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 Haggard Leaves Town
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: February 6, 2007 - 12:01 am ET
(Colorado Springs, Colorado) Ted Haggard, one of
the most powerful evangelical pastors in the country until it was disclosed he
had frequented a male prostitute and had purchased methamphetamine, is packing
up and leaving Colorado Springs to begin a new life with his wife.
"Jesus is starting to put me back
together," Haggard wrote in an email he sent to his former parishioners at
the 14,000-member New Life Church he had founded.
"I have spent so much time in repentance,
brokenness, hurt and sorrow for the things I've done and the negative impact my
actions have had on others. That sadness continues as my family and I, along
with so many others, go through the painful consequences of my actions."
In his email Haggard said he and his wife would
pursue psychology degrees.
For the past three months he has been undergoing
what he calls "counseling" at an undisclosed location in Arizona. A
pastor who counseled Haggard said he believes he is now
"cured" of his homosexuality.
"Thankfully, with the tools we gained there,
along with the powerful way God has been illuminating His Word and the Holy
Spirit has been convicting and healing me, we now have growing understanding
which is giving me some hope for a future," Haggard said in his email.
Haggard resigned last year as president of the
National Association of Evangelicals after former hustler Mike Jones alleged
Haggard paid him over a three-year period for sex and sometimes took
methamphetamine during the encounters.
Haggard then was fired as pastor of the
14,000-member New Life Church. He publicly admitted in November to unspecified
"sexual immorality." (story)
Haggard, who had been president of the
evangelical association since 2003, participated in conference calls with White
House staffers and lobbied Congress last year on Supreme Court nominees.
His church was involved in fighting for a
constitutional amendment in Colorado to ban same-sex marriage. It was because of
the amendment that Jones came forward.
Haggard founded New Life in the mid-1980s and
held its first services in the basement of his Colorado Springs home.
But while Haggard is trying to put his past
behind him, Jones is writing a tell-all book about his encounters with the
pastor. Last week Jones visited the church and was warmly greeted, much to
his surprise. (story)
©365Gay.com 2007
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