What’s Next for #OneontaRides? Setting Goals for the 2017-18 School Year

The 2016-17 school year has come to a close, which means a summer of rest, reflection, and fundraising for the Kindness Team volunteers that make #OneontaRides possible. 

Before I go into the goals for next year, I want to briefly go over a few highlights of last year: Continue reading blog on donate.theredemptionmovement.org >>

Vietnam Memorial Replica Hits My Hometown, and Then Hits Home

On Memorial Day Weekend 2017, Oneonta had the privilege of hosting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Replica and Mobile Education Center, AKA, The Wall That Heals.

Vietnam Wall replica comes to Oneonta, by @DS_MarkBhttps://t.co/3xs7ExK0cc pic.twitter.com/NJmVlnYgDQ

— The Daily Star (@thedailystar) May 27, 2017

I got to see the wall with my family, and even though my young boys proved too much of a handful for me to have the full experience, the wall nevertheless left an impact on me.

My feelings were that of gratitude, followed by sorrow. Although, my strongest feelings of thankfulness didn't come so much from the names on the wall, but rather, one name that wasn't on the wall. Namely, my own father, a Vietnam War veteran.

My dad saw combat in Vietnam, and he was fortunate to survive the experience and return home. Had he not survived, then I wouldn't be here today, along with my younger sister, and by extension, neither would my two sons, ages 3 and 1.

This thought stuck with me for the rest of the day, and it made me grateful to spend the day with my family, enjoying a Saturday at Gilbert Lake State Park.

What also hit me that day was another, much more grim reality: every name on that wall translates to not just one life being snuffed out by war, but it also means the world was denied that young man living a full life that includes having children. These children would have then gone on to have children of their own, and on and on for generations to come. Herein lies the often-forgotten tragedy that accompanies the loss of every life: when one life is cut short, the consequences of such a loss reach far beyond a headline or a name memorialized on a monument. Indeed, one battlefield casualty also means a casualty for any chance of future children and future generations from the fallen solider, or 57,939 to be exact.

And that's just on the American side of the war.

If every human is made in the image of God, then the lives of the Viet Cong soldiers matter to God too, and the life of every fallen Vietnamese had the same potential to multiply generations of people--all of whom would have been loved by God, as much as God loves Americans. When one takes into account the number of these lives lost, it quickly becomes apparent that a much, much larger wall is needed. From Britannica:

Not until 1995 did Vietnam release its official estimate of war dead: as many as 2 million civilians on both sides and some 1.1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters. The U.S. military has estimated that between 200,000 and 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers died in the war.

After seeing the wall, I was fortunate enough to enjoy spending time at the beach with my family and watch my children play in the sand. The weather was cool so there wasn't a big crowd that day... but would there have been if not for the Vietnam War? How many empty picnic tables would have been occupied that day by families had America not fought that unpopular war half a century ago? In fact, would upstate New York even have a population loss problem if America's history didn't include one major war for each of its generations? It would seem not.

War then, shouldn't be something that's celebrated or glamorized. Violence on any level is detested by God, and war is the ultimate, systematic expression of violence and murder. Instead, God's plan for humanity is that we "be fruitful, and multiply." A planet that is filled with people is a world that is filled with God's glory. If one truly believes this, they will honor human life in all of its forms; whether it be your countryman, your enemy, life in the womb, or those in nursing homes. On the opposite side of the same coin, belief in the image of God and the goodness of His plan for multiplication will cause deep sorrow at the loss of human life in any form, including the loss of an enemy.

This Memorial Day, be thankful for the country we have and remember the fallen soldiers who paid the ultimate price. But more so, be thankful for each and every person that is alive to enjoy this nation. Because ultimately, a country wouldn't be a country, if not for its people.

Visited The Wall that Heals tonight in Oneonta. Powerful, especially at night. #twth #MemorialDayWeekend #travelingwall @VVMF pic.twitter.com/Qtr7zPWnRK

— P.J. (@softball29) May 29, 2017

Kindness Team Wraps Up School Year With 12-Hour Kindness Extravaganza!

It was borderline reckless everything we gave away to downtown Oneonta at the last Kindness Station of the 2016-17 school year. The list includes:

• 190 bottles of water
• 83 Capri Sun juice packs
• Almost 7 gallons of pickles
• 70+ bananas
• 5 pizzas donated by Domino’s
• 73 packs of sandwich crackers
• 100 packs of Pop Tarts
• 100+ granola bars
• 2 pots of coffee
• 10 pounds of chocolate candy
• 150+ sticks of breath freshening gum
• 115 breathalyzer tests administered

And most importantly, 74 safe rides home!

#OneontaRides Kindness Station special #seniorcrawl edition! Find us in front of @LEAFcouncil. #SafeRides all night long 📞 6074342564 🚕 pic.twitter.com/4iSYpiNXXZ

— Redemption Movement (@RedemptionNY) May 11, 2017

Ending the School Year With a Big Party

The event that called for such a ridiculous display of kindness was the Senior Bar Crawl. Each year, our church gets in a rhythm of serving the community with the Kindness Station and #OneontaRides, a rhythm that keeps up with the weekend parties and special drinking events celebrated primarily (but not exclusively) by the city’s student population. The Senior Bar Crawl is special because it represents the last downtown outreach effort by the Kindness Team--sort of like a finish line for a big kindness marathon. When the crawl is over, we pack up for the summer and begin to recharge by actually getting sleep on Friday nights.

• 2015 Crawl: "Milestone: Giving Our 1,000th Free Ride"
• 2016 Crawl: "2,771 Safe Rides Given Caps Off 3-Year Volunteer Effort for #OneontaRides"

This year’s crawl began early, around 3pm. We wanted to serve the seniors from the time the crawl started to when the bars closed. To pull this off, more than 20 volunteers from the Kindness Team worked in shifts and kept operations going for nearly 12 straight hours.

Round 2 of #seniorcrawl with the Kindness Team night crew. The station is fully stocked and #SafeRides all night. #OneontaRides 📞 6074342564 pic.twitter.com/LHVojAXlEx

— Redemption Movement (@RedemptionNY) May 12, 2017

There were times during the crawl when the tent was so packed that it became difficult to maneuver. It was super chaotic, yet a ton of fun!

Kindness Was in High Demand

To give you an idea of just how big of a hit the Kindness Station was, consider the fact that the day prior I looked at the report from last year’s crawl to see just how much supplies I needed to purchase--it turned out to total three times more than what we pass out on a typical Friday night. Well, only 2 hours into this year’s crawl and we needed to make a grocery store run because we were running short. By the end of the night, we made 3 additional trips to the grocery store.

I knew we were in for a busy day, but I totally underestimated the popularity of some of the items on the hospitality table, like pickles! There was a constant line of people wanting pickles, so much so that we had to designate a volunteer to pass them out. Seriously, by the time the sun went down, we had gone through 6 one-gallon jars of pickles. At one point it was rather comical because it seemed like everybody on Water Street either had a giant pickle in their hand or were asking where to get one. One female student even told me that “standing outside the bar on a nice day while eating a pickle was like a dream come true.”

Another constant line that we experienced was for breathalyzer testing. In fact, we had so many people use the breathalyzer that the poor device ceased working after more than 100 uses. Russell Pergola, who was in charge of administering the BAC tests, observed how, “Almost everyone tested blew at least a 0.10.” Keep in mind that intoxication technically occurs at 0.08. Given the fact that the whole idea of a bar crawl is to have at least one alcoholic beverage at each Oneonta bar, these results certainly aren’t surprising.

Story From the Road #1: Helping a Girl Who Could No Longer Crawl

Overall the mood downtown was jovial, yet we did assist a few students that were severely intoxicated. The worst case we saw was actually the first ride of the day.

We got a call from a group of females that we previously interacted with at the station. While there, one girl in the group couldn’t stand on her own, so we directed her to a cot that we had set up for such a purpose. We were able to breathalyze her (which proved a difficult task due to how incoherent she was) and she registered at 0.17. We did our best to convince her friends that it would be best for her to call it a day and to go home. Unfortunately, nobody in the group was ready to call it just yet so they left the station to continue their crawl, taking the inebriated friend with them--but not before I could put a card in their hands with our phone number on it.

Not too long after, I got a call from the group of girls requesting a ride home. They were outside of Tino’s and their friend had experienced some major vomiting, both inside and outside of the restaurant. I was able to have a female volunteer to come with me to assist and within minutes we were there, helping the girl to her feet and guiding her to the car. Before we placed her in the car I was able to clean her off with paper towels, which meant thoroughly wiping down her front, back, arms, and hands. Thankfully, she had nothing left to spew by the time she got in the car, yet we were ready with barf bags.

The ride to campus went smoothly. We tried to convince the group that their friend needed medical attention and we’d be happy to take her to the ER, but the offer was turned down. Although, it was apparent that the girls were planning on cleaning up their friend, changing her clothes, and putting her to bed. So at least I could feel good that she was being taken care of.

Story From the Road #2: Sharing the Gospel With a Curious Friend

Later that night, we gave a meaningful ride to a young man who was eager to learn more about what we are about. He approached us at the Kindness Station because he really wanted to meet us and say thank you. It turns out that we’ve provided several safe rides home to his girlfriend all throughout the school year (many times when she was by herself).

We then gave him a ride home and that’s when he asked us about the purpose of our group. I replied by reciting the mission statement of The Redemption Movement, and one part in particular peaked his interest--where it mentions redeeming lost and hurting people. Earlier, he and I talked religion and he identified as Jewish, yet he didn’t know what I meant when I used the word “lost.” That opened the door to clearly explain the Gospel: how “lost” relates to sin and separation from God, how Jesus died to atone for sin, and how the word lost implies that whatever is lost is worth searching for and worth saving. He left the car and I felt a strong connection with the young man. It turns out that he’s a junior so we committed to continuing the conversation in the Fall when he comes back to Oneonta.

Additional Highlights

Additional highlights of the day include: dozens of seniors we gave rides to over the years stopping by the station to say thank you and goodbye (often punctuated by hugs), some great conversations about faith, and a Domino’s pizza party at closing time. Given the fact that we served hundreds of people over the course of 12 hours, we actually ended up with many more great stories than I have time to tell.

The Kindness Station is a Huge Success But a Huge Expense: Is it Worth It?

Looking back at the immense effort and expense it was for our small church to serve the community in such a big way (both for the crawl and throughout the school year), we have to stop and ask ourselves, “Is it all worth it?” After all, we've sacrificed a lot in order to make the Kindness Station happen every week, like not being able to afford amenities enjoyed by typical churches such as; an impressive building, a vibrant stage ministry, going to conferences, etc.

Indeed, when I look at The Redemption Movement’s use of funds, I do begin to feel like it’s rather irresponsible to spend so much on outreach. Although, soon after thinking these thoughts I’m often reminded of the sacrificial love shown by Jesus Christ, and how it was a joy for Him to serve others in reckless ways that were often scoffed at by the establishment of his day. After looking at the example and teachings of Jesus, I then consider how we use our time and resources to try and be the hands and feet of Christ and I say, yes, it’s all worth it.

What’s Next for #OneontaRides?

With the end of the school year, another chapter closes for #OnoentaRides, having provided 2,006 rides during the past year alone, and 4,777 safe rides total. 

That's a wrap for #OneontaRides 2016-17! 74 rides for #seniorcrawl = 2,006 rides for the year and 4,777 rides since 2013.#Oneonta #outreach pic.twitter.com/00A3ZugG50

— Redemption Movement (@RedemptionNY) May 12, 2017

We now go into a season of rest and fundraising. During the school year, it's extremely difficult to adequately fundraise while doing the work of providing rides on the weekends. So this is the window we have to hopefully raise the money we need to continue to show reckless kindness to our community.

If you would like to partner with us and make this upcoming year of providing safe rides and running the downtown Kindness Station bigger and better than the last four, then you're welcome to volunteer with the Kindness Team and donate to the cause!      

• Join the Kindness Team on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/941400949209700/
• Donate and help fund the 2017-18 school year: http://donate.theredemptionmovement.org/free-ride-oneonta

Pizza Fundraiser & Free Rides Home at Domino's After OH-Fest 2017!

After OH-fest, stop by Domino's and buy pizza by the slice! Only $2.50 per slice and for every slice sold $1 will go to help fund #OneontaRides. Plus, the Kindness Team will be at Domino's with cars and vans to provide the community with free rides home.

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1954803661415794/ 

Since 2013, The Redemption Movement has served the community by providing free rides home after the OH-fest concerts, and weekends in general. This year, we'll continue to serve OH-fest concert goers with safe rides home, and we'll be headquartered at Domino's Pizza, 19 Clinton Plaza--this in addition to being on call for rides, 607-434-2564.

Historically, OH-fest has been one of the busiest nights for #OneontaRides, due to the concert at Neawha Park attracting thousands of people. This year promises to be another big night of giving rides and we're excited about partnering with Domino's to use this opportunity to raise some funds for the safe ride program.

For the past year, Domino's Pizza has been sponsoring The Redemption Movement by providing free pizza on Friday nights to feed the Kindness Team volunteers, as well the downtown bar crowd at closing time. We appreciate Domino's so much and a big thanks to #RamonWow for making this happen!

The Kindness Team with #RamonWow @ Domino's!

 

So There’s this Pile of Rusty Railroad Spikes in My Backyard...

There's a pile of rusty railroad spikes in my backyard from one of my favorite Good Fridays. Back not so long ago, when we did Friday evening gatherings in the ol' storefront, I preached a sermon about Jesus' death. That morning, I walked down Gilbert street to Oneonta’s old rail yard and collected a pile of metal spikes, enough for everyone. 

When it came time to preach, I passed out the spikes for people to hold. I then described the agonizing details of just how the Romans crucified their prisoners. Similar to how people handle and consume bread and wine as a physical illustration that memorializes Jesus’ sacrifice, I asked those in attendance to hold the spikes and allow for the texture of the metal to weigh on their hearts and minds. And then to remember that our Lord willingly had his hands and feet violently pierced by a similar object. It was a very sobering thought.

But that’s not all. While at the rail yards on that crisp spring morning, I also found a large, discarded chunk of a railroad tie. I deduced that this railroad tie has a similar look to the paintings of the crucifixion that I’ve seen. So I brought it home with me too.

Before that same Good Friday service, I chopped the railroad tie into several small pieces, enough for everyone. During the sermon, I passed out chunks of the old railroad tie along with the spikes. Then, in similar fashion to how I explained the spike, I asked each person to hold a piece of the tie and described the crucifixion.

The wood was coarse and it splintered easily, so I asked everyone to focus on the physical sensation of wood-on-skin. I then explained how Jesus’ entire body hung for hours on a similarly-textured wooden cross, and how Jesus felt the roughness of this wood on every part of his backside, due to his nakedness. Additionally, I mentioned how Jesus’ skin was extra sensitive against the splintery wood, due to the open wounds on his backside from a torturous whipping he received just hours prior. Truly a terrible thought. Yet, that is the terrible price he paid for my sins.

Today, there’s still those same railroad spikes in my backyard, and when I see them, I think of Jesus.

Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Volunteer With #OneontaRides

The Redemption Movement is a church plant located in Oneonta, New York, an upstate college town home to both Hartwick College and SUNY Oneonta. On weekends and special occasions, RM coordinates a volunteer group called the Oneonta Kindness Team that operates a hospitality table on Water Street, as well as provides free rides home to all who need one.

Anybody is welcome to join the Kindness Team, a group represented by students from the two colleges, members from multiple churches and different faith backgrounds, different community groups, and people of all ages. Why should you volunteer with #OneontaRides? Here's a list of our top 10 reasons!

1. You'll meet hundreds of people and make dozens of new friends.

2. You can eat as much food and snacks as you want from the Kindness Station.

3. You get to enjoy a 5-hour road trip to nowhere in particular. 

4. A free pizza party from Domino's every Friday night at last call!

5. You'll look super sharp in your blue blazer.

6. You'll quickly learn how to get around Oneonta.

7. People watching is more entertaining than television.

8. The sheer suspense of waiting for the breathalyzer to calculate someone's BAC.

9. That look on someone's face when you tell them, "Yes, it's really free."

10. And most importantly YOU, yes you, will be making a difference in the Oneonta community by making it a safer place!

To volunteer with the Kindness Team, join the Kindness Team Facebook Group and/or let Kaler know that you're interested by calling or texting 607-434-2564.
    

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!