New Home

Here's a flyer for our new church home we're trying to get

you can see more pictures here


We're trying to raise $600,000 for the building. I know it's quite the task, but I trust that God is still in the business of doing miracles!


WE FOUND A BUILDING!!!

That’s right! Scum has found a place to call home! Where? 935 W. 11th Ave, on the southwest edge of downtown Denver in the heart of the arts district and a mere four blocks from thousands of college students on the Auraria campus. It is an old brick church with a long and storied history, originally built in 1881, and most recently renovated (interior, plumbing, electric, roof) and used as a studio/residence by a local artist. Never before had we seen anything that fit our personality so well – a classic brick façade paired with a quirky, artistic interior, an historic place of worship with a creative flair. Finally, a place where we can see our hopes and dreams come true! 935 W. 11th Ave is the first place we’ve seen that has given all our staff and board members that “this is the one” feeling when viewed in person; it is the same feeling many of us had when we met the one we wanted to marry or walked into the house for sale that would soon become our future home. Do you know that feeling? Isn’t it great?! Needless to say, we are extremely excited and feel that our prayers have been answered. What’s more, we feel that God is excited to see this former house of worship reclaimed for His kingdom.

Here’s the catch – the building is selling for $650,000, has been on the market for two years, is in foreclosure, and has already entered a 60 day notice of public auction which ends on July 3rd. Scum is going to put in an offer of $625,000 contingent upon our ability to secure financing by June 27th. Time is of the essence, to say the least. Through diligent fundraising efforts, the church has raised $100,000 toward purchasing its own facility. However, Scum does not have sufficient resources to obtain a real estate loan through conventional lending institutions. We are seeking to raise enough money to purchase the building outright as well as establish a small reserve fund for renovations and ongoing maintenance. Therefore, in addition to the $100,000 we already have, we need to raise $600,000 by June 27th.

We fully realize that pulling this off will take a miracle. In fact, that is what we expect to happen. We’re praying for it. As friends of Scum who have already helped us out so much, please know that we deeply appreciate you and realize that we would not be in the position we are today without your generosity. We hope that you will continue to partner prayerfully and financially with Scum of the Earth Church in this exciting moment as well as the days to come.

How can you help? We need two things – prayer and money. We may be looking for donations of labor or materials in the future, but at this point we just want to get in the door. At a bare minimum we can begin holding services there and can then develop a long-term plan for fully utilizing the space.

Join us in praying for a miracle. This is something our board members, staff, lay leadership, and congregation are committed to doing over the next month. We want to be incredibly sensitive to what the Holy Spirit has to say, especially since emotions and stress may be running high.

Sponsor square feet. With 5,541 finished and 2,325 unfinished square feet, the cost of the building comes out to about $80 per square foot. Would you be willing to sponsor one or more square feet? You can:
· Mail a check to Scum of the Earth Church. PO Box 101808. Denver, CO 80205. Please make all checks out to Scum of the Earth Church and write “Building” in the memo line.

· Donate online at www.scumoftheearth.net. Follow the donation link on the main page.

· Donate stock. This can be a great strategy for avoiding that nasty capital gains tax.


Get creative! Contact friends and family and hold an impromptu fundraising dinner – we can provide you with materials. Sell some old cds or dvds. Auction off that old record player on Ebay or Craig’s List (I know of one donor who actually sold an old guitar and gave the cash to the Scum building fund). Collect loose change around the home or the office. Whatever.

Pass this email on to anyone you can think of!

What happens if we don’t reach our goal in time? We desire to honor your intentions in helping us obtain this specific property. Scum of the Earth Church will hold all donations in an special account until June 27th. If we fall short, we will contact you to ask if you would your donation to fund our ongoing efforts to find a home or if you would like it returned.

Thank you for your time and consideration. As always, feel free to contact me by phone or email if you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas.

Feel free to check out more pictures of the place here.

Peace be with you,

Timothy Dunbar
Administrative Pastor
Scum of the Earth Church
720.810.0575

The Grieving Heart

When I was five years old, the oldest daughter of the family next door committed suicide. Her death was traumatizing to the whole neighborhood, and her family was devastated.

The mother later published a story of how our relationship developed over the following months. In the story, she recounted how I would go by and sit with her, comfort her, and speak tenderly toward her. At one point, I put on a coon skin cap and a stethoscope and told her I was a country doctor who had come to care for her.

I write this not as a self-aggrandizing statement, but more to show that God has created me to care for people as a pastor and a friend. He has enabled me to, for the time being, do that at Scum of the Earth Church, a gift that I am (mostly) grateful for.

But it is part of who I am, a very large and definitive part.

The problem, though, is that in caring well for others, I oftentimes find myself overwhelmed. It is a necessary part of empathy that enables a pastor to enter into the pain of another person. But it can be crushing at the same time. Not in a co-dependent way wherein an unhealthy attachment is made, but more in a 'Jesus please come back and bring your healing power' sort of way.

As I seek to detach myself from the situation, I understand that there is a necessary part that requires an attachment to be able to pastor a person through the waves of life.

The place of resolution has been the constant reminder that I give myself: It is God who brings about healing, not me. I am not the Savior!

And to see the redemption that God has brought (and is bringing) in my own life gives me hope that this will all come to resolution as we submit ourselves to Him and look toward the Cross. It is this hope that brings about hope and rest in the midst of turmoil.

And it is this hope that sustains us. May we all find the peace of Christ in our lives as we walk through suffering with those whom we love.

Dirty, Homeless, and Ugly

So, I saw a homeless man with a cardboard sign that read, "I'm Dirty, Homeless, and Ugly. Anything helps." It's one of those signs that makes me wince a bit, because it is so untrue to how God sees this man, and because it is the true picture of how the man sees himself. And it is probably how many of the people who drive by him see him as well.

Another reason this sign is so problematic for me is that it seems somewhat reflective of how I have seen myself recently. Not that I am dirty, or homeless (but maybe ugly...your call). But I am in the process of understanding the phrase, "Anything helps."

Recently my support balance dropped significantly, and I have had to ask supporters to increase their giving. It's not the easiest thing in the world, and is quite humbling if the truth be told. But I know that God is working through that process in me to bring me to a place of greater reliance in Him. And by raising support, I know that I am offering my supporters (through prayer and financial giving) to partner with God in the ministry of Scum of the Earth Church.

Additionally, I've had to learn to ask for more help in other areas of my life. As I have been working through some of my own relational stuff, I have begun to realize how hard it is for me in most areas of life to ask for help. I am quick to offer help to someone else, to listen to another person's problems, and to walk in empathy with a friend, but I am somewhat incapable of asking for assistance myself. Because in many ways, I think that by asking for help, receiving a relational hand-out, means that I am Dirty, Homeless, and Ugly.

But in reality, that is not how God sees it. God has placed us all in the community of the Church to allow us to bear one another's burdens. And being in a place of need puts us firmly at the foot of the Cross. And it is there that we, oftentimes through the care of others, encounter the Gospel that is Good News to the poor, freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight to the blind, and release for the oppressed.

May I trust enough in those who God has provided to care for me that my own independence is lost in the cause of interdepence. Anything helps!

Never say good things can't happen

So, I have recently developed a friendship with a Lutheran Vicar, Nadia, who pastors a church called House for all Sinners and Saints. We come from VERY different theological (and therefore) practical perspectives, but through our friendship God has shown Himself bigger than our meager understanding of him.

Nadia is writing a book that everyone should own, entitled Salvation on the Small Screen. In it, she chronicles 24 consecutive hours of Trinity Broadcasting Network, and keeps a running total of how much you would need to spend if you bought all the stuff they pawned off on you each hour.

Over our friendship, we have learned much from each other, and have been mutually encouraged by one another. I was honored that she has chosen to write about me in her last chapter. Here is the excerpt:

Something has happened over the last few months of writing this book that is so beautiful, and nothing I would ever have anticipated: I have a wonderful new friendship with an evangelical pastor. I'm certain this would not have happened even a year ago, but rather than my recent exposure to the "other Christians" serving to further entrench me in my progressive Christian ghetto, it has made me more open to my Christian neighbors so to speak. I'm not sure why this is, perhaps this is due to the fact that I've been forced in the process of criticizing TBN to also look closely at the holes in my own tradition. Anyway, I now have an evangelical friend. He's even the pastor of a church I wrote a heavily mixed review about on my blog, and he still wants to be my friend, which makes me feel even worse in only the way true grace can. He began to show up to the monthly Theology Pub I hostess. Having just graduated from a very conservative seminary, I like to think he comes because he's never actually heard good theology before and he secretly loves it. I'm certain he has an entirely different explanation. The point is that we have become friends. Recently we met to discuss a sermon he was working on the concerned suffering and the cross. I came with a few pages of notes on Luther's Theology of the Cross which he genuinely found intriguing if not helpful. As the discussion continued he mentioned that he was wanting to use a particular passage in Colossians "where Paul was trying to say…" I stopped him. "You know" I offered "that we don't really think Paul wrote Colossians". "Neither do we" he countered "We think God did". We laughed. Hard. And after high-fiveing each other we went on with our conversation. It was so beautiful.

Another time when I was struggling with a particularly unattractive personality defect (let's just call it sin), I didn't think of my Lutheran friends, I thought, I want a good solid evangelical to pray with me, and voila! Josh to the spiritual rescue.

I think in the end Josh and I are able to acknowledge that both of our traditions are inadequate and have found that our friendship helps us both make up for a little part of that inadequacy.

My full immersion into the world of TBN and a Christianity that can seem like it's from another planet entirely, has, rather than strengthening my confidence in the sufficiency of my own Lutheran tradition has actually weakened it. I see the holes.



God is good, isn't He? My friend, Nadia, I am incredibly grateful for you. Keep up His Good Work.

Presence

So, one of the things that I long for in my work is the ministry of presence: the ability to be fully where I am at all times.

I know this is a difficult task for me, as I find that the more busy I am, and the more things I have on my mind, the less likely I am to be able to be where I am at that moment. It is a reality that my mind tends to wander to any number of other things that I know must get done, and this is not alright.

In his book, The Rest of God, Mark Buchannan notes that taking a sabbath is ultimately choosing to realize for one day that we are not God. The entire world around us does not depend on our ability to hold it in place. Rather, we are merely a player in a cosmic masterpiece. We are not the authors or composers or directors.

Christ, when he walked the earth, had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was in the process of reconciling the creation to the Creator. In His work rests the entirety of redemption and salvation. He is God.

Yet we see Him rest. And we see Him recline at tables with sinners and tax collectors. And we see Him present with others, as those who were directly in front of Him were the most pressing need He needed to address. His presence was redemption.

May this be a day of presence for us as we realize that Christ invites us to rest in His redemption as we partner in His work.