Posted on 02/06/2007 8:13:45 AM PST by Alex Murphy
The Rev. Ted Haggard emerged from three weeks of intensive counseling convinced he is "completely heterosexual" and told an oversight board that his sexual contact with men was limited to his accuser.
That is according to one of the disgraced pastor's overseers, who on Monday revealed new details about where Haggard has been and where he is headed.
The Rev. Tim Ralph of Larkspur also said the four-man oversight board strongly urged Haggard to go into secular work instead of Christian ministry if Haggard and his wife follow through on plans to earn master's degrees in psychology.
Haggard broke a three-month silence in e-mails over the weekend to select members of his former church. New Life Church interim
Fresh from counseling, Ted Haggard reportedly called his "sexual immorality" a case of acting out. (Post file)senior pastor Ross Parsley forwarded Haggard's message to the wider church body Monday. In the message, Haggard revealed that he and his wife, Gayle, intend to leave Colorado Springs and pursue master's degrees through online courses.
Haggard mentioned Missouri and Iowa as possible destinations. Another oversight board member, the Rev. Mike Ware of Westminster, said the group recommended the move out of town, and the Haggards agreed.
"This is a good place for Ted," Ware said. "It's hard to heal in Colorado Springs right now. It's like an open wound. He needs to get somewhere he can get the wound healed."
Sex-addiction program
Haggard, 50, resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals and was fired from the church he built from nothing into a 14,000-member congregation after a former male prostitute in Denver alleged a three-year cash-for-sex relationship.
Haggard admitted to "sexual immorality" and a long battle against feelings contrary to his beliefs. He admitted buying methamphetamine but said he never used it. Haggard did not respond to interview requests.
Among other things, the overseers urged Haggard to enter a 12-step program for sexual addiction, Ware said.
Ralph said three weeks of counseling at an undisclosed Arizona treatment center helped Haggard immensely and left Haggard sure of one thing.
"He is completely heterosexual," Ralph said. "That is something he discovered. It was the acting- out situations where things took place. It wasn't a constant thing."
Why Haggard chose to act out in that manner is something Haggard and his advisers are trying to discern, Ralph said.
In investigating Haggard's assertion that his extramarital sexual contact was limited to former male escort Mike Jones, the board talked to people close to Haggard and found no evidence contradicting him, Ralph said.
"If we're going to be proved wrong, somebody else is going to come forward, and that usually happens really quickly," he said. "We're into this thing over 90 days, and it hasn't happened."
Steering Haggard away from a return to ministry was based, in part, on Haggard's high profile, Ralph said. He cited biblical passages about holding influential figures to a higher standard.
"Nobody is saying he can't go back into ministry," Ralph said. "Somewhere down the road, that could very well happen, and that would be wonderful."
Counseling continues
Haggard is being asked to join a church wherever the couple moves and continue the Christian counseling he receives twice a week, Ralph said.
The oversight board that includes Ralph is focusing on New Life Church's future but continues to counsel Haggard.
What has been termed Haggard's "restoration" is being overseen by another panel: H.B. London, who runs a Focus on the Family ministry to pastors, and megachurch pastors Tommy Barnett and Jack Hayford.
London said he was not surprised Haggard was considering the psychological field.
"Many of us that go into the healing, helping professions do so out of some sort of dysfunction or traumatic event in our lives, and we want to do what we can to help other people avoid what we've gone through," he said. "He is certainly gifted and intelligent and has an intuitive side to him. And he has life experience. Those are good credentials."
He cited biblical passages about holding influential figures to a higher standard.
I always like the idea of higher standards.
Just like Bill Clinton is completely monogamous, except when he is with two or more women at the same time.
Rev. Faggard should consider a new line of work. Suggestions?
Other thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1780096/posts
Wow. I didn't think it was physically possible to roll my eyes as hard as I just did.
It sounds like he is going to the old school (medieval) definition. Back then, including classical Greece and Rome, people were not labled as homosexual or heterosexual or whatever. Haggard would be considered a man who occasionally had unnatural and immoral sex with another man.
The board is doing the wise thing in encouraging this man to seek another line of work. It would be extremely damaging for his old congregation to be forced to take him back.
Whatever, Haggard made his choices and should look for career change.
Good point - how does Nancy think the other guy got the drugs to begin with?
'convinced he is "completely heterosexual"' according to the article.
I wonder how he suddently discovered he's completely heterosexual. The next question is how long his wife will put up with him.
He walked into a room with a polka-dot carpet and plaid drapes without flinching? He threw away all his Judy Garland albums?
Haggard is making a laughing stock out of himself. He needs to go away QUIETLY.
He stopped saying "fabulous?" He no longer spontaneously breaks into Broadway show tunes?
The acid test was to sneak up behind him and yell "CLANG CLANG CLANG". When he doesn't spontaneously respond "...went the trolley", he's cured.
Hmmmmmmm, Homo-Exorcism?
http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=64456
KUSA - 9Wants to Know has learned the New Life Church in Colorado Springs has signed a legal agreement that separates the organization from Pastor Ted Haggard.
New Life Church co-pastor Rob Brendle talked candidly with investigative reporter Paula Woodward Wednesday afternoon about an agreement signed by both Ted Haggard and church representatives.
The agreement officially ends the church founder’s relationship with the congregation Haggard built.
“We think it’s a win-win” said Brendle during an interview with 9NEWS on Wednesday.
Haggard stepped down as the leader of the New Life Church in November after he was accused of having a sexual relationship with a male escort for three years. He was also accused of buying and using methamphetamine.
Haggard admitted to 9NEWS to buying, but not using the meth, and to “sexual immorality” in a letter to the congregation of New Life Church.
Brendle described the legally binding agreement to be in the best interests “of the Haggard family as they navigate this difficult time of transition and the New Life Church family, as we enter into this unprecedented season of transition ourselves.”
The agreement calls for Haggard, the former head of the National Association of Evangelicals, to leave the ministry for good, for him and his family to leave Colorado Springs and requires Haggard to stop speaking publicly about the scandal.
The agreement also includes a financial settlement, but as part of the deal, the church cannot disclose how much was included.
Brendle told 9NEWS the decision for the Haggards’ to leave Colorado Springs was mutual.
“We recognize that his contributions to our church are immeasurable, as our founder and as our senior pastor for 22 years. At the same time, we recognize that his indiscretions are inexcusable,” said Brendle.
The agreement was signed last week in Colorado Springs.
Haggard founded the New Life Church in 1985 with a small bible study in his basement. It grew to more than 14,000 members and is one of the largest congregations in the country.
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