It was a good run. The dynamic ministry that took place out of a downtown storefront was a dream come true. Beginning with the Good Friday/5-year anniversary celebration on March 30th and lasting until the last week of June, for three months we called 80 Water Street our home. This special time was made possible by all those who generously donated 3-months’ worth of rent money and then some, almost $5,000 in all. Despite this fundraising success, we were unable to secure the steady finances needed in order to sign a multi-year lease at the end of June. Therefore, The Redemption Movement board opted to pass on the property, and now we’re back to where everything started--at “The Ol’ Storefront,” our original home on River Street. Instead of mourning the loss of a great space, we’re choosing to celebrate what a cool opportunity we had to expand the ministry in so many ways for three memorable months. What’s this move back to our past mean for our church’s future? I think highly enough of our many supporters that I’d like to provide you with a comprehensive update. Read More >>
Since moving our church to a downtown storefront in April, we’ve been paying attention to the rhythms of Oneonta’s culture happening right outside our door, and adjusting our strategy accordingly to meet its needs and better connect with its people. One success comes from an idea so simple it’s a wonder why more churches don’t try it--powering on an open sign!
What an Open Sign Communicates
Traditionally used exclusively by businesses, opens signs, as it turns out, communicate a message that’s exactly what churches are working oh-so hard to communicate to the public, “You’re welcome here. Come on in!” Without such a sign displayed for all to see, it’s easy for a skeptical public to pass by a house of worship and perhaps see a bustle of activity, or even read an explicit welcoming message spelled out on its marquee, and then respond with a shrug and general disinterest. Or, maybe feel like they can’t come inside because the worship service has already started and they don’t want to be disruptive. This was the experience we had while ministering out of a River Street storefront for five years.
It Took a Sign to Befriend a Skateboarder
Then one Thursday evening in April while our church family was working together on various building and outreach projects for the new space, Patrick went to the store and purchased a light-up open sign. He found a generic, LED sign and as he was hanging it in the window something remarkable happened. Patrick turned on the sign and I stepped outside to eyeball the best spot to place it. It was then that a man on a skateboard, Wayne, stopped and began to chat with me. I had seen him skateboarding nearby for the previous hour or so, and I even made eye contact and said hi a few times. For whatever reason, none of those friendly interactions persuaded Wayne to stop skateboarding and engage me in conversation. Instead, it took something extra to achieve this feat; something brighter than my smile and more trusting than my persona, like a light-up open sign. Wayne and I then spent the next 10-15 minutes standing outside, talking to each other, getting to know one another. It turns out that he’s heard of the work we do with the designated driving program, and, as a local bartender, he appreciates it. We also discussed several other topics with each other and I found myself really liking the guy. Therefore, I invited him to join me inside the building so I could show him around and introduce him to our church family. He agreed to this and followed me inside. Once he entered our space he was warmly greeted and he spent the next 15-20 minutes chatting with everyone. On the surface, this doesn’t seem like much of a story worth telling, or even celebrating for that matter. However, considering the countless times I tried connecting with someone passing by on River Street during a church gathering, only to be ignored, why, I was both stunned and encouraged by Wayne’s willingness to just come inside and “check us out.”
How an Open Sign is Changing the Way We Do Ministry
From then on out, we continued to turn on the new open sign for church gatherings and community outreaches at the Water Street building, and we continued to see new faces come through our door. In fact, this simple, just-flip-on-the-open-sign approach has even led to successful outreaches on Saturday nights where we saw groups of people come in off the street all throughout the night--without us having to go through the great expense and work of setting up the Kindness Station tent and hospitality table! This sets a precedent of making it possible to utilize the space for outreach much more often (but rest assured that the Kindness Station certainly still has a role). Another way of how we’ve seen the open sign affect ministry is that it actually changes the tone and posture of a worship gathering. This is seen by the fact that, once the open sign is powered on, there’s now a good chance that a random stranger will walk through the doors in the middle of what you’re doing, whether it be singing worship songs or teaching a Bible study.
Personally, I prefer this dynamic because of what it means.
As the preacher, it means that as I prepare a message, I must keep this possibility in mind and have a contingent plan in place to address any questions from someone walking in mid-lesson.
It means thinking less about writing a well-constructed, lengthy sermon where each point builds off previous points, and more about proclaiming Gospel truths that don’t require a whole lot of explanation, yet are still impactful enough to challenge worldviews and set captives free. This is actually the teaching method we see Jesus utilize while preaching in public spaces, with parables being a tool that Jesus seemed to favor the most.
Then there’s the intriguing possibility that, with the open sign on, someone can walk into the worship gathering at any time--someone who may not believe like I do. Keeping this possibility in mind means doing more work to explain a truth claim than what it takes to “preach to the choir” by simply stating, “This is true because the Bible says it is.” This also means taking the time to address doubts and common objections to a truth claim.
Yet, it’s Not About the Sign...
At the end of the day, it’s not about an LED open sign or even having a downtown storefront. These are just tools that we’re able to leverage for the sake of achieving our true mission: to be a people that’s with the neighborhood we’re called to, connecting those around us with the love and hope found in Jesus Christ. To that end, we’ll continually try new ways to be on mission and reach new people. Buildings, signage, tents, designated driving, free snacks, acts of kindness, and more, all of these are nothing more than tools that God gives us so we can be his hands and feet to reach people for His glory.
The Redemption Movement’s ability to continue ministering to people with a great resource like a downtown storefront is totally dependent upon donations from the community. To assist with paying for rent so we can stay in our space, you can give online at: donate.theredemptionmovement.org/movedowntown
Fundraising progress at the time this blog was published.
Or, to learn about additional ways that you can help, reach out to Kaler @ (607) 434-2564.
On March 30th, 2018 we were given the chance to use 80 Water Street as a space to both celebrate Good Friday and The Redemption Movement’s 5-year anniversary. This service also served as a way for our supporters to preview the space we’d like to move into. It was a special time, celebrated by more than 25 friends that represented as many as five local churches... Read More >>
This April, we’ve opened the doors to our new building on Water Street (made possible by the generosity of our friends) on five separate occasions and invited Oneonta’s nightlife inside in order to serve the community’s needs. What follows are three of the most memorable stories from the first three weeks in our new home... Read More >>
It’s been five years since The Redemption Movement officially introduced ourselves to Oneonta by launching a weekly, Friday evening ministry out of a renovated storefront on River Street. Today, we’re presented with a cool opportunity to move operations from River Street to downtown. It’s a move that makes sense in a lot of ways. It’s a move that will stretch us by requiring way more resources than what our little church has. But, it’s also a move that’s been marinating in vision and evolving since long before The Redemption Movement was ever, well, The Redemption Movement.
A Move 14 Years in the Making
The vision for ministering to a college nightlife scene out of a downtown location originated from my own college experience in Springfield, Missouri (2001-04). This is when I first became exposed to the vibrant nightlife with its hordes of young people walking the streets, hanging out, and just going from bar-to-bar looking for something (seemingly anything) to do. As I talked with people from these crowds, I was taken aback by how hungry they were for friendship, how open they were to having honest conversations about God, and I was dismayed at how many people were putting themselves at unnecessary risk by being intoxicated (drunk driving, sexual assault, etc.). I also observed how this was a time when churches had their doors closed, and how few Christians were represented in the mix--primarily because they were resting up for the big show on Sunday morning. Emboldened by what I saw, I approached the church I was interning at and proposed the start of a storefront ministry to be operated downtown during these nightlife hours. The catchy name for this ministry endeavor: Night Church. Even though the church leadership all agreed that it was a good idea, for this particular suburban church, such a venture didn’t fit their target market.
Side Note: As I came to later find out, much of the ideas God put on my heart lie outside the box of traditional church activity, which is ultimately why I am a church planter today.
Soon afterwards, I graduated and moved from Springfield (with its active nightlife) to my hometown where I ministered at a small, rural church. Even though I was making plans to settle down and enjoy married life in a small farming community, I couldn’t shake the vision of Night Church. It wasn’t but a couple of years later when this vision resurfaced in the form of church planting, and it took a couple more years for this vision to develop further and lead me to a location that would be suited for such a ministry--Oneonta, New York.
Like my experience in college, I had a difficult time convincing traditional church planting organizations that an idea like starting a new church in Oneonta was worth investing in (much less starting a night church). Therefore, upon arriving to Oneonta in 2009, Laura and I could only afford a building located a couple of miles from downtown. But no matter. We viewed our River Street headquarters as nice starter building, believing that it would only be a matter of time before the church plant would outgrow the space and support would one day allow for a move downtown. In the meantime, we poured our hearts into Oneonta’s downtown scene, serving the crowds with thousands of free rides home and giving away thousands of dollar’s worth of snacks at the Kindness Station. All the while, we were building trust, networking, forming relationships with like-minded individuals, and connecting with other organizations that cared about Oneonta. Granted, I originally anticipated that such a move from River Street to downtown would take place sooner than this. But, as I’ve come to learn, God’s timing is perfect.
When this opportunity first opened up, myself, the Kindness Team volunteers, and our church members started dreaming:
What if, instead of showing Kindness outside of this location every weekend, we also showed kindness INSIDE?
What if the Kindness Station had a home--a home that wouldn’t require lugging two carloads of gear back and forth every single outing?
And, to make this home happen, what if we didn’t have to move from the very spot that we’re known for--a spot that people KNOW they can go to and find us if they’ve had too much to drink and need a free ride home?
And what if, instead of just giving out free snacks and rides, we’re able to take advantage of a building that would allow us to do much more for the community? Like, what if “Mission Oneonta” was more than a catchy title for a blog and it became the name of an actual downtown mission that served the community’s needs in a variety of helpful ways; such as, being a space for additional community groups, churches, and nonprofits looking to better Oneonta?
What if the Night Church vision God put on my heart back in 2004, actually became a thing?
It’s important to keep in mind that making the move downtown is just the first step toward making this vision a reality. It’s going to take a couple more steps to get such a downtown space where it’s a thriving mission that’s making a positive impact on the community. Step 1: The Kindness Station, Indoors
Upon taking over a downtown space, the first thing we would do is to use the indoor space in conjunction with the already thriving Kindness Station outreach ministry. We’ll still pitch the tent outside and keep a hospitality table stocked with a few goodies and have a heater going, but we’ll also move much of what we do inside. Being indoors will allow us to serve the public with a warmer space, a closet full of clothes instead of just a single rack, public bathrooms that we’ll keep clean (so people will hopefully stop urinating in the parking garage or on the public sidewalks), and a safe and comfortable place to sit, to socialize, to give time for the alcohol to wear off, and to wait for a safe ride home. Plus, having a home indoors will allow us to create and leave up interactive displays designed to educate the public about alcohol consumption. Best of all, NO MORE SHUTTLING GEAR BACK AND FORTH EVERY WEEK! Step 2: Opening Up the Space to Other Community Groups With our small church’s current operations in mind, we’ll likely start off only using the space a few times each week. That makes for a lot of times throughout the rest of the week that other groups can use the space. In addition to a move like this allowing for the building to be used to its maximum potential, it will help us pay the rent if we sublet these rooms to enough groups that may want a regular downtown presence, but not be able to afford renting an entire building. A step like this would be a win for the group subletting the space, a win for us to have help with the rent, and a win for Oneonta to have another community-minded group with a presence downtown. Step 3: Night Church Night Church is the third step because it’s a concept that’s going to take more people to pull off than what our small church currently has available. Therefore, it’s our hope that moving downtown will allow for our church to grow into this and other ministries. At the very least, moving downtown to a place that’s more visible and more accessible will make it easier for visitors to check us out--something that’s historically been a struggle for our church with its out-of-the-way/easy-to-miss location on River Street. In a nutshell, Night Church involves taking several elements of a church worship service, like music, prayer, and teaching, and it stretches these out over the course of a few hours; all within a casual, conversational, coffeehouse-style environment. For example, this could look like taking a typical 3-point sermon and breaking down each point into a short lesson, followed by a time of questions and answers from small groups. It’s actually a model of ministry that we experimented with successfully when we first opened our doors in 2013. We were even able to incorporate additional ideas such as board games, food, and group art projects. However, as much fun as we had doing this night-church style of ministry, it quickly became apparent that such a model is truly designed for a downtown location that lends itself to foot traffic. Keeping with the community-mindedness purpose of the downtown space, it would even be cool if we could have other pastors and other ministries participate in Night Church.
What’s All of This Going to Take?
Truth be told. Taking advantage of this opportunity will only be possible if our friends, church members, other churches, community groups, student groups, etc., all catch this vision too. At the time of this writing, The Redemption Movement has saved up, at most, perhaps enough to cover one month’s rent. This is primarily due to the fact that our church’s approach to finances has always been to give back and bless others with as much as we take in, as exemplified in the free ride service and the Kindness Station. We are now asking for the community’s help to make this move possible. To make this happen, we’ll need to have enough monthly commitments to total at least $1,700 per month. Considering all of the friends we’ve made over the years, this goal actually seems obtainable.
In all of our time here in Oneonta, it’s been rare for our church to ever directly ask people or groups in the community for donations. It’s just not been our style. But now, we’ve got an opportunity before us that I feel is compelling enough to play this fundraising card. If you agree that this is a good thing for Oneonta and that it needs to happen, then a gift of any amount will go a long way. We first and foremost are asking for monthly donations so we can plan our rent expenses accordingly, but one-time gifts will certainly help too and will either go toward moving expenses or be budgeted to help pay the rent. You can give to this cause online, or mail a check to 148 River Street. You can also contact Pastor Kaler at 607-434-2564 to learn about additional ways to give, or to schedule Kaler to come and speak to your church or community group about this need. Thank you friends for dreaming with me, and to see for yourself what such a move could look like, stop by 80 Water Street on Good Friday and join us as we celebrate 5-years of serving Oneonta!
The question I seem to get asked the most these days is, "When will The Redemption Movement do shows again?" In this blog article, I want to update all of our wonderful supporters about this, and share plans regarding what we’re currently up to.
Fans of our live shows will be happy to learn that we've got plans to host live music again... but first, some things need to happen.
What We've Been Up the Past Year
One year ago we were asked by the City of Oneonta to cease hosting shows at our storefront venue. To this day, I still get show requests from bands from all over the U.S. and Canada. It pains me to have to tell these artists (many of whom I call friends) that I've got nothing for them, and it bums me out when I have to turn down my favorite bands, which means that they end up skipping Oneonta altogether.
Booking at Bluefields's Cafe
Last summer, I tried my hand at booking shows at other local venues. Even though I was successful at this, I soon discovered that it's too time consuming to coordinate shows at places that I don't run. It was much easier for me to simply unlock the doors where I live and let bands play downstairs.
After getting our live music shut down, we immediately begin looking into what it would take to obtain a space downtown that we could use as an all-ages music venue/community center/worship space (moving downtown makes more sense than fixing up our River St. storefront to meet the code requirements for live music). After learning about what it would take to rent various spaces, it quickly became obvious that we couldn't afford to make the move.
What about Fundraising?
I considered fundraising. It seemed like an attractive option because virtually every musician I know wanted to play a benefit show. As totally awesome as it would have been to organize one giant fundraising show, I knew that, realistically, such a show wouldn’t raise enough money to cover even one month’s worth of rent.
A major move like this would require some serious fundraising, especially if the new venue were to continue our policy of giving bands 100% of the door. This level of fundraising would require me to hit up every person and business I know with letters, and I would have to do bake-sale-like stuff every weekend. This would literally take up all of my time.
“Well then, how about delegating the fundraising work to others?” I’d love to. Herein we get to the heart of the matter. For the past year, my church never had enough committed people to assist with fundraising, and to this day, we're still shorthanded.
Helpers like Mike Deyo are valuable.
Also, I'd like to point out that, in order to run a live music venue, additional help is needed that goes beyond fundraising. Even if we miraculously were given enough money to purchase a new venue, or someone donated a space, we wouldn't have the personnel to run it.
Running a show requires a team of people. Church services too need a dependable team. Plus, if we had a downtown venue, we would additionally have to come up with enough people to offer something when the space isn't being used for church services and shows. Unfortunately, it would be impossible for me to run a new church/music venue like this with the number of people we currently have coming to our church.
A Case for Growing The Redemption Movement
I've always considered the shows to be an outreach ministry of The Redemption Movement. Therefore, moving our shows downtown would coincide with moving the church downtown, which would require a committed team from the church.
Given our current church attendance, the responsibility of organizing and doing the fundraising to move RM would fall on its Pastor (me). Even though I am capable of making this move happen, given the fact that I'm a bi-vocational minister with a family, finding a new space for RM could only happen at the expense of something else, namely, my time pastoring the church.
Keep in mind that The Redemption Movement’s primary role is to be a church where worship and discipleship take place. Hosting shows isn't our primary purpose (but is sure is a fun secondary activity!). Therefore, if the primary purpose of the church isn't being met, then it’s irresponsible for the church leadership to focus their limited energy on secondary things, like super-fun shows.
I think this lack-of-help situation highlights the importance of why people should commit to a local church. A small church like The Redemption Movement has plans to do some pretty big things in order to bless and better our community. Hosting small shows for local artists is just the beginning. We've got it on our hearts to tackle some of the worst societal issues plaguing our community, which includes the implementation of needed social service programs and spearheading social justice initiatives. However, we can only do as much as our limited numbers and resources will allow.
Hosting and feeding touring bands at The Ol' Storefront.
Can you image how big of an impact The Redemption Movement can make if we had double the number of church members? Triple? Or even if we had 100 people committed to what we're doing down here on River Street? Doing something like establishing a new all-ages arts venue would be a piece of cake. And take for example our designated driving service. Right now we're safely getting about 40 people home per week with just our small group and my personal car. If we had a large group of committed church members, we could get a fleet of vans and do the DD service multiple times per week and see those ride numbers skyrocket.
This doesn't even begin to cover what 100 motivated people could do about addressing poverty and social issues in our community. Big things can happen when the church is united with a clear mission. This is why we include the word "movement" in our name.
Growing the Church By Going Mobile
Therefore, my primary concern right now isn't moving downtown so that I can do shows again, it is to grow The Redemption Movement. To that end, we have a new model of ministry that we will be premiering this Spring called Mobile Church. After spending 18 months unsuccessfully trying to grow the church by inviting people to Friday gatherings at our River Street storefront, we have gone back to the drawing board and come up with a ministry where we go to different neighborhoods, parks, and public places to “have church” where the people are, instead of begging, pleading, and imploring the world to come to us.
Last Sunday our #church met at the park on a nice Spring day and worshipped under a big tree. Much more of this to come with #MobileChurch — Redemption Movement (@RedemptionNY) April 20, 2015
It’s my prayer that this new mobile church model will grow and produce committed people that will desire to lead additional incarnations of mobile church. This multiplication plan will hopefully yield a committed group that will take on the work of moving The Redemption Movement to a downtown venue so that we can one day do shows again.
To Recap
Putting on shows is still a part of our plans, but we need your help in order to pull it off.
If you would like to help us find a new music venue and participate in our community outreach efforts, then we encourage you to talk to us about making a commitment to join The Redemption Movement, and you're welcome to visit us on a Sunday for Mobile Church in order to experience what we're all about.
Mobile Church kicks off this Spring, premiering at Huntington Park at 10am on April 26th. Through May, we'll continue hosting Mobile Church at Huntington Park for the following Sundays: May 3rd, 10th, and 17th. After that, we'll move Mobile Church to a new location which we'll post on this blog and to our social media pages. When it comes to our new Mobile Church model, “If you can find us, you can worship with us.”
On Sunday, April 5th, 10am, The Redemption Movement will host a simple Easter service at our storefront location, located at 148 River St., Oneonta, NY. You and your family and friends are welcome to celebrate with us.
We've chosen "A Simple Easter" as our theme because 1) The teaching will be about the simplicity of faith and how Jesus' resurrection is the foundation for Christian belief, and 2), Simplicity is a value of The Redemption Movement, which might appeal to those who are hesitant to attend an Easter church service because they feel pressure to dress up or intimidated by religious ritual and ornate buildings. Instead, we offer to our community a simple option that's laid back, relational, and free of judgement. So come as you are, dress how you'd like, and spend Easter with us in an old storefront.
Bonus: Hear Firsthand about RM's New Direction!
For us, Easter is a special occasion that's worthy of putting on a Sunday morning church service. Our church isn't in the habit of doing Sunday morning services, preferring instead to try outside-the-box approaches to reach our community, like Friday Evening Gatherings, Sunday Acts of Kindness, and Missional Community Groups. For our church, Easter Sunday 2015 isn't the start of doing regular Sunday morning church services. However, those in attendance will be in for a treat as a vision will be cast for the next incarnation of The Redemption Movement, called Mobile Church; a move that we have worked hard to plan and are very excited to implement this Spring.
So what are your plans for Easter? If you don't have any, then come on down to The Ol' Storefront. It's a simple choice that may turn into the best decision you've ever made.
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.
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!
Sunday Morning Worship Service: 10:30am at River Street Baptist Church, 133 River Street, Oneonta, NY
Sunday School, 9:30am
Connect
Contact usto learn about how you can connect with us. You can visit a worship gathering at River Street Baptist Church, check out an upcoming social activity, serve at the downtown Kindness Station, or grab a slice of pizza or cup of coffee and have a chat with Pastor Kaler about faith, life, church, or whatever.
We serve downtown Oneonta with an act of kindness station, which includes providingfree rides home. Open from Midnight-3am and operating on Fridays and special occasions throughout the school year. Contact us if you'd like to help!
Kaler and Laura married in 2006. They spent their lives in Missouri and met while attending Central Bible College, where they both earned bachelor degrees in ministry. In 2009 they moved to Oneonta, NY to church plant The Redemption Movement. The church launched on Good Friday, 2013. Since the launch, Kaler and Laura have become proud parents, welcoming two sons into the world.
