Oneonta’s River Street Baptist Church Elects The Redemption Movement’s Kaler Carpenter as New Pastor

After the morning worship service on January 27th at River Street Baptist Church, a special meeting was held where I was elected by the members to be the church’s new pastor, “for a continuous term consistent with the roles and responsibilities outlined in the current church constitution.”

This concludes a two-month pastoral search process initiated by RSBC’s former Interim Pastor Garrett Mercier, who assisted the pastor search committee by reaching out to local ministers he felt would be a good fit.

For the past two months, I have been impressed with how much this small congregation loves and cares for one another, and I am honored to be entrusted to lead a church that has such a rich history in the very neighborhood I’ve called my own over the past 10 years--Oneonta’s 6th Ward. The irony is not lost on me that ever since my wife and I moved to Oneonta in 2009, I’ve actively been searching for an organization or established church to partner with. It turns out that the right group was literally in front of me the entire time. In fact, RSBC at 133 River Street is just one block down from my own home/storefront church at 148 River Street--I can even see the church from my own front yard!

Immediate plans for the church include keeping with the job description laid out by the pastor search committee: conduct pastoral duties, oversee Sunday School and worship services, create ministries to reach the community, and oversee committees. All of this pastoral work is to be done “to grow the church, particularly with the youth.” Additionally, the position is bi-vocational, so I will keep my job as Youth Services Coordinator at Friends of Recovery of Delaware and Otsego Counties.

Pastors Mel Farmer, Frank Westcott, Garrett Mercier, & Kaler Carpenter.  

What’s this Mean for The Redemption Movement?

This move is good news for The Redemption Movement, a church plant founded by my wife in I in 2010 and publicly launched in 2013. You see, despite all of the time, energy, and resources invested into keeping the new church open, it became obvious to myself and church members that the work, due to its small size and how much money was committed to outreach, was unable to sustain itself, and thus requires a partnership with an established church or organization in order to continue. For the past two years, members of The Redemption Movement have been praying about this possibility. Pastor Garrett of RSBC was unaware of this when he called me about the open position last month.

Much to my delight, the members of River Street Baptist Church like, and even wish to support, The Redemption Movement’s outreach ministries, which includes the Kindness Station and the designated driving service, #OneontaRides.

The proposal currently being discussed is to have The Redemption Movement and its outreach activities become a ministry of River Street Baptist Church, as well as have RSBC’s Sunday morning worship services and Sunday School take the place of RM’s Thursday evening gatherings. This would effectively be a merge between the two congregations. Moving forward, the specifics of what such a merge would look like will be discussed and reviewed by members of both congregations--in the spirit of doing what it takes to come together as one congregation, River Street Baptist Church.

Therefore, the Kindness Station and #OneontaRides will continue on Friday nights for the Spring 2019 semester as planned, with the Kindness Team serving the community from its outdoor station on Water Street. Only now, the outreach effort will benefit by having more stability that comes from being connected to an established, self-sustaining church. At this juncture, I don’t know what exactly this support amounts to and I don’t wish to burden RSBC with the demands of this ministry if the small congregation is unable to fund all of its needs. However, even if a lack of funds proves to be the case, then just having an established church take on the outreach ministry as their own will allow for support in more ways than what it currently receives, making such a move worth celebrating for anybody that’s ever supported the Kindness Team in one capacity or another.

On a Personal Note…

The past 10 years has been quite the journey for me and Laura, moving to New York with aspirations of starting a new church and trying outside-the-box ideas in order to reach the community, and now ending up as Pastor of a traditional Baptist church. Twelve years ago, I left the traditional church world behind and gravitated toward church planting, a decision that was perhaps driven much by my youthful ideals and energy. Today, after going through the crucible of planting a church from scratch, I now have a greater appreciation for traditional churches and I find myself just as excited about the challenges of growing an established church as I was about starting a new church, all those years ago. If anything, I feel my church planting experience in the 6th Ward will somehow assist River Street Baptist Church in its mission in a unique way, and I’m anxious to apply the many lessons I’ve learned.

Admittedly, there was a time when I thought that traditional church buildings, wooden pews, and pulpits all hindered church growth. Now, I’ve come to realize that this isn’t the case. Ultimately, if a person feels a strong connection with the Lord and love from the people that belong to a church, then they will consider such a church as their home, no matter if its culture is traditional or modern. And, if letting go of my personal preferences and stepping back into the traditional church world is what the Lord is calling me to, and if that’s what it takes to reach the community, then I am more than happy to obey and embrace once again the same traditional church world that nourished my soul as a teenager and taught me how to love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength.

In fact, for the first time in my life I am officially a Baptist. This is a distinction that I’ve grown comfortable with, thanks to all of the wonderful Baptist brothers and sisters in Christ that I’ve met along the way who have shown kindness to me and my family. And while I stand today amazed and pleasantly surprised at my journey from traditional church ministry to church planting and back to traditional ministry, from Pentecostal to nondenominational to Baptist, from Missouri to New York, from a storefront to a chapel, and from 148 to 133 River Street, I also remain excited and hopeful about where the Lord is taking me in the next 10 years, especially in regards to who all I will meet and the kind of servant I will become. So I encourage you to trust in the Lord with me for you past, present, and future. He will set straight your paths in ways that, though may be unexpected, you sure won’t regret!

I’d love for us to journey together on this new chapter of ministry by joining me and my family at River Street Baptist Church on Sunday morning, Sunday School 9:30am, Worship Service 10:30am.

Big Change: Taking a Break From Sunday Mornings

After 2 years of The Redemption Movement hosting worship services on Sunday mornings at our River Street storefront and at various city parks for Mobile Church, we've made the hard decision to take a break from Sunday morning worship services so that we can better focus on discipleship. Rest assured, we hope to one day host worship services again, but before we do, it's our goal to first grow by way of discipleship so that we can better support the demands of a public gathering.

Though this feels like a setback in what has been a very trying church planting journey, we're excited about this season of change because it allows us to focus on a completely different model of church that is both Biblical and better suited to the culture of Oneonta: multiplication. 

Attractional vs. Movemental

For the attractional model of church, having a worship service as the centerpiece is the way to grow: you attract people to a big activity and hope they come back. One big lesson we've learned from trying this is that the attractional model demands a lot of time and resources in order to maintain it.

For our small church, the wisdom of relying on an attractional worship service has come into question because the effort spent maintaining it takes away from seeing to the true work of the church, discipleship. Plus, we're church planting in a postmodern community where people aren't necessarily looking for an attractive church to attend, and less than 4% of the population is connected to a group that studies the Bible. In fact, one reality that we as missionaries recognize is that we're "starting a new church in a community that doesn't want a new church." Translation: the attractional model simply won't work in our city.

Instead, multiplication is a mustard seed-like approach that prioritizes in making disciples that can make disciples.

Even though doing the work of multiplying a small discipleship group is slow going and time consuming, the payoff is that a community of discipleship groups will be equipped to make more discipleship groups--as modeled by Jesus with his 12 disciples. The community will then be stronger for going through the discipleship process, and the church will be equipped to do great things--whether it be hosting dynamic church services or any other Kingdom initiative requiring a team of committed people.

What's the Future Look Like for RM?

Despite popular opinion, a church isn't defined solely by its worship service. In fact, during this time of transition, there are still plenty of ways for a person to connect with our church and participate in what we're doing. Moving forward, here's what The Redemption Movement will look like:

• Movement Meals: These will be small groups that gather regularly to share a meal and go over discipleship curriculum together. These movement meals will essentially be the heart of our church. A high commitment level is required to participate in these small groups, so it's something that can't be casually checked out. Instead, anyone wishing to participate in our Movement Meals should first talk to Pastor Kaler or one of our church members about it in order to learn what they're about and find out when the next round of Movement Meals will start.   
• Downtown Outreach/Acts of Kindness: We will continue operating the downtown Kindness Station, providing Oneonta with the #OneontaRides free ride service, and performing various acts of kindness. Anybody is welcome to volunteer for this outreach activity. The best way to connect to the outreach efforts of The Redemption Movement is to join the Oneonta Kindness Team Facebook Group, and to tell let Pastor Kaler know of your willingness to help. 
• Monthly Kindness Team Presentations: Once a month we will gather to encourage one another with stories from serving Oneonta with acts of kindness. These meetings will serve as our social space and they're a great event to attend if you're new to RM and wanting to learn more about what we do and meet our people. These meetings will take place at least once a month on a weekday evening, and they'll be held at various venues. Keep an eye on this blog, the Kindness Team FB Group, and our eNewsletter to find out when and where the next presentation will be held.
• Social Events: From time to time we'll offer social events like barbecues and game nights where people can just hang out. At this point, it's not something that's regularly scheduled, but we will announce these social events on social media when they pop up.
• Participating Together at Other Local Churches: Even though we won't be hosting Sunday morning worship services, it doesn't mean that we can't visit other local churches together and worship the Lord. In fact, several local churches have extended an open invitation to our church to participate in their worship services and ministry activities. Now that we're taking Sundays off, we plan to connect with these local churches in this way. Contact Pastor Kaler if you'd like to attend church with the RM crew. We're likely to have lunch together afterward, schedules permitting. 

Lessons Learned From the Last Worship Service Reset

It's eerie how similar this situation feels to 2 years ago when we stopped hosting worship services on Friday evenings for the very same reasons. In fact, in both instances I made the sad announcement around the time of Advent with the River St. storefront freshly decorated for Christmas. However, unlike 2 years ago (where we also had every good intention of transitioning out of the attractional model and into the multiplication model), for this time around, we approach the small group model with better training on how to multiply, as well as better discipleship resources.  On the last go around, we discovered that without a solid plan, it's easy to default back to the attractional model of church that we're all so familiar with.

For The Redemption Movement's upcoming season of intentional discipleship and sharing Movement Meals together, I'm excited about what a move like this means for the future of our church plant.  A community where disciples are making disciples--that's the kind of movement I want to be a part of!

The Couch and the Pew

At this early stage in the life of The Redemption Movement, we are meeting in living rooms. This practice is widely known throughout the church world as “home groups,” or “small groups.” Some churches operate exclusively in this manner and call themselves “home churches.” Other churches offer traditional church services in conjunction with small groups in members homes.

We will use both models; our main gatherings will be in homes until we grow to the point where we can add Friday evening gatherings, and eventually Sunday morning church services. We also plan to continue to meet in homes for small groups with the addition of these two gatherings.

Church services and small groups each have their own strengths and weaknesses when compared to each other. Neither model is perfect, and this is the logic behind our future Friday night gatherings as we attempt to marry the two models of ministry—more on this another time. For now, I want to compare small groups and church services.

Fellowship: Strength—Small Groups.

Meeting in a home, sitting on a couch, sharing a meal. A persons house fosters strong relationships as opening up a home to a stranger is symbolic of making available one's own life. Church services on the other hand give off a more corporate feel (unless the church is super intentional to make their services otherwise), and with this impersonal feel comes the possibility to be just a part of a crowd, duck in late and leave early, and even avoid people (which some people like). It is near impossible to avoid people when you are part of a small group sitting in somebody's living room.

Inviting People: Strength—Church Services

Culturally speaking, church services are the norm, they are what people expect out of church. Even though home groups are how the New Testament church was founded, and have been practiced all throughout church history, they are still perceived as something of an oddity to those outside the church. And it is for this reason it is easier to invite somebody to a church service, where they will know what to expect, as opposed to inviting somebody to a small group in a home and trying to convince them it is real and legitimate church.

Teaching: Strength—Small Groups

With the greater relational intimacy small groups provide, comes a higher level of trust for one to engage in the teachings. This means more questions, group discussion, and greater participation in the lesson. This style of learning is more natural, and engages the student in ways that sitting through a sermon cannot. Although, preaching a sermon is still valuable and is prescribed by the Bible and therefore cannot be cast aside, preaching therefore is a strength of the church service.

Worship: Strength—Church Services

Most homes do not have a stage and sound system, nor can they accommodate large crowds. And it is for this reason church services provide better worship settings. Using the metaphor as the church as the body of Christ, the bigger the body, the bigger the worship bang, and with the American culture entrenched with a performance-concert mindset, most people prefer the worship music of church services. Although, small groups can provide very intimate and simple worship that can also be attractive on it's own merits.

All the other aspects of church, like prayer and communion for example, work nicely in both small groups and church services. Overall, neither model is better than the other, but the strengths and weaknesses do cater to different purposes.

And so it is with this distinction that I announce that we are meeting for small groups every Sunday night at 6pm in the second story apartment. We start with a meal or snacks, followed by Bible teaching with group discussion, and sing a song or two with a guitar. It is a simple time of strong fellowship, very casual, and provides a great opportunity to make new friends. Laura and I both welcome you into our home and into our lives.

Preview

This picture is a preview of the presentation I am putting together for our introduction meetings. I am happy to report that we are very close to having these meetings up and running. This is significant because these meetings will serve as the main entry point for people coming to the church, until we are ready to add public gatherings.
Once we begin, we will be having these introduction meetings monthly at our apartment, they will include a dinner, and I will give a presentation on what The Redemption Movement is all about. This should provide people the opportunity to really get to know my wife and I, and ask specific questions about the church before committing.
This will be a very important step for us. All of our planning will begin to snowball into an actual church with people and ministries! Please keep us and the church in your prayers, thank you.