30 Days of Kindness Calendar

*Update 6-11-2013. The 30 Days of Kindness Campaign was a success! Many people were blessed and the church is launched! You can read the story of each acts of kindness by scrolling down past the picture of the calendar, and then clicking on the link with the date and the description of the AoK. 

Thanks to the generous support of our friends (pledging over $1,200 to date), The Redemption Movement is excited to present to our Oneonta, NY community 30 Days of Kindness!

Starting February 28, volunteers will be hitting the streets of Oneonta, performing intentional acts of kindness to random strangers in order to spread the love of God. On day #30, Good Friday, the community is invited to join us in our most special act of kindness, the celebration of the launch of The Redemption Movement church on March 29.

We have a variety of activities that covers every age and take us to every neighborhood. There will also be plenty of giveaways and services provided, not only to people, but also to the beatification of our city. We want to encourage as many people as possible to participate and join us in spreading kindness. Click on our activities calendar to enlarge it, find at least 1 act that you would like to contribute to, and then contact us to learn more about how you can get involved!*    

*Check this page for changes in the schedule. Any changes will be posted here with an update to this blog article. The most recent update was made Feb. 28. (Bagging groceries on March 3rd was replaced with a car rinse).

A brief description of each project is as follows:

• Feb. 28: "Bathroom Cleaning." AoK teams will volunteer to clean bathrooms of local businesses. Teams meet at RM at 5:30pm.

• March 1: "The Big Tip." AoK teams will briefly dine at local restaurants on an inexpensive menu item, and then leave a sizable tip for the waiter or waitress. Teams meet at RM at 5:30pm.  

• March 2: "Free Bus Rides." AoK teams will make sure they are in the front of the line at bus stops, get on the bus, and pay for everybody's tickets behind them. Teams meet at RM at 1pm.

• March 3: "Car Rinse and Cocoa." Still too cold for a car wash, we will set up a power washer in front of The Redemption Movement and rinse salt off of cars for free! We will also be passing out hot cocoa. 1-4pm at RM.

• March 4: "Free Laundry." We will visit different laundry mats and preload the machines with coins. Teams meet at RM at 5:30pm.

• March 5: "Shopping Bag Giveaway." We will visit different grocery stores and giveaway free reusable shopping bags to customers waiting in line. Teams meet at RM at 5:30.

• March 6: "Hot Dog Giveaway." AoK teams will disperse around the city giving free hot dog lunches to people. Teams meet at RM at 11am.

• March 8: "Shovel Sidewalks" After Oneonta experienced a snowstorm on March 7, we went out and shoveled some sidewalks.

• March 8: "Free Studio Pictures." A professional photographer from Directive will provide free studio pictures for the public, along with 1 free print provided by The Village Printer. Photo sessions will last from 5:30-8:30pm and take place at the photographers studio at 189 Main St.

• March 9: "Free Oil Change." An AoK team will change your oil for free. Event will take place at The Redemption Movement beginning at 1pm and lasting until we are out of oil. Refreshments will be provided for inside.

• March 10: "Free Haircuts." Max Pianka will be giving free haircuts at The Redemption Movement. Haircuts will be given from 1-4pm.

• March 11: "Garden Seed Giveaway" A booth will be set up downtown where we will pass out a variety of free garden seeds. 5:30pm-dark (this will be daylight savings time).

• March 12: "Battery Giveaway." AoK teams will go door-to-door offering free batteries of different sizes for people's appliances. Meet at RM at 5:30pm.
•  March 13: "Entertain Assisted Living Home." We will visit a local assisted living home and provide free entertainment. Teams meet at RM at 5:30, then travel together to the Hampshire House for a 6pm performance.

• March 14: "Bathroom Cleaning #2" Too cold to go door-to-door, we decided to clean bathrooms instead.

• March 15: "Battery and Light Bulb Giveaway." Anything left over from the previous giveaways will be passed out door-to-door on this day. Meet at RM at 5:30pm.

• March 16: "Folk Show for the Hungry." The Redemption Movement will host a benefit show to raise money for a local food bank. Band: SkyanI. Doors open 5:30. Cost: $5 or a bag or nonperishable groceries. Contact us if your band wants to play!

• March 17: "St. Patrick's Driver." AoK teams will be offering their services as designated drivers. Meet at RM at 8:30pm, contact us in advanced about volunteering your vehicle.

• March 18: "Snow Shoveling #2" 

• March 19: "Interior Painting"

• March 20: "Window Washing." AoK teams will clean windows for local businesses. Meet at RM at 5:30.

• March 21: "Walking Dogs." If you live in the city limits, and you want your dog walked, then give us a call and we will show up and do it. Volunteers will meet at RM at 5:30 to receive a list on who wants there dog walked.

• March 22: "Parents Night Out." Parents, drop off your kids for babysitting at The Redemption Movement, and go out for a date night at Joe Ruffino's Restaurant. Joe and The Redemption Movement will cover your meal! Volunteers who will be taking care of the children, meet at RM at 5:30pm. *Participants please contact us to RSVP ASAP so that we can budget for the food.

• March 23: "Free Community Dinner." The community is invited to join us for dinner at The Redemption Movement for a free meal. Dinner begins at 5:30, helpers please arrive at 4pm.

• March 24-27: "Art Show for OFO." Calling all local artist, make some money and sell your art at our first art show. Proceeds from the sales will go to help out Opportunities for Otsego. This will be at The Redemption Movement with doors opening at 1pm and staying open until 8pm. Volunteers and artist will be hanging art starting at 9am.

• March 25: "Car Rinse #2." Our AoK team will rinse your car for you for free at Stewart's. Car rinse begins at 4pm, meet at Stewart's.

• March 26: "Funnel Cake Giveaway." We will be setting up a deep fryer in the park and giving away funnel cakes, free and fresh. Team meet at RM at 5:00pm.

• March 27: "Art Show Extended."

• March 28: "Welcome Wagon." Our teams will prepare "Welcome to Oneonta" gift bags and deliver it to the homes of new residents, along with a big smile. Delivery teams will meet at RM at 5:30pm. Volunteers looking to help prepare the gift bags will meet at RM at 4pm.

• March 29: "Grand Opening Gift." To mark the beginning of our weekly Friday evening public ministry to Oneonta, each family will receive a gift bag. Doors open at 6pm, will last until late, come and go as you please! 

Be sure to check out our 30 Days of Kindness section on our blog, as well as our Facebook page, to see how our 30 Day campaign is going!

Welcome to Our Church

We are often asked, "What type of of church is The Redemption Movement?" Or, "What makes your church different?" Here is a short video that does a great job answering these questions. 

God's Radical and Unconditional Love

At our church, we believe God's love is for everybody. It is His love that changes us and draws people unto Him. God's love is powerful and can piece back together those who are broken, heal the sick, and give life meaning.

The Redemption Movement is 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.

And it is through the church, through His people, how God has chosen to show his love to all people.

We believe that Jesus is God and the Bible is the Word of God.

While our methods may be different, experimental, and new, our message is in line with the ancient scriptures and we believe, teach, and live out the Gospel of Jesus Christ. At the core of our beliefs is a conviction that Jesus is God, and that he lived a perfect life that was willed by God to end on a cross, dying for the sins of mankind. But Jesus' story does not end on the cross, for He gloriously rose from the grave, established His church, and now rules and reigns at God's right hand.

Converting vs. Inviting

While we do believe that salvation is available to those who repent and believe, we are not going to pressure people to convert. We will love people, invite them to know the Savior that we personally know, and let God's Holy Spirit do the work of changing lives (not us and our methodologies). 

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

As Christians, this means that we are to show others the unconditional love of the God, instead of displaying a holier-than-thou attitude and being insensitive with our religious practices. Ultimately, it is is not about religion, it is about a personal relationship with God, lived out in a community of people known as the church.

Our Dreams, Passions, and Desires are for God's Glory

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.

The Gospel is Safe Yet Dangerous 

While God's love does change us for the better, living in obedience to God is not without pain and suffering. Yet it is the love of God that gives meaning to our suffering and gives us the strength to make it through. 

Preparing for 30 Days of Kindness

In preparation for the launch of the Redemption Movement, we are excited announce 30 Days of Kindness!

Our goal is to complete 30 acts of kindness in the 30 days before the Good Friday launch, with our launch being on the 30th day. This will establish the church as a group of people with a servant's heart, and provide us with a personal and meaningful connection to our community.

We have been running an Acts of Kindness ministry since we began working on the church. We love doing it and have seen many people blessed by it. We have done a variety of acts of kindness, ranging from cleaning toilets, to giving away funnel cakes, to raking leaves, and more! In the past, our efforts have been small, due to a small group of volunteers, sporadic work schedules, and limited resources, but even small acts have produced big fruit. For this 30 Day Campaign, we are wanting to go big and get as many people involved as possible!

In order to do something big, you first have to dream big. We have dreamed up a big acts of kindness wish list full of activities that we want to perform to make a maximum impact on our community. Between now and Feb. 22,* we will be fundraising so that we can start our 30 Days of Kindness campaign by Feb. 28. We have divided our list by projects, and we are asking you to review the list, pick a project that tugs at your heart, and sponsor it with the amount that the project cost.

This blog article will serve as our master page to keep track of the fundraising. As people sponsor projects, we will mark on this page which ones have been sponsored and keep a running total (it is okay to double sponsor an act if you want to see a project be twice as big). After the gifts are totaled up, we will publish an official 30 Days of Kindness calendar; this will allow us to organize volunteers and get more people involved. If we do not meet 100% of our fundraising goal, then we will still proceed with the 30 Days of Kindness campaign and just recycle a few of the inexpensive projects. Here is our acts of kindness wish list! (click to enlarge)

To help break down this list, we have organized it from most expensive to least expensive. Some of these projects are even free to put on. This is the list we will use to keep track of our fundraising efforts

List Updated on Feb. 27

$500 Help at the Pump
$350 Free Oil Change
$300 Launch Gift Bags
$150 Parents Night Out 1
$150 Parents Night Out 2
$100 Free Community Dinner
$100 The Big Tip
$75  Welcome Wagon
$50  PLEDGED! Hot Dog Giveaway
$50  Battery Giveaway
$50  PLEDGED! Free Bus Rides
$40  Light Bulb Giveaway 
$35  PLEDGED! Free Laundry
$35  Shopping Bag Giveaway 
$35  Rock Show for the Hungry
$35  Art Show
$35  Funnel Cake Giveaway
$25  Paint Graffiti
$25  PLEDGED! Thank the Vets
$25  PLEDGED! St. Patrick's Day Driver
$15  PLEDGED! Dog Walk
$10  PLEDGED! Car Wash
$10  PLEDGED! Seed Giveaway
$10  Trash Pickup
$10  Bathroom Cleaning
$10  Window Washing
No cost! Entertain Nursing Home
No cost! Bag Groceries
DONATED! Free Studio Photos
DONATED! Free Hair Cuts

Total Amount pledged for AoK: $1242!
The 30 Days of Kindness calender has been published and we will be doing all but one the projects that we sought support towards!

*30 Days of Kindness starts on Feb. 28, but we will be accepting donations all throughout the campaign to cover additional cost and purchase more supplies.
When we originally planned this, we thought the AoK teams would be very small, news of this project is beginning to spread and it looks like we will many more volunteers! This is wonderful news and it will take extra funds put more supplies in more people's hands. Any additional funds that we can raise will go a long way. This is an outreach project, we are not seeking donations, therefore expenses will add up fairly quickly

This 30 Days of Kindness campaign will be chronicled on this blog and on Facebook. Be sure to check back often to track the progress of our 30 Days of Kindness and the launch of the Redemption Movement! Feel free to contact us if you would like to participate. 

 

Kindness Update Fall/Winter 2012

There is a lot of work to be done to prepare for the launch of The Redemption Movement on Good Friday 2013. Despite the busyness of our schedules, we were able to do a few more Acts of Kindesses before the end of 2012.

In October, we drove around the neighborhood and raked leaves for people and transported the leaves to the dump. This was an especially enjoyable outing as we got to befriend several of the homeowners as they kept us company while we raked. This provided us a great opportunity to share about the church!

We were very happy in particular to bless a busy working parent in our neighborhood who had this to say, "Thank you for helping me with my leaves. I'm a single Mom with not a lot of time for anything but working. You allowed me some extra time for hanging with my son."  < That's why we do what we do!

In December, we set up a table in front of the Monkey Barrel Toy Store and offered free wrapping for Christmas presents. We went through several rolls of paper, and enjoyed meeting the shop owners in the new mini-mall complex at Ford & Main.


We are also happy to report that during this same time period, our church has been the recipient of some very kind acts from SUNY Oneonta students! Members of the Music Industry Club have volunteered their time to help us work on the building. It has been enjoyable to work with students that have a heart to give back, and getting to know these students has really encouraged our church to do more for local artist.

As we get closer to our church launch date, we have big plans to ramp up our Acts of Kindness Ministry by doing 30 Days of Kindness. This will be a huge kindness campaign were we do 30 different acts of kindness for 30 consecutive days, with our launch being on the 30th day. 30 Days of Kindness will start on Feb. 28, and we will be fundraising to make it happen between now and Feb. 22. Contact us if you want to help!

You May Have Met Us @

We have been doing a better job documenting our Acts of Kindness Ministry since we got a church Facebook page. But there are several projects that we have done that we have not yet mentioned on our blog. Here is a comprehensive and fun list of all of our projects we did before May of 2012.

I love this list because it brings out 2 big points that I believe in when doing these acts of kindness.

1. We do these to meet people. These acts of kindness are not random acts. Yes, these AoKs are random in the sense that we do not know who we are going to meet. But all of these acts have been intentionally picked out to provide us with an opportunity to talk to people and get to know them.

2. We do these acts to show God's Love. James 2:18 says, "I will show you my faith by what I do." We have a lot of faith in God's love, and we show our faith with these acts of kindness. That is why, with every act, we are sure to tell people, "We are doing this to show God's love."

As we prepare to launch The Redemption Movement on Good Friday, 2013. We will be stepping up our acts of kindness activities with an AoK campaign we are calling 30 Days of Kindness. 

 

This will be a big project for our little church as we do 30 straight days of kindness projects, with the 30th day being the launch of our church! Many of these projects will be small and inexpensive acts done by a few people, but a few of these projects are going to be large and require extra funding. Contact us if you would like to help out. 30 Days of Kindness kicks off on Feb. 28th.

 

Local IT Company Directive Features Kaler & Laura Carpenter in Newsletter

In September 2012, Oneonta, NY IT Company Directive added Kaler Carpenter, Pastor of The Redemption Movement, to their content team. Pastor Kaler and his wife Laura were recently featured in Directive's newsletter. The write up is as follows:

Directive Presents: Kaler Carpenter

Directive would like to welcome Kaler Carpenter to our content team. Kaler and his wife Laura moved to Oneonta, NY in 2009 in order to start a new church called The Redemption Movement. Originally from Missouri, Kaler and Laura met each other while attending Central Bible College in Springfield, MO. They have experience working with underprivileged teenagers, and they are currently renovating an old storefront to launch their church out of on Good Friday.

Directive and The Redemption Movement both have a heart to give back to the community. At Directive, we set aside 1% of our profits to give donations and services to local nonprofits. The Redemption Movement has an active acts of kindness ministry and is using their building as a community center where local artists can perform. The Redemption Movement also has plans to provide the community with needed social services. Directive has made websites for several nonprofits and will be providing a website for The Redemption Movement.

Kaler looks forward to representing Directive at local community events, and he enjoys writing blogs and newsletter articles for the company. Kaler also enjoys playing his saxophone, and is delighted that many of the staff members at Directive are equally enthusiastic about gaming and science fiction.

Our $2,600.00 Outreach to Oneonta NY

By Kaler Carpenter
You can describe The Redemption Movement as a low-to-no budget church plant. Going against the advice of traditional church planting organizations, Laura and myself moved to Oneonta in 2009 with zero support, not knowing anybody in NY, and having just enough money saved up to put a down payment on a vacant storefront on River Street. Some may call it crazy, we call it faith, whatever you call it, this church has been a lot of hard work.

Our Taxing Situation

In the face of such hard work, like remodeling and working full time jobs instead of fundraising, we are sometimes tempted to take shortcuts. Having shortcuts placed before us causes conflict in our hearts. Jesus teaches that the easy way will often be in opposition to God's ways (that's why it's called the straight and narrow). One easy way we could have taken with the church is in regards to taxes.

Here's our taxing situation: back in 2009, we went before the Oneonta City Planning Committee to request that the River St. property purpose be changed for church use. By one vote and God's grace the measure passed, we then purchased the building and began working on our money pit. The agonizingly high New York property tax bills soon followed. Paying these tax bills took a lot of money away from the new church and made the work go much slower. Although, God has been very faithful in providing for our needs.

We are well aware that it's within the right of every church to seek exemption from property taxes. This thought crosses our minds with every check we write to pay our tax bill. We could have spent the last 4 years doing whatever it takes to get our property off the tax rolls; and in 4 years time, we surely could have figured it out. I mean, in the last 3 years we were able to write founding documents like articles of incorporation and church bylaws, and we put together a board of trustees and officers; therefore, achieving a tax exemption status for property tax is well within our capabilities, yet we chose not to. This is because of our values.

Taking People's Religious Objections Seriously

As a new church, one of our driving values is to strip away all the religious objections that people have against church, while remaining true to the Gospel. We believe that by taking this approach, it will make it easier for people to connect with God by discovering His love through His church. This is commanded in scripture; Acts 15:19, “We (the church) should not make it difficult (be dumb with our religion) for the Gentiles (non Jews, or modern application: irreligious people) who are turning to God (people who are genuinely seeking to know God).”

In this spirit, we have scrapped several objectionable religious practices, making it so that the only thing standing in the way of a seeker of truth turning their faith towards God is the cross of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:22-24). For us, ministering in a postmodern Northeast American culture, this means getting rid of Sunday morning church services, allowing women to teach, happily letting people who believe differently than we do use our space, removing the formal and judgmental tone from our teachings, and much more.

Showing God's Love By Paying Taxes

One objection that keeps many people from stepping foot inside a church is the issue of religion and taxes. Churches do not have to pay local taxes and many people believe this is unfair or even downright criminal. We believe that if churches skipping out on taxes is keeping a person from discovering the grace, hope, freedom, peace, joy, and love found in the body of Christ (the church), then we will gladly shell out a few thousand dollars per year ($2,625.25 to be exact) if that is what it takes to remove a religious objection and open one heart to the Gospel.

Making the commitment to pay taxes is a sacrifice for us (but hey, making sacrifices is what it means to be a Christian). We know we can take that money and do a lot of good with it by blessing the community of Oneonta in ways that the government, with all of its red tape, simply cannot. Generations ago, the entire nation felt the same way, which is why these tax exempt laws were put into place; but, times have changed and the majority of the public now believe the church is a bunch of crooks whose lack of paying taxes contributes to people's ever-growing tax burden.

Finical Abuse in Churches

I can think of several good examples of churches that are using their tax-free dollars to bless their communities with noble charity works. But you know what? I can also think of more examples of churches that are only using the money to ornately decorate their buildings while giving their wealthy Pastor another raise. As Christians, we apologize for this abuse of your hard earned tax dollars at the hands of religious people. Please accept our tax dollars as a first step towards making amends. Also, we want to do more than just pay bills, we want to show love to our community by investing time and money into making Oneonta a better place.

The City of Oneonta's Unique Tax-Exemption Dilemma

Normally, I do not like to shine the spotlight on church fiances; but I feel like in light of how strongly many people feel on this issue, shining a light on our actions can help to mend church-community relations. If you do not think this is an issue, then read the online public comments of the local newspaper every time a tax problem is discussed. Half of the comments say something to the tune of, “Tax the churches!” In fact, the not-for-profit institutions within the Oneonta city limits owns 51% of the real property value in the city. Due to this reality, many local residents hold nonprofits and churches responsible for their high tax bills. 

I would like to illustrate this point further by telling two brief stories. The first one is when I encountered a local business owner in May. It was while I was inviting Oneonta 6th Ward businesses to participate in our neighborhood block party by competing in a chili cook off (I was purposely not soliciting funds). One hardened 6th Ward Oneonta business owner replied to my introduction by scowling, “Church huh? Must be nice to find a way out of paying taxes!”

Another encounter I had was with a lady who was walking on the sidewalk in front of our building. She looked at our Redemption Movement sign and, not knowing that I was within earshot, said out loud to herself, "Oh great, this place doesn't have to pay taxes." As she continued walking, I called out to her about wanting to talk about our tax situation but she ignored me.

We Pay Taxes Because we Care for Our Community

Therefore, instead of morning the loss of $2,600, and pouting about how the money could have gone towards opening up our building earlier or reaching more people with God's love, I have decided to pay our taxes and make the amount public knowledge. We pray for our government and hope that these tax dollars will go to genuinely help people in need. The mission of The Redemption Movement is to bless our community, therefore we view our taxes as a $2,600 community outreach expense, and we will happily find ways to bless our town with what little we have. "Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s”--Jesus.