Ted Haggard
Ted Haggard is a former Pastor of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado and a founder of the Association of Life-Giving Churches. He was leader of the National Association of Evangelicals from 2003 until November 2006 when he stepped down after a scandal.
In November 2006, he was removed or resigned from his leadership positions after allegations of homosexual sex and drug abuse were made by Mike Jones, a male prostitute. Originally, Haggard denied even knowing Mike Jones, but due to an investigation he was forced to acknowledge that some accusations, such as his purchasing methamphetamine, were true. He later confessed to "sexual immorality" as well.
- "The fact is I am guilty of sexual immorality. And I take responsibility for the entire problem. I am a deceiver and a liar. There's a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I have been warring against it for all of my adult life," he said.[1]
The man who accused him was quoted as saying afterwards[2] "It made me angry that here's someone preaching about gay marriage and going behind the scenes having gay sex,". (It should be noted that Haggard supported homosexual civil unions, but not marriage.)[3]
Mike Jones, for his part, was given a lie detector test. He passed the section about Ted Haggard's drug use, but showed deception when it came to the claim of actual homosexual sex.[4]
On February 6, 2007, Tim Ralph, one of four ministers who oversaw three weeks of intensive counseling for Haggard, stated that Haggard "is completely heterosexual." Ralph later explained himself further saying that therapy "gave Ted the tools to help to embrace his heterosexual side." The long-term efficacy of such therapy, however, is yet to be established.
