Our Look and Mission Strategy

A new shiny logo for a new church. I unveil to the world the RM brand. It's simple, it's modern, it's sleek, and it is blue. I think it communicates well the church's mission strategy, this is different from our mission statement--the strategy explains how we live out who we are.
So how will we live then? The idea of movement has a certain flow to it, I would like to be intentional about everything the church does having a purpose to it that naturally flows from one life-giving activity into the next. Connect will flow into discovery, will flow into impact, but it does not stop there, the movement then repeats itself, momentum is gained, and the cycle gives new life.

Connecting People to God.

Moving people from wherever they might be on their spiritual journey, to a relationship with God.

Discovering Purpose in God.
Moving people into an adventure of discovery within a community of believers. Where God's purpose is discovered through participation in discipleship, worship, giving, evangelism and prayer.
Impacting the World for God.
Moving people from a self-centered lifestyle and into a new self-sacrificial life in order to impact a broken world with the Gospel.

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.

December and January Progess

After months of Laura and I remodeling the upstairs apartment, I can almost see a light at the end of the tunnel. The place is not perfect; in fact, there is still much to be done, but I think we have achieved our personal goal of making it a comfortable place to live. We have been doing the hard work of moving, shopping, fixing, painting, and installation, and we have all the houses' systems (electricity, water, heating, etc.) up and running. It is finally starting to feel like a home. It feels like we are not coming home to a cold, empty, vacant building, but to a home that we can unwind in and refocus our priorities.
The progress we have made with the house is crucial towards the church plant. This is because Laura and I favor the relational approach to evangelism, and now we can confidently invite people over to our home. The idea here is that sharing a meal together with somebody in their home is one of the most intimate relationship exercises people can do together in order to build a strong community.
We have only been focusing on a few rooms in the apartment for now, the downstairs has not been touched. We plan for the completed apartment to provide us with a nice place to start an invite-only house church. A successful house church model should let us grow into the downstairs storefront when we are ready to go public. Plus, as of now the renovation work has primarily been done by Laura and myself, and it has been hard and consuming for the both of us. The renovation of the first floor should be much more smoother and enjoyable with the help of a committed group of people that have grown close to each other through a house church/small group.




So after months of hiding behind paint brushes, screwdrivers, copper pipes, and hammers we can finally start to turn our attention back towards the people aspect of church planting! This goal has been the drive behind our labor all along. Laura and I are are excited at the chance to flex our hospitality muscles, so be on the lookout for an open house in the near future at good ole 148 River Street, Oneonta New York.

November Update

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

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



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

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

The Redemption Movement

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

REDEMPTION

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

MOVEMENT

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

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

Approved!

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

Buildings and Newspapers

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

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

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