Christian Retailing

Haggard out as NAE president and pastor Print Email
Sunday, 05 November 2006 07:00 PM America/New_York

Pastor and Christian market author Ted Haggard has been dismissed as senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., and resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), after his partial admission to allegations of impropriety, made by a male prostitute in Denver.

The Denver man alleged that Haggard—author of about 20 books including The Jerusalem Diet (WaterBrook Press) and Dog Training, Fly Fishing & Sharing Christ in the 21st Century (Nelson Books) —had a sexual relationship with him and bought drugs from him over the course of the last three years. At first, Haggard denied the claims, but later admitted he had bought methamphetamine from the man, though he said he had thrown it away without using it.

A statement released Saturday by leaders at the 14,000-member New Life Church said an “investigation and Pastor Haggard's public statements have proven without a doubt that he has committed sexually immoral conduct,” and that “the most positive and productive direction for our church is his dismissal and removal.” Letters were read at the churches' Sunday services from Haggard and his wife, Gayle.

In his letter, Haggard said he was “sorry for the disappointment, the betrayal and the hurt.”

“I am guilty of sexual immorality, and I take responsibility for the entire problem,” he said. He and his wife will never return to a leadership role at the church they founded, he said.

“Enough of (the accusations) are true that I have been appropriately and lovingly removed from ministry,” Haggard said, adding he has submitted to oversight by James Dobson, Jack Hayford and Tommy Barnett for “a thorough analysis of my mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical life … with the goal of healing and restoration.”

Haggard resigned from the presidency of the NAE after the allegations were first made public last week, and a statement issued Friday from the group said the 11-person Executive Committee had “unanimously accepted his resignation with regret.”

Leith Anderson (Jesus: An Intimate Portrait of the Man, His Land, and His People, Bethany House) was named interim president of the NAE until the group appoints a new one.