Haggard was also invited to the Oval Office in November 2003 to watch President Bush sign the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban. He has participated in some of the Bush administration’s regular conference calls with evangelicals. In the three years that Haggard, 50, has been at the helm of the evangelical association, he has significantly raised its political profile. Outside New Life, bundled up against the cold, a man sat late into the evening Friday, holding a hand-lettered sign that read: “God still loves you, Pastor Ted. Haggard and his wife “have been my spiritual authorities,” said Patty Van Tassel, 50. “I don’t want surprises, scandals or secrets.” “I want my finances in order, my kids trained, and my wife to love life,” Haggard wrote in one of his books. Another sanctuary was packed with hundreds of teenagers, who were attentive as an assistant pastor spoke of sin and redemption.Ĭongregants had thought Haggard’s life was ideal: He was always upbeat, proud of his five children - a family man, a man of God. Hundreds sang and prayed in the World Prayer Center, raising their hands to the heavens or clasping them, trembling, in front of their faces. “We all betray each other from time to time. But they are people,” said Lynn Jenkins, 47, her eyes welling. Haggard and his wife, Gayle, “are amazing people. Haggard’s congregants, who packed New Life Church on Friday, echoed that theme, expressing disappointment and bewilderment but also forgiveness and understanding. In a statement, the group’s executive committee said its members had not believed the salacious reports at first but came to recognize “the stark reality of the power of sin in all our lives.” of Evangelicals, which has 30 million members, accepted Haggard’s resignation as president Friday, saying he had committed serious misconduct and needed “moral healing.” “No concierge in Denver would have referred me,” Jones told MSNBC on Friday, saying he believed Haggard had found his number in a gay magazine or website.
Haggard said he was referred to Jones for a massage by a Denver hotel. His website promises massages “with the pleasure of the man in mind” and includes photos of his bodybuilder physique - including a rear view where he’s nude except for a Santa hat. The man Haggard met in Denver, Mike Jones, has advertised as a male escort in gay magazines.
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“I never kept very long,” Haggard told a TV reporter who questioned him as he was leaving his home in Colorado Springs, a short drive from his 14,000-member mega-church. But he did say that he had visited the prostitute for a massage and later called him more than once to buy methamphetamine - a drug used in some gay circles to heighten sexual sensation. Ted Haggard denied the prostitute’s allegation that the two men met for sex as often as every month for the last three years. One of the nation’s most influential evangelical leaders admitted Friday that he visited a male prostitute for a massage and bought methamphetamine for personal use - though he said he threw the drugs away without using them.