Custom Church Cakes By Brittney

By Kaler Carpenter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brittney and her guitar cake with band No Lost Cause

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

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

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

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

Day 30: Grand Opening - 30 Days of Kindness

By Kaler Carpenter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Day 29: Welcome Wagon - 30 Days of Kindness

"Preparation," By Laura Carpenter

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

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

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

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

"Distribution," By Kaler Carpenter

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

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

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

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

Day 27: Funnel Cake Giveaway - 30 Days of Kindness

By Kaler Carpenter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Kaler Carpenter

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

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

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

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

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

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

Days 25-28: Art Show for OFO

By Kaler Carpenter

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

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

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

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

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

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

Day 24: Free Community Dinner

By Laura Carpenter

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

 

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

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

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

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

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