United Church Adding Saturday Service

United Church of Marco Island’s new pastor, Ed Brandt, is an all-in guy. As a retired Brigadier General in the Army National Guard who was the Deputy Chief of Chaplains, he likes to make things happen. His latest mission is to start a Saturday service at the church. 

 “The whole idea is to reach out to a different demographic,” Brandt said. "So, you think about in-season. People are here. People may want to have a worship, but they don't want to do it Sunday morning because they're at the beach. They can come here, worship and go out to dinner. It could fail. And if it does, oh, at least we tried it.” 

The Saturday service, scheduled to start January 4, will run from 4:30-5:15. And instead of meeting in the sanctuary, the service will be held in Disseler Hall, adjacent to the church’s sanctuary. Brandt feels that will create a more relaxed vibe for the contemporary service. 

“When you walk into a sanctuary,” Brandt said, "that has a whole different impact on a person. When you walk into a Disseler Hall there are chairs around the front and you can let the kids go run. And then if people say, ‘We want to have coffee,' we'll let that be organic and let it swell up from the bottom up and not come with a pre-programmed plan. I think it could work.” 

Even the music will be different. 

"There'll be some of the familiar songs,” Brandt said, "but with a different, upbeat tune to it. And there'll be other songs that are completely contemporary in nature. There'll be no bulletins. It's all on the screen. If people come and their children come along, let the kids run around. You know, that's the place to do it. Instead of worrying about, ‘Oh my God, you need to be quiet.' Just enjoy the time together. And the big pitch we're making is like, you can worship on Saturday night and golf on Sunday morning.” We're gonna just do it January through March. Just in season. See what happens.” 

The Saturday service will utilize audio-visual elements. 

“Organic canned music,” Brandt said. "For the most part, we have these Christian contemporaryworship songs you can buy that have the imagery in the background. The words come up, and then with the sound system in Disseler Hall, it's going to be full and nice. We can use video clips and pictures spruce up the time together a little bit. So, it's not me droning on and on.” 

Even Brandt will be more casual on Saturday nights. 

"It's like a come as you are kind of thing,” Brandt said. "I'll probably be in shorts and a Tommy Bahama shirt. I don't do that on a Sunday morning. It's usually a gown and a tie. But for Saturday night, you can kick back—and the weather will be beautiful. I think what happens is people are sometimes intimidated by walking in a church door. They haven't graced a sanctuary for a long time. Everybody has a stereotype of a church, and there's a little bit of truth to some of the stereotypes how people react. But if we can just erase that, eradicate that, I think that's going to be a good thing to do. We're doing a sermon series based on familiar commercials on TV that you and I may have grown up with or people may be familiar with. Like, ‘Where's the beef?’ Nike's ‘Just do it!,’ ‘Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.’ ‘What's in your wallet?’ 

I find it exciting,” Brandt said. "I mean, to try something new and see if it even gets off the ground, I think will be awesome."