By Liz Moomey

liz.moomey@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Senior pastor Bradley Taylor of Outreach Christian Ministries International wanted to be proactive when it came to his Sunday church service.

With the winter weather coming, he decided to move the service to Saturday.

“Safety is the number one priority here,” Taylor said. “I know that folks look forward to Sunday worship and mix that and be proactive. A lot of times we are reactive in situations like this and it’s harder on folks when we’re last minute because of the logistic of trying to figure out how to get there or decide whether to come or not to come. I was thinking why not just get in front of it and that way we can have a great worship experience and then folks can be home with their families and really be safe and really enjoy each other while we wait the storm out.”

Taylor said this is the first time his church has changed the day of the service, typically opting for a Facebook Live service if there is inclement weather.

“I’ve done a Facebook Live service during inclement weather where I just talked online and folks had great response from that,” he said. “That would’ve been my go-to if we were to plan a Sunday service and couldn’t have service. But there are some folks that like the feeling of being here, the experience, the atmosphere and so I thought why not do it.”

He said there isn’t much preparation needed to be done with losing a day of planning. Taylor has a conference call with the ministry to coordinate on Friday, which is when they make sure they have their last minute logistics in order.

Besides the change in day, Taylor said the service will be an express structure.

“We’ll do our express structure, so we can get folks out earlier, get them safe in their homes and prepare for the storms,” he said.

Having a service on Saturday may drive newcomers, Taylor said.

“Folks are saying ‘pastor that’s a great idea, this is wonderful, it makes perfect sense to me,’” Taylor said. “They’ve got behind it so far. It also opens the door for other folks who want to have a worship experience and maybe their church is closing or too far to drive and they just don’t know if they’re going to make it out and this is an opportunity for folks to come together and worship and get that time in on the weekend that we are used to.”

He has been getting the word out through text, email and social media.

With no service on Sunday, Taylor said he plans on enjoying his time with his family, which includes three boys, and watch football.

“It might be nice to actually watch football from the beginning,” he said. “I never get a chance to do that.”

Outreach Christian Ministries International is on 722 West Horah Street in Salisbury. Their service will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday.