Evangelical confesses to 'sexual immorality' in letter
POSTED: 11:35 a.m. EST, November 6, 2006
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (CNN) -- Less than a day after being fired
from leadership of the evangelical mega-church he founded, the Rev. Ted
Haggard confessed Sunday to "sexual immorality" and called himself "a
deceiver and a liar."
In a letter read to members of his New Life Church on Sunday, Haggard
said he is "a deceiver and a liar." Haggard apologized to his
congregation in the letter and asked for their forgiveness.
"There is part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I've been
warring against it all of my adult life," Haggard said in the letter
read by the Rev. Larry Stockstill, a member of the board of overseers
of New Life Church. (Gallery)
On Saturday, members of the board ousted Haggard from the 14,000-member
Colorado Springs church, citing his "sexually immoral conduct." (Watch
what led to Haggard's firing -- 2:40)
Mike Jones claims the prominent pastor paid him for sex over a
three-year period. Haggard only admitted to receiving a massage from
the Denver man, in an interview Friday with CNN affiliate KUSA-TV.
The pastor also admitted that he had bought methamphetamine but said he
did not use the drug and threw it away.
In his apology letter, Haggard made no mention of drug use, but said,
"I am guilty of sexual immorality." He also noted that "the things I
did opened the door for additional allegations." (Watch tears flow as
the confession is read -- 2:41)
Haggard asked the congregation to forgive his accuser, whom the
minister said revealed "the deception ... that was in my life."
Stockstill also read a letter from Haggard's wife to the women of the
congregation. In it, Gayle Haggard said while her heart is broken, she
remains "committed to him until death do us part."
The couple have five children.
After the letters were read, an overflow congregation, many of them
wiping away tears, responded with a standing ovation.
The interim pastor, the Rev. Ross Parsley, then called upon congregants
to forgive Haggard.
"It is OK to be angry, it is OK to grieve," Parsley said. But the "fall
of one man" will not destroy the congregation, he said.
"Today our church family and Pastor Ted is more obedient, more
repentant, more transparent than we've been in a long time," Parsley
said. "You're watching the Gospel at work. You're watching healing and
restoration start to occur as we go through this process."
After the service, 10-year church member Michelle Richmond predicted
Haggard and the church will recover.
"I probably cried all morning," Richmond said. "He knows he's hurt us
and it hurts when your brother has done something, but like Pastor Ross
said, he's in a good place -- he's better off this week than he was
last week -- and he will receive the healing he needs and he did a good
thing for our church so that we can heal."
Jones said he went public with his allegations because of Haggard's
support for a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage
that's on Colorado's ballot Tuesday.
"For someone who is up there preaching that marriage should only be
between a man and a woman, and he's going behind his wife's back and
seeing a gay man for sex -- I felt like I owed it to the gay community
to expose the hypocrisy," Jones said.
Haggard also was stripped of his title as president of the National of
Association of Evangelicals.
The Rev. Leith Anderson, who has been named as the group's interim
president, told CNN on Monday that Haggard's failure reflects more on
trust lost than on homosexuality.
"What we have here is someone who in leadership has failed the standard
that he lifted up for himself," said Anderson, a Eden Prairie,
Minnesota, pastor and Christian broadcaster. "The reason it's a big
news story is because it's so unusual and so exceptional."
Jones has said he met Haggard three years ago when the pastor answered
his escort ad, identifying himself as a man from Kansas City named
"Art." He said their sexual encounters continued monthly until August.
Haggard's middle name is Arthur.
Haggard started the New Life Church 26 years ago in his basement and
attained a nationwide identity among evangelicals as his church grew.
He was one of a group of religious leaders who regularly participated
in conference calls with White House aides, Time magazine reported.
On Friday, White House spokesman Tony Fratto sought to downplay
Haggard's influence within the administration, saying he was an
occasional participant in weekly conference calls between West Wing
staff and leading evangelicals.
Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, one of three pastors named
Sunday to counsel Haggard and his family, issued a statement Friday
saying he was "heartsick" upon learning of Haggard's admissions.
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And well may the useless chair warmers gloat because a general of God
has been allowed to be brought down by God, but it is for his own
correction that he has been brought down. God will prune His own to get
them to be as perfect as God can make them.
Why in the world would the Devil bother with the useless, they are
already his.
1 Peter 4:17-18 (King James Version)
17For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God:
and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey
not the gospel of God?
18And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and
the sinner appear?
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