[4] Kinsey was economically successful, and was at various times a carpenter, a farmer, proprietor of a general store, owner of a tree nursery, and publisher.
[3][6][7] He was a deacon[4] and was elected in 1870 as a recognized minister of Lower Stillwater Brethren congregation in Randolph Township near Dayton, Ohio.
[14][17][18] It was first published on 1 March 1870[10][15][16] as an eight-page monthly,[12][13][16] composed of scriptural interpretations, exhortations to piety, and news on church affairs.
[21] In The Vindicator, Kinsey rejected that the church had any authority to change or adapt the order, as it was based upon Scripture.
Meanwhile, the faction that became the Brethren Church rejected any need for a unified church order or agreement on practices not explicitly defined in Christian scripture, and sought to eliminate some Brethren traditions which they felt lacked support from scriptures.
[8] In 1878, Kinsey was one of four men appointed and financially supported by the Southern Ohio District of the Brethren to engage in missionary work in Kentucky.
[32][33] The Vindicator set a precedent of conservative periodicals that was followed by Mennonite George R. Brunk's Sword and Trumpet.