- April 25, 2024
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Salty Church outreach has become a weekly event
The morning sky was starting to turn yellow along the horizon, but the ocean was still a sleepy blue last Sunday morning, when members of Salty Church were preparing for the Sunrise Worship Service. They were connecting their guitars and amplifiers and setting up coffee for the expected crowd at Birthplace of Speed Park at the Granada Boulevard beach approach.
The outreach service from Salty Church that started almost five years ago has become a tradition.
Music Minister Brad Yates and lifelong friend Cal Fisher, who serves as pastor, never thought it would become a weekly tradition when they started it along with their wives, Tammy Yates and Coral Fisher.
“People want to come here,” he said. “It just happened.”
Both surfers, they had invited surfer friends to visit their place of worship, Salty Church, a nondenominational church at 221 Vining Court.
“We decided to take the church to them,” he said.
They’ve reached many others besides surfers. People walking their dog or enjoying the sunrise often stop.
There are usually about 50 people at the service but only about 10 if the temperature is down near 40 degrees, said Yates, who is also a local professional musician.
Once, when a cold rain was blowing, they cancelled because they didn’t think anyone would show up, but they heard later from about 10 people.
“They asked us where we were,” he said.
He said they have had visitors who had never been to church or hadn’t been in a long time.
“I’m convinced several people have heard the Good News who otherwise would not have heard it,” he said. “Many people have become part of our faith community. This is God’s work. It’s not our design at all.”
Hans and Ann Swanson said they attend the church whenever they are in town.
“I enjoy the music and the message is always good,” Ann Swanson said.
Hans said he felt “closer to his maker” amid the natural beauty.
Yates said the morning hours are a special time of day.
“Every day is New Year’s Day,” he said, “Every day you can start over.”
Musical instruments, chairs and coffee are transported to the park each Sunday for the service by volunteers, using the church trailer.
Fisher said he calls it a “dawning” church. A lifelong surfer, he said “dawning” is when you go catch the waves as the sun comes up.
“Every sunrise is unique, that’s what’s cool about it,” he said. “It’s a time of quiet. The business of the day hasn’t started. It’s a good time to reflect on life.”
Yates said the reference to salt in the church’s name refers to the Bible passage that says Christians are the “salt of the earth.”
“We say, ‘be real, be relevant, be salty,’” he said.
The Sunrise Service starts each Sunday at 7 a.m.
The service times for Salty Church on Vining Court are 5:30 p.m. on Saturday; and 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and noon on Sunday. The pastor is Robbie O’Brien. For information, visit saltychurch.org.
