National Association of Evangelicals President Resigns Over Drugs/Gay Sex Scandal

Scrum · 11-03-2006, 12:09 AM

9news.com | News | Haggard resigns, goes on leave day after sexual allegations made

COLORADO SPRINGS - A pastor from Colorado resigned from a national organization and put himself on leave from his church Thursday, 9NEWS has confirmed.

# Man claims 3-year sexual relationship with pastor

The resignation came a day after a male escort claimed he has been having a sexual relationship with the pastor for the past three years.

A statement from the New Life Church says Pastor Ted Haggard resigned as president of the multi-million member National Association of Evangelicals Thursday and put himself on leave from his church.

Haggard is the founder and senior leader of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs. The church has 14,000 members.

The statement says Haggard could "not continue to minister under the cloud created by the accusations".

Mike Jones, a gay man and admitted male escort, said on talk radio Wednesday he and Haggard had been in a "sexual business" relationship for the past three years.

Jones also says Haggard used methamphetamine in his presence.

Haggard denied the allegations in an exclusive interview with 9NEWS Wednesday night.

The statement from Martin Nussbaum, legal counsel for New Life Church, says Haggard put himself on administrative leave pending an investigation and a decision by the church's board of overseers.

"I am voluntarily stepping aside from leadership so that the overseer process can be allowed to proceed with integrity. I hope to be able to discuss this matter in more detail at a later date," said Haggard in the statement.

In the interim the church's associate senior pastor will serve as acting pastor of the church.

Haggard is married with five children and an outspoken critic of gay marriage.

Nussbaum stresses Haggard's decision to resign from the National Association of Evangelicals and go on administrative leave is in no way an admission of guilt.

Nussbaum says the church's bylaws state that when an allegation of immorality is made, a pastor is supposed to go on leave while the rest of the board makes a decision on his future.

Former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw profiled Haggard in 2005 in a series on mega-churches. Haggard was also listed by Time magazine as one of the 25 most influential Evangelicals in America last year.

Seems that they have voicemails he left for the prostitute he was seeing..
This guy was way up there in the evangelical leadership. He had regular weekly meetings with Bush from what i've read.

Here is a video clip of him in the movie "jesuscamp".

YouTube Video

I guess he was very hateful of gays in his preachings. Sad that someone could be so hateful of themselves, at least publically.

garbagemanlb · 11-03-2006, 12:45 AM

Religious right hypocrisy? Astounding.

SpicyMcVoodoo · 11-03-2006, 12:54 AM

lol, in Richard Dawkins' documentary "The God Delusion," that guy kicks Dawkins out of his megachurch for saying his children were animals (because Dawkins said we evolved via evolution).

SICKGUY · 11-03-2006, 01:18 AM

why is it these guys so vigilent about squashing so many things that directly affect them? i mean, if your gay, its one thing to be in the closet, but it seems that the most radical ones are always the biggest freaks. and they are always the most outspoken against the very thing they are. weird

does gay sex with male prostitutes fall into the "family values" category? haha, maybe god told him to sample the flesh of men

SpicyMcVoodoo · 11-03-2006, 02:00 AM

Originally Posted by SICKGUY

and they are always the most outspoken against the very thing they are. weird

It makes perfect sense. 100% straight people know that no matter how many gay people move into their neighborhood, they won't turn gay. They know it won't affect them. But that's not the case for closet homos. They have to work very hard to suppress their latent gay desires, and so it's crucial they control the environment around them. They project their being so close to becoming gay onto everyone around them and therefore try to legislate away what, for them, are temptations.

Nonphixion · 11-03-2006, 02:49 AM

Billy Graham (Mason Evangelical) loves prostitutes too

Female ones though, he's never been seen with a gay man AFAIK. Ducking into his hotel room nightly, or being seen at dinner with Mr. Graham like he has been seen with escorts.

WickedLou9 · 11-03-2006, 08:45 AM

Ah how sweet it is. Good. They need to be taken down from thier high and mighty pedestals.

Scrum · 11-03-2006, 09:03 AM

Looks like he may have admitted to the gay sex with the prostitute, but denies the drugs.

The Rev. Ross Parsley, now the church's acting senior pastor, told reporters Thursday night that Haggard has made a partial admission after the allegations surfaced on a Denver radio station. "There has been some admission of indiscretion, not an admission to all of the material that has been discussed, but there is an admission of some guilt," said Parsley, the New Life Church associate senior pastor.....

Haggard also denied the allegations of drug use Wednesday. "I have never done drugs, ever -- not even in high school," he told KUSA.

Thorgrim · 11-03-2006, 10:29 AM

haha he's so fucked (literally) and he can't lie about the drugs either, they have proof:

DENVER - A nationally known voice recognition expert says he believes voice mails left for a male escort are from a pastor in Colorado Springs.

"Hi Mike [Jones, the one who says he did meth and gay sex], this is Art. Hey, I was just calling to see if we could get any more. Either $100 or $200 supply. And I could pick it up really anytime I could get it tomorrow or we could wait till next week sometime and so I also wanted to get your address.

9news.com | News | Voice expert believes Haggard contacted male escort

^^^ hahaha a homosexual meth user...oh man why didn't this story break YESTERDAY! We need more than a few days of this

lew · 11-03-2006, 10:31 AM

Nonphixion · 11-03-2006, 10:37 AM

Originally Posted by lew

The sad part is he represents 30 million evangelical christians, that's 10% of the United States population

DosEquis · 11-03-2006, 10:49 AM

I love the thread tags for this one

Scrum · 11-03-2006, 10:52 AM

Originally Posted by DosEquis

I love the thread tags for this one

lew · 11-03-2006, 11:55 AM

Originally Posted by Nonphixion

The sad part is he represents 30 million evangelical christians, that's 10% of the United States population

I'm one of those 30 million.

6SpeedTA95 · 11-03-2006, 12:10 PM

Originally Posted by lew

I'm one of those 30 million.

me too

Thorgrim · 11-03-2006, 12:23 PM

So he had homosexual prostitution service and did crystal meth, cut the guy some slack! I still think he represents your values

Scrum · 11-03-2006, 12:25 PM

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

So he had homosexual prostitution service and did crystal meth, cut the guy some slack! I still think he represents your values

After some time passes they will embrace him again. They like the thought of redemption.

WickedLou9 · 11-03-2006, 01:26 PM

how long before he goes into rehab and blames it on the sauce?

SpicyMcVoodoo · 11-03-2006, 01:35 PM

Ahhh, here we go, gay prostitute meth guy debates richard dawkins:

YouTube Video

In retrospect, it's no wonder this guy was so hostile to Dawkins and eager to find an excuse to kick him off the land. The guy probably thought, "Oh, shit...Dawkins is out to prove I'm a fraud, and here I am fucking a gay prostitute and doing meth...I better not let him dig any further or he might out me."

lew · 11-03-2006, 01:56 PM

Dawkins is a dick.

I also like how at the end he says Haggard went crazy but there's no film of that.