Pastor finds a new home for his flock

Wesley Weatherford meant it when he tagged his new church with the slogan, "Changing the way you think about church!"

• Photos

Kelly Jasper/Staff

Wesley Weatherford, who moved Oasis Church to Broad Street, has some unusual ways to reach the congregation.

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Weatherford, 28, has been known to string laundry lines through the sanctuary, strewing dirty laundry about to illustrate the "dirty laundry in all of our lives."

The Church of God pastor leads Oasis Church, which in February opened for the first time in a permanent location on Broad Street in Augusta.

The laundry wasn't a one-time stunt, Weatherford said, but an indication of the church's willingness to present the Gospel in new forms.

"We want to be a breath of fresh air," Weatherford said.

He once dragged garbage cans, hubcaps and old bicycles into the church to make a similar point: Old garbage, he said, tends to pile up in our lives.

Weatherford is preaching through a series he calls "At the Movies." Recent sermons were illustrated with movies such as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and The Bucket List .

Oasis Church is rapidly growing, attracting up to 100 people in its first year.

In fall 2008, Weatherford, an Augusta native who grew up at Fleming Church of God, began to meet in the living rooms of a small group of supporters.

By February 2009, they were meeting at Tobacco Road Elementary School.

Weatherford previously worked as a youth pastor in LaGrange, Ga., with his wife, Jessica. She directs the children's ministry at Oasis.

He said that after he was told rent would more than double -- from $1,800 to $4,100 a month -- the church started looking for a more permanent space.

They found it on Broad Street, in a storefront previously used by The WELL church.

The location was important, Weatherford said.

"My desire was to always come back home," the pastor said. "Especially in the south side of Augusta and downtown. Richmond County is where I grew up. It's where I played ball. It's where I got in trouble. It's where I hang out.

"Now, it's where I minister."