Scum of the Earth Church

Country	US
Denomination	Non-denominational
Website	scumoftheearth.net
History
Founder(s)	Mike Sares and Reese Roper
Clergy
Senior pastor(s)	Mike Sares

Scum of the Earth Church (SOTEC or Scum) is an evangelical, non-denominational Christian church located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Denver, Colorado. The church is a member of Alliance for Renewal Churches.^[1] A sister church is located in Seattle, Washington.^[2][3]

Church history

Scum of the Earth Church grew out of a Tuesday night Bible study led by Mike Sares, pastor of Corona Presbyterian Church. The Bible study was attended and co-led by members of the band Five Iron Frenzy. The Bible study moved its meetings into the home of Sares, after he left his pastoring job. At this time, the Bible study members began to discuss the starting a church.

The first organized meeting of the church was held at the Prodigal House in February 2000. At this time, they established a name for the church that would be consistent with its mission. After much deliberation, a majority decision was reached on the current name, which is taken from 1 Corinthians 4:11-13.

While Sares initially expressed concern over possible controversy that could result from the name, he ultimately agreed with the group. After overcrowding became an issue, the church moved to a new building shared with a local Denver ministry, Tollgate. Continued growth and tenant issues lead the church to move to its third location at the now-demolished Church in the City on the corner of Colfax and Josephine in downtown Denver.

In September 2008, the church purchased a building located between Santa Fe Blvd. and Kalamath on 11th Street in Denver. In 2010, due to issues regarding zoning categorization from Historical Building to Residential and back to a religious institution, a number of building code violations were discovered. The church was unable to have meetings there as a result. They met at a church blocks from their building until December 18, 2011, when they returned to their building.

Over the years, guest speakers have included Jay Bakker of Revolution Church, Christian music recording artist Randy Stonehill; Trevor Bron, former pastor of The Next Level (TNL) church, author and professor Craig Blomberg;^[4] professor Douglas Groothuis of Denver Seminary, Bob Beltz of Walden Media and author/public speaker Margaret Feinberg.

Seattle sister church

On August 3, 2003, a sister church was established in Seattle, by John and Raylene Swanger, who had moved to the area from Denver for this purpose. John Swanger was installed as the head pastor of Scum of the Earth Church Seattle. In 2009, Zach McCauley became the head pastor of Scum Seattle, when the Swangers moved back to Denver.

References

External links

• Steven Gunter (July 9, 2000). "An interview with Five Iron Frenzy 07-09-2000". Exitzine.com. 
• Margaret Feinberg (January 2003). "'Scum of the Earth' Outreach Touches Church Outcasts in Denver". Charisma Magazine. Retrieved 2007-05-29. 
• Eric Gorski (December 21, 2003). "The Un-Churches". Denver Post. Retrieved 2007-05-29. 
• Rob Moll (December 30, 2003). "Has the Emergent Church Emerged?". Christianity Today International/Leadership Journal. Retrieved 2007-10-06. 
• Kevin D. Hendricks (2004). "Five Iron Frenzy: Our Last Article Ever". Real Magazine. Retrieved 2007-05-29.  (see subtitle 'Scum of the Earth')
• Skye Jethani (March 14, 2005). "Limping Leaders - For a generation fixated on sprinting, failure is producing a better way". Christianity Today's LeadershipJournal.net. Retrieved 2007-05-29. 
• Peggy Fletcher Stack (March 26, 2005). "SLC church plugs into Christianity's ancient traditions". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 2007-10-06. 
• Ron French (March 27, 2005). "Churches reach out to hipper flock". Detroit News. Retrieved 2007-05-29. 
• Kevin D. Hendricks (October 6, 2005). "The Refuse Web Site". Church Marketing Sucks. Retrieved 2007-10-06. 
• David Yonke (October 15, 2005). "Scum of the Earth tends to the rebels". Toledo Blade. Retrieved 2007-05-29. 
• Skye Jethani (November 8, 2005). "Expletive Undeleted: Dropping the F-bomb in Church". Christianity Today: Out of Ur Blog. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
• Margaret Feinberg (2005). "Looking for Someone? Discovering the Relationships You've Desired". saWorship.com. Retrieved 2007-10-27. 
• John Leland (March 2, 2006). "Rebels With a Cross". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-05-29. 
• Lee Cowan (April 13, 2006). "Christianity, In 21st Century Clothes". CBS Evening News. Retrieved 2007-05-29. 
• John Ingold (April 17, 2006). "Dawn of Faith". Denver Post. 
• Jean Torkelson (May 8, 2006). "Scum offers haven for the unconventional". Rocky Mountain News. Retrieved 2007-05-29. 
• Naomi Zeveloff (August 10–16, 2006). "Personal Space Accepted at Refuse". Colorado Springs Independent. Retrieved 2007-05-29. 
• Mike Sares (August 21, 2006). "Scum of the Church: How the drive for "excellence" is driving young adults from the church". Christianity Today: Out of Ur Blog. Retrieved 2007-10-06. 
• Mike Sares (August 24, 2006). "Scum of the Church 2: What churches should learn from ‘80s youth ministry". Christianity Today: Out of Ur Blog. Retrieved 2007-10-06. 
• Paul Comrie (February 14, 2007). "Precious scum - Casual church welcomes all". The Falcon Newspaper. Retrieved 2007-05-29. 
• Susie Oh (March 30, 2007). "Scum of the Earth welcome at this church". Religion News Service. Retrieved 2007-05-29. 
• Naomi Zeveloff (August 14, 2007). "Sunday Best". Denver Westword Blog: the latest 'word. Retrieved 2007-10-06. 
• Josiah M. Hesse (December 21, 2010). "O Scum all ye faithful: Christianity gets the punk-rock treatment at this Denver church". Denver Westword. Retrieved 2011-08-25.