Apprising Ministries points you to the following tweet today from InterVarsity Press:

Wondering what it might look like if Jesus made church for those on the outside? http://ow.ly/1PKIy (Online source)

The link above goes to something IVP wanted to make sure we saw; it takes us to HollywoodJesus.com and a piece by United Methodist minister Jacob Sahms called What Will It Take To Get Your Attention? The short puff piece concerns the book Pure Scum: The Left-Out, The Right-Brained, And The Grace Of God by Scum of the Earth church pastor Mike Sares.

Sares first came to our attention in November of 2005 as focal point of Expletive Undeleted: Dropping the F-bomb in Church, a story which ran in Christianty Today’s Out of Ur website. Therein we were told:

A few days before Christmas, pastor Mike Sares got a call from his associate. “Mike,” he said, “Mary Kate Makkai has agreed to read one of her poems at the Christmas Eve service. It’s really, really good, but it’s got the F-bomb in it several times, and I just thought I should check with you about that.”…

Mike Sares pastors a congregation called “Scum of the Earth” in Denver, Colorado. No, Scum of the Earth is not your typical congregation. Scum calls itself “a church for the right brained and the left out.” They embrace authenticity, creativity, and those who are on the margins of society. That explains why Sares didn’t immediately take the nuclear option off the table. But he wasn’t quite ready to push the button either…

Satisfied that there existed no scriptural prohibition against reading the poem, Sares finally considered the inevitable fallout the F-bomb would produce… What was he to do? What would you do? Post your comments and come back soon for part two. (Online source)

Yep, you can probably guess what happens. We pick the story back up now with the dead-on-target assessment of Christian apologist Ingrid Schlueter at the orignal Slice of Laodicea website:

In case you missed the second part of the article from Christianity Today on “Pastor” Mike Sares at Scum of the Earth Church, here it is. When a woman in his church wanted to read a poem at the Christmas Eve service laden with the F-word, the pastor says he had a “tough” decision. He didn’t want to hurt the woman by saying no. He decided to hurt the congregation instead. He decided to compromise and have the budding poet reduce the number of F-words in her poem down from 16. Apparently that wasn’t enough to appease everyone. Here’s an article excerpt:

After wrestling with the dilemma Makkai came to what she considered a compromise. Rather than carpet-bombing the congregation with some 16 F-bombs that were in the original poem, she edited it to include just a handful of precision guided F-bombs. To be fair, she struggled greatly with the decision. Even during the service, she asked a group of strangers if the language would offend them.

Before Makkai stood up to read, Sares thought it best to issue a disclaimer. “I told the congregation that the next piece was R-rated,” Sares recalls.

This rebellious woman was allowed to turn sacred worship of our Savior into a showcase for evil. One girl left in tears, another man escorted his mother-in-law out. What a marvelous worship time it was at the appropriately named Scum of the Earth Church. (You do have to wonder what these people expected with a name like that on the church sign.) What a lot this “pastor” will have to answer for someday, when his love for filthiness allowed him to lay stumbling blocks in front of the little ones in his congregation and then boast about it in a national magazine. This isn’t Christianity, this is a demonic perversion and the enemy must be thrilled with these new “churches”. (Online source)

And some people continue to wonder why Jesus has raised up online apologetics and discernment ministries; one of the pioneers was that Slice of Laodicea blog of Ingrid Schlueter, where I was privileged to act as contributor and pastoral advisor. You see, if evanjellyfish hadn’t degenerated into such A Soft And Effeminate Christianity, then Ingrid wouldn’t have had to be “more man then the men.”

Likely you’d never even heard of us; but then again, the above leads us to meet IVP author Mike Sares.

See also:

9 MARKS: INTERVARSITY PRESS SEEMS ADRIFT

PASTOR LARRY DEBRUYN: DISCERNING “X-MEN”

A GOOD REASON FOR A MASS EXODUS FROM EVANGELICALISM…OR TO RECAPTURE ITS ORIGINAL MEANING

THE NEW CHRISTIANITY OF BRIAN MCLAREN AND THE EMERGING CHURCH 

FASCISM IN EMERGING CHURCH AND THE DALAI LAMA IS A MARXIST

THE COALESCING OF THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT WITH APOSTOLIC DOMINIONISM

RICHARD ROHR AND THE EMERGING CHURCH AS THE THIRD WAY