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TORKELSON: A heavenly match for 'scum' of earth

By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published June 16, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Pastor Mike Sares of the Scum of the Earth church looks over the grand and funky former studio of artist Lonnie Hanzon at 935 W. 11th St. in Denver, that he and his congregants are trying to acquire for their church of about 200. The century-old building is a former church.

Photo by Silvia Razgova / Special To The Rocky

Pastor Mike Sares of the Scum of the Earth church looks over the grand and funky former studio of artist Lonnie Hanzon at 935 W. 11th St. in Denver, that he and his congregants are trying to acquire for their church of about 200. The century-old building is a former church.

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It's part abandoned building, part Palace of Versailles. It seems a little haunted, too - but no, that's not a ghostly howling, that's a chorus of "Wows!" as an impromptu tour group takes in the scene:

In the gloom, an exploding riot of color, madcap purples and reds, kabooms into focus. The bathroom - the fabulous "Rococo loo" - is a jeweled fantasy land, with branches of sugarplums dancing overhead.

Veva Heilmann, in her mother's arms, looks up at the ceiling and blurts out her critique:

"Oh my!" gasps the 2-year-old.

We stood Thursday in the eerie ruins of a century-old church at 935 W. 11th St. Until two years ago, it was the studio of artist Lonnie Hanzon (of Coors Field mosaic archway fame). Now his grand and funky studio is in foreclosure.

Could it revert, after many years, to a church again - a church named Scum of the Earth?

The edgy flock with the deliberately nasty name has just 12 days to find out. It stumbled on the distressed property a few weeks ago and has already raised, in cash and pledges, about half the purchase price of $625,000. The goal: to pay cash in full. Its contract to buy expires June 27.

"This is one of those deals when all the effort in the world won't be enough if the Lord isn't behind it," says Pastor Mike Sares. "If he is, it's going to be successful."

Scum was brewed from a raw culture of musicians, poets and actors - street-wise artists yearning to find God. Street people, addicts and the homeless found their way there, too.

"We're reaching the kind of people that most churches don't want to reach out to, or don't know how," says Sares, a former English teacher and musician who founded Scum in his living room in 2000.

The name comes from the Bible, Corinthians 4:11-13, which says, basically, that God is calling the world's riffraff, too.

"I was pretty far gone," wrote Neal Minter in a recent testimony. Minter felt a cut above some others because "I lived under a bridge, but I didn't eat out of a dumpster." Life got a whole lot better when he found "the grace of the Lord Jesus."

Now Scum needs a home, as time runs out on its rented Sunday space at Church in the City on Colfax.

Scum people are holding prayer vigils, fasts and, yes, phone solicitations to raise money. Everybody's pitching in: "If you really want to be humble," Sares says, "it's watching a homeless person put a handful of change into a bucket. It just kills you."

For details on contributing, go to scumoftheearth.net or call 303-832-2586.

Sares is braced for blessing or bust, but this seems a heavenly match: an artist's studio becomes haven to a flock of artists - and others.

"If we have to walk away from this, praise to God's name," Sares says. "But we think this is what he wants for us - to return this place to a house of worship."

torkelsonj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5055