artist-friendly."
So why are they doing this?
"We both love music, and I kind of follow the scene as my hobby, with the same enthusiasm that some people follow sports," Carpenter explained.
That entusiasm has brought local, regional and national touring bands to the Carpenters' admittedly small venue, and has brought together some people that might not otherwise be hanging out.
"In our last show, we had a couple of local folk acts, and they brought with them their own fans," Kaler Carpenter explained. "And we also brought in A Guy Named Guy, which is a punk/ska band from Boston. So it was kind of cool; you had the folk fans there in their work clothes, alongside the ska or punk people. And that's what we want to do: bring people together."
The Carpenters had their first foray into being rock promoters about a year ago when Kaler saw something intriguing on Kickstarter.
"A band in Fredonia (Lightning Killed My Parents) was doing a campaign where if you gave a certain amount, they would come and play a show," Carpenter explained. "So I booked them, and I was really excited about it, so we turned it into a block party."
The event, which featured free music, a chili cook-off, and family-friendly games and activities, also served as The Redemption Movement's introduction to the Sixth Ward and the greater Oneonta community.
The two aspects of that day's event - rock music and community togetherness - sum up a lot of what the Carpenters are all about. And what they want most of all is to connect with the community. To do that, they're hoping people can look past any reticence they might have about going to "church." The nondenominational gatherings they host on Friday nights are casual, and often include perks like barbecue; on Sundays, the couple performs "acts of kindness," handing out free Popsicles, shoveling neighbor's driveways, or giving away light bulbs.
"We'll hear a lot of people say, 'I'll check it out some time,'" Laura Carpenter said. "And they don't always actually do it. But the people who do come are always saying how amazing the bands were, or how much fun they had, and wondering why there aren't more people there, so we always tell them, 'You just have to get the word out.'"
And while the couple are passionate about music, they're not limiting themselves to just the acts that they're interested in seeing play.
"I'm very happy to open our doors for a band that someone wants to see," Kaler Carpenter explained, adding that the couple wants to make the church available for a variety of community events. "Our mission is to bless the community--that's what we're here to do."
To see what's coming up at The Redemption Movement, check out their blog at http://missiononeonta.blogspot.com or find them on Facebook at facebook.com/TheRedemptionMovement.

Custom Church Cakes By Brittney

By Kaler Carpenter

Nothing says it's time to party quite like a cake; if that's the case, then every Friday is a big party at The Redemption Movement because we have been having some amazing cakes!

Having food available for our Friday evening gatherings has always been on the agenda. However, many times we get rushed when preparing for the service and end up going with a box of doughnut's from Stewart's convenience store--hardly an acceptable offering unto the Lord.

How different would church be if all of us treated it like an actual party worth sacrificing for? A party that inspires us to give our best offerings to God? I mean, whenever we gather, we are celebrating our union in the body of Christ--which is a great reason to throw a party!

One young woman in our church, Brittney Clow, aka Cakegirl, saw the need to turn up the party a couple of notches, and she took it upon herself to make a custom cake to go along with our different Friday night food themes. This is more than a sheet cake from the grocery store, we are talking a full blown customized cake that is edible art!

Our first Friday with a food theme was BBQ cheeseburgers. Brittney brought in her own burger, which was a giant cake shaped like a cheeseburger, complete with french fry shaped cake in legit french fry baskets. There was even desert sauces in glass bottles that looked like ketchup and mustard.

Next week was fruit smoothie night. For this cake, Brittney made an edible woven cake basket and filled it with strawberries and blueberries. This was the first basket I have ever eaten.

The Friday after that, Brittney used her Mom humor to come up with a great pun. The theme was Chicken Spiedies, a popular dish in the Northeast that is basically marinated pieces of chicken. Brittney's cake-of-the-week included a race track with cars speeding on it. One poor car (the red one) was speeding too fast and wiped out. The speedy cake also included racing flags and a hard chocolate corner with "The Redemption Movement" written on the side.

It's actions like this that make church fun for everybody, and encouraging for the ministers pouring hours into preparing the service, week in and week out. Do you know how much time and energy goes into making one of these awesome cakes? With all that attention to detail, all the planning, the mixing of ingredients,  the shopping for supplies, if you add up every custom cake making step, I know that we are looking at hours of time Brittney has freely given as a service unto the Lord. If true worship is a sacrifice, then these custom cakes are a pure worship offering made of pure sugar.

Brittney and her guitar cake with band No Lost Cause

People of the church taking time out of their busy week to invest hours into making church memorable and fun; this is what it takes to turn a typical Stewart's-doughnuts-of-a-church-service into a full-blown party! If church is a celebration, then you have to ask yourself, "What can you bring to the party of a King?" 
Thank you Brittney for your amazing cakes!

Amazing cake, how sweet the pounds,
That baked with layers three

I ate some frost and now am round,
Was starved, but now, diabetes.

Brittney will be happy to make you your own custom cake. See Cakegirl's Facebook page for contact information. 

Day 30: Grand Opening - 30 Days of Kindness

By Kaler Carpenter

In the final day of 30 Days of Kindness, all of our hard work came to fruition with the Grand Opening of The Redemption Movement on Good Friday, March 29, 2013--and what a good Friday it was!

The service was a beautiful sight to behold. Every face was a person that Laura and I could trace back to either an act of kindness, or a friendship from the jobs we have both worked. This is a testimony to the power of reaching people with kindness and relationships, instead of pouring money into mass marketing (nobody showed up because of our online advertising, newspaper announcement, or flyers).

There were 20 people in attendance, which was enough to fill the small room with sweet worship music that echoed off the walls and into God's heart. Keeping with the 3o Days of Kindness, every family in attendance received an Easter lily as a gift, which gave the room a nice fragrance.

Looking back, the amount of work that went into all of this was extreme. When we kicked off the 30 Days of Kindness campaign, we still had a building that needed remodeling, no PA system, only 10 chairs, no tables, and we were launching a new ministry format that was untested. On top of all of this, there were dozens of small churchy details that still needed to be taken care of; details like, making visitor forms, sign up sheets, printing off handouts for worship, food, figuring out a way to collect offering money, the list went on.

By God's grace, all of these things were taken care of; even while we organized and performed an act of kindness every day after getting off work. Sure, the building was not 100% done, the sermon suffered a bit from being preached by an exhausted Pastor, the offering envelopes where blank with a sticky note that read, "write your name on the envelope," and everything could have been promoted better, but on that Good Friday, none of these details mattered. This was a time to celebrate the establishment of a new work that will bless the Oneonta community for generations to come!

The message for the first teaching session was me pouring out my heart and sharing the vision of The Redemption Movement. A rare time where I get personal when I preach, only because Laura and I are so personally involved in this work. For the second teaching session, I looked at Acts 2:42-47 and compared the beautiful picture of what the first public meeting of the New Testament church looked like, with what we were accomplishing at the first public meeting of The Redemption Movement, 2,000 years later.

One of the coolest comparisons was when I talked about the church meeting in the upper room for Pentecost in Acts 2. When I got to this point I paused, looked around our small/simple room, filled with a small group of diverse people, and I said, "I bet the upper room was not too much bigger than this room." It was a powerful Pentecostal experience.

At the end of the night we had a time of discussion and prayer. I talked about the death of Christ by vividly describing the agony of crucifixion (which is where we get our word excruciating). We then remembered Christ's death through communion.        

A lot of work went into that Good Friday. You can trace it back to Laura and I moving to Oneonta back in 2009, or even us committing to church planting back in 2007. It was a special night, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, and even with the craziness of all the work that it took, I do not regret any of it. Because I am convinced that every step taken, every mile driven, every nail hammered, every kindness card passed out, every late night Laura and I spent second guessing ourselves, every single sacrifice we made, was necessary to proclaim God's restoring love to the lost and hurting people of Oneonta. People who God values. People who are in need of a hope and a freedom that's paid for by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, found in the abundant life of His teachings, and made real by the power of His resurrection.

 

Day 29: Welcome Wagon - 30 Days of Kindness

"Preparation," By Laura Carpenter

Welcome Wagon was day 29 of 30 Days of Kindness. The objective of this act of kindness was to make welcome baskets and deliver them to new residents in Oneonta. Thanks to the cooperation of the city hall and several volunteers, we were able to pull this off.

After making a few phone calls to find the right contact person in city hall, we were given a list of residents whose homes were deeded to them within the past six months. I (Laura) did the shopping. Each resident received one all-purpose gift basket, filled with local treats such as: Brooks BBQ sauce and McCoy’s honey, light bulbs, batteries, a Sweet Home Oneonta publication, a reusable shopping bag, and homemade brownies. 

One of the parents that we connected with at Parent's Night Out, was inspired by our 30 day project and wanted to help. She joined me to help put the gift baskets together, and later that evening, she and two other friends teamed up with Kaler to pass out the baskets.

We made 10 gift baskets for homes that we determined to be lived in by new homeowners. When Kaler and I moved to Oneonta in 2009, nobody formally greeted us to the neighborhood, and we were kind of bummed out about that. We were hoping to cheer up some folks that might be feeling the same way we felt almost 4 years ago, as well as tell them about a great new church they can attend!

"Distribution," By Kaler Carpenter

Half of the residents were not home so we left the basket on their doorstep. Later that evening, we drove by these houses and saw the baskets were gone, that's how we knew they made it into the intended hands. I (Kaler) encountered a few people that were home and had great conversations with all of them.

There was one middle-aged single lady in particular that ended up not being a new resident, but I followed a leading and gave her a basket anyway. She seemed very appreciative and proceeded to tell Britteny and myself her story and how she was battling depression. She also admitted to being hurt by religion in her past, which influenced her depression. 

We got to show this woman love and pray with this her, as well as share with her the hope of the Gospel and invite her to our church. Unfortunately, it seems like you don't have to look too far when performing these AoKs before you run into someone who is hurt and/or bitter about church. As a church planter that has also been hurt by church people, I too know what it's like to go through a negative experience like this, and I love to invite these hurting people to visit our church. 

At The Redemption Movement, we have worked hard to set up a model of ministry that removes all the legalistic elements that hurt people like the woman we gave the gift basket to, and as seen by this act of kindness, we go out of our way to make everybody feel welcome.     

Day 27: Funnel Cake Giveaway - 30 Days of Kindness

By Kaler Carpenter

For Day 27 of 30 Days of Kindness, we broke out the batter, vegetable oil, and deep fryer to treat the good people of Oneonta to some fried funnel cake goodness, and of course, God's love.

The free funnel cake giveaway is one of my favorite AoKs. I did several of them last Spring while I was trying to invite people to church information meetings. I have an efficient funnel cake giveaway kit rigged up that allows me to quickly pull off it off, even if I am by myself; and, I get to eat as much funnel cake as I can stand--which usually isn't more than two.

For this giveaway, I was on my own and I tried out a new location in the park off Dietz street, only 1 block away from downtown. The weather was still too cool for people to be out enjoying the park, so I was hoping this spot would pick up some after-work foot traffic.

Like several of our AoKs, it started off slow, but after one person participated it picked up. I am sure the snowman I made during the downtime helped to lure in several people.

The biggest impact from the AoK wasn't so much the amount of cake I gave away, but it was from making a new friend. There was one SUNY Oneonta student I met that was a mountain bike enthusiast. He was out riding his bike, enjoying the not cold (but not warm) weather. He stopped to chat with me and we hit it off. This young man kept me company for an hour and a half, possibly even more.

We had a lot in common, including our love for pushing down rotten tree stumps when we go hiking in the woods. It turns out that we both enjoy the same kind of music that features horns, and we found a dozen other relatable topics to discuss. It was a good connection and he helped me pack for the evening so I could make it back to the building and close down the art show that was simultaneously going on.

I was able to share my faith with this young man, and he very much appreciated the fact that I had no catch other than to show God's love. Apparently, he had been recently burned by the "survey-turned-evangelism tactic." It felt to me like he wanted to spend the first part of the conversation looking for my angle or my catch, when he couldn't find one, he seemed relieved, and even refreshed after hearing my heart and listening to my message.

It's positive connections like this that help me feel good about picking a college town in which to plant a church. It was wonderful connecting with this SUNY student.  Even if I make only one strong connection doing an AoK, it's still worth it. 

Day 26: Free Car Rinse #2 - 30 Days of Kindness

By Kaler Carpenter

For Day 26 of 30 Days of Kindness, we planned a car wash at Stewart's, thinking it will surely be warm by late March; yet once again, our plans were dampened by the cold New York weather, but our resolve for kindness remained strong. We just substituted a wash with a rinse and kept the kindness train on track.

 
We had done an earlier car rinse on day #3 at our storefront, which included giving away hot cocoa. While the first rinse was a positive experience there were few in attendance.  We've noticed our location is a hindrance for AoKs like this; seeing as we had 4 takers for the rinse (which spanned 3 hours), 2 for the free oil change, and nobody for the free dinner (all of these events where located at our place). This is a classic example of the flaw of expecting people to come to you vs. going to where the people are--even if you are doing a great service for them.

This "go to them" theory was verified as we rinsed the Winter salt off people's cars at Stewart's and found ourselves consistently serving a line of cars. I stayed busy enough that I didn't have time for a break, and if there was not a line of cars, I would approach a customer's car and offer to give a free rinse; to which most of them gladly accepted.

It was also nice to have some extra helpers with us for this AoK. We had a teenage girl and a college aged supervisor that made 30 Days of Kindness T-Shirts and signs to stand out at the corner of River and Main to help lure in traffic. Their enthusiasm was welcomed and an encouraging sight after leading 25 straight AoKs and beginning to lose steam.

With helpers cheering me on, I was able to man the power washer for a few hours, hose down all kinds of cars, and meet all kinds of people. At the same time, we had additional volunteers keeping the art show open, and if a car rinse recipient offered me money, I tried to point them to our art show down the street and encouraged them to use the money to instead buy art to benefit Opportunities For Otsego.

People are accustomed to getting their cars cleaned at Stewart's, although not so much in March. During the summer, it seems like there is a different nonprofit group doing a car wash at Stewart's every day to raise money. I was hoping to do a car wash for free to make a statement to our Oneonta community that serving and showing God's love is more important to us than fundraising. All in all, I do believe this message came out loud and clear at this event.
 

Days 25-28: Art Show for OFO

By Kaler Carpenter

For Days 25-28 of 30 Days of Kindness, we hosted our first ever art show! Making this a true community event, we had recruited the help of nine local artist, and looked to raise money, not for ourselves, but for Opportunities for Otsego, a great social service organization right down the street from us.

As cool as it is to have a newly remodeled building, it's a bit of a drag to be greeted every day with bare walls. We wanted to fill our space up with beautiful art while helping out a deserving organization. I have never put on an art show before, and I've only been to a few, therefore, I thought this would be as simple as hanging a few pictures on the wall and calling it a day. I was wrong.

Turns out there's a lot more work to putting on an art show than just hanging art. You have to look for local artist, arrange art drop off and pick up times, promote it by making flyers, hanging up the flyers downtown, and of course, you have to do the standard newspaper and social media plugs. With all the work that needed to be done, I barely had time to get the art hung before the doors opened, but I still managed to pull off a successful show.

Since I put so much work into the art show, I decided to extend it until Thursday, instead of just keeping it open for one day (while still doing our regularly scheduled acts of kindnesses). The intent was to raise more money for OFO. But not all the money went to OFO, at The Redemption Movement, our heart is to be a church that doesn't stop at being friendly towards local artist, we also want to be able to support artists financially. Whether it's an art show or a rock show, we achieve this by making our space available for free and giving the artist all the door money, or letting them keep all the money from the art sale (unless it's a benefit show like this one). By the end of the week, we raised $49 for OFO, and several of the artist also made a few bucks off of their work.

The best part for me was to see the old storefront filled with beautiful art that we could never afford if we had to purchase it (including Stacy Brock's psychedelic piece that took up 36 square feet of wall space). The art that didn't sell remained on the wall for our Grand Opening (the following Friday), all the beautiful art helped make our much anticipated Grand Opening even more special.

A big thank you goes out to every artist who participated: Jim Seymour, Joe Hamilton, Abbey Koutnick, Chris Chase, Jen Jump, Stacy Brock, Donna Wessel, Garland Mallette, and Michael Shirk. 

Day 24: Free Community Dinner

By Laura Carpenter

Free Spaghetti Dinner was Day 24 of 30Days of Kindness. This event was advertised and promoted as best we could, and our sign was out front all day announcing, “Free Spaghetti Dinner 5:30pm.” By the time 5:30 rolled around, the tables and chairs were setup, the tea was brewed, the bowls, cups, and utensils were purchased, and enough spaghetti, salads and brownies were prepared to feed thirty people…but no one showed up. 

 

5:45 rolled around…still no one. As the clock ticked on and the room remained bare, Kaler and I looked at each other and said, “Want to eat some spaghetti?” So we sat ourselves down and, looking on the bright side, we decided this was a much needed dinner date for the two of us who had been catching quick on-the-go dinners for the past 23 days (except for Day #2).

As we ate, we discussed our thoughts and feelings towards the fact that no one accepted our offer for a free dinner. We were disappointed, as can be expected, but not crushed. After all, we’re looking at one complete dud out of 24 AoK's so far. Those are some odds we can tolerate. As to why people didn’t jump at the opportunity for a free dinner, I don't know for sure. To some degree, I was so worn out from the 30 Days of Kindness campaign that I began to experience a bit of numbness. I just wanted to eat some spaghetti, pack it all up, and get some much needed R and R for the night. 

Kaler on the other hand, was still determined to bless someone with a free meal. As we ate, I could tell he was trying to cook up a rescue mission. Finally, he arrived upon a fantastic solution, “We can give this food away to firefighters on duty tonight. Those are hungry guys who like to eat.” 

Kaler called the Oneonta fire department and offered to deliver the food to them. They accepted the offer and did us one better by coming to pick it up themselves. A few minutes later, a huge red diesel truck arrived in our driveway and Kaler loaded them up with pots of spaghetti and pans of brownies. A couple of hours later that same truck returned with the pots and pans empty and cleaned. 

All was not lost. Due to Kaler’s determination and creative problem solving, day 24 was not a complete flop. We were able to bless the Oneonta firefighters, a group of people especially deserving of kindness in return for their willingness to put themselves in the way of danger in order to keep our city safe. 

Day 23: Parent's Night Out

By Laura Carpenter

Parent’s Night Out was day 23 of 30 Days of Kindness. This event offered some fantastic perks for both parents and kids. Not only did parent's receive free child care for two and a half hours on a Friday evening, but there was also a free dinner provided by a local pizzeria! 

 Joe Ruffino’s restaurant in downtown Oneonta generously partnered with us for this AoK and supplied the parents with free dinner and dessert; while we entertained the kids with games, dancing, musical chairs, finger painting, and more.

Thankfully, we had some friends come and help us with this AoK. Kaler and I could not have done it alone. One volunteer and I watched the babies and toddlers, while Kaler and another friend entertained the school aged kids. A few families stopped in, dropped off their kids, and headed over to Joe’s for dinner.

As the children filed inside our building, our empty room burst forth with the noises of running, jumping, laughing, and yelling (sounds we haven’t heard in a while). It was a treat to experience the joy of watching a toddler chase my cat around our upstairs apartment, and being able to hold a baby for a change. By the end of the night, Kaler even showed some creative babysitting by entertaining the kids for a significant amount of time with large empty boxes from the new PA system.   

The parents greatly appreciated it. For many local parents, a night of child care is too expensive, or they just don’t have friends or family to ask. The parents that brought their kids were grateful for an opportunity to experience a few hours of sanity in the midst of their busy parenting schedules. We were happy to show God’s love to both the kids and the parents that participated. 

Day 22: Walking Dogs

By Kaler Carpenter

Day 22 of 30 Days of Kindness was Walking Dogs, and for this act of kindness, we extended the love of God to mammals who instinctively know how to show love better than many of us.

This AoK was another activity that required some quick thinking on our part. To promote this event we had a sign out front, a blast on social media, this blog, a mention in the newspaper community events page, and  hundreds of 30 Days of Kindness Calenders that we passed out during days 1-21, yet, despite our best promotional efforts, nobody arranged for us to walk their dogs.

Determined to make all 30 Days happen, I took advantage of the fact that our church is located in the middle of a residential neighborhood and proceeded to walk the streets looking for dogs to walk. It only took me two houses before I found a neighbor that was sitting on her porch with two black labs. I introduced myself and offered to walk her dogs for free. The owners seemed happy to let me, and the dogs seemed even happier to be challenged with my brisk walking pace.

I was able to find a dog for Laura to walk by approaching another neighbor who we knew had recently purchased a new shih tzu; and while Laura was walking black lab #2 from neighbor #1, I remembered that another neighbor that I met while inviting people to the 6th Ward block party in May, had a rather large white dog named Bear. While walking black lab #1, I knocked on her door and asked if she was up for a free dog walk.

As fun as it was for two cat owners to spend an evening walking dogs, it was even more fun to surprise our neighbors with a knock on their door and tell them that we wanted to walk their dogs as a way to show God's love. Sure enough, every interaction led to a great conversation about the church, and I think we ultimately spent more time talking with our neighbors than we did walking dogs--which is kind of the point.

Day 21: Window Washing

By Kaler Carpenter

Free Window Washing was Day 21 of 30 Days of Kindness, and for this act of kindness, we showed Oneonta's downtown merchants God's love by clearing up their view.

This was another outdoor AoK that would have been a little bit nicer if the weather was warmer, but  window grime doesn't take a break for cold weather, and neither does The Redemption Movement. I had my friend Garland with me for this adventure, and it was nice to have the extra hand, especially when cleaning the larger windows. Here are a few of the Oneonta businesses that we served:

• Capresso Coffee Bar: This was a fun one to do because we cleaned their toilets 6 days earlier and told them that we would be back for the windows. I'm not sure if our friend Klasik remembered our promise, but he did remember to hook us up with some of his famous Snickers hot cocoa.
• The Red Jug: This is a new bar in downtown Oneonta, and even though they went with the face of Satan as their logo, that didn't keep us from showing them the love of God. It felt ironic to show God's love by cleaning a window with a picture of the Devil on it, but that's the beauty of taking the light of the Gospel into new places.
• Crazy Gifts: This is another establishment that a church would not typically reach out to, but we wanted to show them love, and they only had one window.
• Discount Liquor: We tried reaching out to this liquor store for bathroom cleaning during Day #1 of 30 Days of Kindness, and we were denied only because the public was not allow in the back. However, they did let us clean their windows this time, and it was nice to see our kindness calendar still posted on their bulletin board. 

The best story from this experience actually came a few days later. On Day 21, Garland and I tried to clean the windows of a bar called The Railbenders. We were turned away because they had someone else scheduled for the task. It was my first time in the establishment, so I asked them about their business. Turns out they serve food and they gave me a menu to take home.

A few days later and after a long day of ministry, Laura and I went to Railbenders for dinner . They seemed to remember me (free window cleaning is hard to forget). The food was amazing and the staff was super friendly. After chatting with the staff for the duration of the meal, Laura and I went to pay and the bartender informed us that, "It's taken care of." A nice gentlemen across the bar paid for our meal after overhearing our church planting story. Kindness is contagious!

Day 20: Interior Painting

By Laura Carpenter

Day 20 of 30 Days of Kindness was originally scheduled to be a day where we paint over graffiti around Oneonta, however, the weather was not cooperating. It snowed all day and was far too wet and cold to do any outdoor painting. Paint doesn't adhere to surfaces or dry under such conditions. Once again, we had to think fast and make a change of plans. 

We had several high school aged volunteers lined up to help us with this AoK, and we didn't want to send them away. We remembered that we had plenty of painting to do in our own building that needed to get done for the Good Friday Grand Opening (in T-minus 10 days!), so we proposed to the volunteers that, if they were still eager to do something, they could do an AoK for us and paint our trim and our kitchenette walls. Thankfully, they were eager to help!

Four students and two supervisors came by and lent us a hand. In two hours they painted all of the baseboards of the entire church that still needed to be installed, and they even painted the kitchenette. It would have taken us several days to do what they did in two hours. It was fantastic! It felt great to be the recipient of kindness and we wholeheartedly praised the volunteers, thanked them, and fed them cookies.

We have learned from doing these AoK's that there are many individuals and groups around town that enjoy volunteering and that are eager to help. It has been encouraging to see others who don't even know us, learn about our 30 Days of Kindness and want to get involved. This particular group of volunteers cannot be mentioned by name due to privacy issues, but you know who you are and we once again say thank you!

Day 19: Shovel Sidewalks #2

By Kaler Carpenter

For Day 19 of 30 Days of Kindness, we had scheduled to pick up trash at the park, but then it snowed again, making it hard to find the trash. We made up for it by breaking out the snow shovels and once again shoveling walkways as a way to show God's love!

Not too much to tell on this one. Before I went to work in the morning, I walked up and down the street with a snow shovel and cleared sidewalks and driveways for people who needed help. This is the second AoK that got replaced for snow shoveling. Read about sidewalk shoveling #1 to learn about how magical an Oneonta snow storm can be the morning after.

This round of snow shoveling had a lot less interaction with people than the first time we did it. I spent the work day a little bummed about that, thinking my efforts may have been in vain. But later that afternoon, I got a phone call from a woman whose driveway I had shoveled and left a kindness card on her door.

She was very appreciative of the act, and she had heard about our church from one of her friends that we met at last year's 6th Ward Block Party. It turns out that she is part of a woman's Christian prayer group that meets in each others' homes. She informed me that her and her friends have been praying for years that a new church like ours would rise up in Oneonta to meet its unique ministry needs.

We chatted for several minutes about faith and church and how enjoyable life is in the 6th Ward. A few weeks later, after all the snow had melted, I got to meet this neighbor of mine and give her a tour of our building. She promised to pray for our church, which is more valuable to a church planter than any amount of money that could be made shoveling snow.

Day 18: Saint Patrick's Day Designated Driver

By Laura Carpenter

For Day 18 of 30 Days of Kindness, we provided free designated driver transportation to people celebrating Saint Patty's Day.

St. Paddy's Day means heavy traffic at the bars for a Northeast college town like Oneonta, NY. We figured this holiday would be the perfect time to give the Designated Driver AoK our first try. Originally, we had planned to go out on Sunday night, the 17^th, but one of our friends tipped us off that, since St. Paddy's Day falls on a Sunday, more people would be celebrating on Saturday night.

Therefore, we made a quick change of plans and penciled it in for Saturday evening. This meant that on Saturday, we hosted the SkyanI show, took a little break/nap, then headed downtown around 11pm. We brought along our trusty chalkboard sign, wrote on it “Free Ride, No Drink & Drive," parked our car right off Water Street next to the entrances of three bars, and then waited for the people to come rolling in.

I was a bit tired at this point, and it was pretty cold that night, so I spent the evening sitting in the heat of the car. However, Kaler stood outside by the sign and chatted with the crowds. The crowds were young, loud, and very receptive. All night long Kaler was complemented for providing free rides. He was told things like, “Man, that is the most awesome thing I've ever seen!” and, “This is great!” Kaler explained that this was a free service to show God's love, yet several people (many who did not need a ride) insisted that he take a donation. We ended the night with a little money to put back into the AoK fund. 

People were so supportive that, if anybody showed a lack of support, then others would rally to Kaler's defense. The only person objecting to our presence was a drunk guy who walked over, took a good long look at our sign, and then felt the need to kick it down. Everyone around was shocked at his rudeness. A bouncer from one of the bars came out and asked Kaler to point out which guy did the dastardly deed. All in all, we felt like we were in a safe place; we even felt like our little church was accepted by Oneonta's downtown crowd.

Slowly but surely, people began to approach the car for rides. Most were students ready to head back to campus. It hadn't occurred to me before just how many students make the two mile walk in the middle of the cold night back to campus. As we drove, we saw several groups of students plodding along Oneonta's streets trying to get home. The students who caught us for a ride were extremely appreciative. As we drove them home, we talked about the church and various other things. Students had many questions for us and our conversations were meaningful. Most students were a little buzzed, but not slobbering drunk. Several seemed entirely sober and were just looking for a warm ride. They talked to us about Christian fiction books they had read, their objections to Christianity, and their views about Oneonta's student housing. A few said they would check out our church.

Kaler and I really enjoyed this AoK. For years now we have tried connecting with bar-goers, but to no avail. This AoK hit the nail on the head as far as providing us with a way to connect with people at the bars. In two hours we were able to meet a dozen bar hoppers and communicate God's love to them. We care for them. We care for the safety of our community. And we want to do what we can to make the roads safer. We loved doing the free designated driver and we look forward to doing it again!

Day 16: Battery and Light Bulb Giveaway

By Kaler Carpenter

For Day #16 of 30 Days of Kindness we went door-to-door giving away free light bulbs and batteries to shine the light of God's love to our Oneonta community!

Due to the cold weather conditions, I did not want to ask anyone else to spend hours in the cold being miserable; so, determined to make sure that we see all 30 projects  through to completion, I loaded up a basket full of bulbs, bundled up, and trekked out on my own. For this Acts of Kindness, I picked a new neighborhood for us to reach, the Oneonta's 1st Ward.

I had a few memorable experiences with this door-to-door AoK:

• The first house I went to was a homeowner that acted like he wasn't interested, but, I peaked his curiosity since I was doing this AoK when it was so cold outside. He asked me what I was raising money for, I told him about God's love, and the new church. He told me he wasn't interested, but later, he drove by when I was a few houses down, flagged me down, made a donation, and asked me more about the church.
• Many people acted like they didn't need any light-bulbs. I kind of felt like most of these people were just telling me this to get me to leave (like when I passed out batteries door-to-door), but it would be rude for me to call them out on it. As I stood on one lady's porch, she told me that she didn't need any light bulbs. I paused, and then pointed to the porch light above my head that lacked a light bulb. I then showed her my stool that I was carrying and offered to change it for her. She chuckled, gave me the go ahead, and promised to tell her woman's group about our church.
• I met a musician that is the same age as me from Jamaica named Dwayne Rose. Thanks to my love for Jamaican music, we hit it off. He was raised by a Preacher and was very supportive of what I was doing. In fact, Mr. Rose was so supportive, that he sang me a song. His sweet pipes warmed my heart that cold evening and gave me the strength to keep going. Dwayne told me he would like to sing at one of our upcoming shows, I look forward to it.
• At the next house, I got to talk with a middle-aged man who was shunned by the Jehovah's Witnesses when he was a teenager and has been turned off from church and religion ever since. I could tell that he was still hurt from the experience. I got to share with him how we go door-to-door to show love and bless others (not to convert people), and how everybody is welcome at our church, no matter what their background is. We talked for 15 minutes and I would like to think it helped to heal some of his past hurts.

At the end of the night, I had given away almost all of the light bulbs, I told a neighborhood about God's love, and I warmed up with a slice of cold cheese pizza from Joe's.