Evangelicals distance themselves from Haggard scandal

Posted: 11/10/06

Evangelicals distance
themselves from Haggard scandal

By Adelle Banks

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—As Ted Haggard expressed sorrow for being a “deceiver and a liar,” leaders of the National Association of Evangelicals distanced their organization from the man who led it three years.

“Most people—I’m not sure everyone—separate this tragedy from NAE. They consider it a tragedy of a man, a pastor and not an NAE scandal. That’s the good news,” said Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental relations of the Washington-based association.

“The bad news is, it surely impacts the evangelical world, and that includes the NAE.”

As evangelicals across the country recoiled from one of their own being caught in a sex and drug scandal, the organization that represents them chose an interim president.

Both Haggard’s 14,000-member church in Colorado Springs, Colo., and the NAE cut ties with Haggard after he admitted to “sexual immorality” with a male escort.

“I am so sorry,” Haggard wrote in a letter read to members of New Life Church during its two worship services Nov. 5. “I am sorry for the disappointment, the betrayal and the hurt. I am sorry for the horrible example I have set for you.”

The letter came after the church’s board of overseers announced he had been dismissed for sexually immoral conduct, and after Haggard said in a television interview he had acquired—but not used—methamphetamine and sought a massage from a male escort in Denver.

The NAE’s executive committee selected Leith Anderson, pastor of a Minnesota Baptist megachurch, to serve as interim president while a permanent replacement for Haggard is sought.

“Internally, I think most evangelicals will not tie what happened with Ted Haggard to NAE,” said Anderson, senior pastor of Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minn.

“They will understand that if there are 45,000 churches (affiliated with NAE), that 44,999 of them have leaders that did not misbehave and that one person misbehaved and that that is an anomaly.”

Externally, he said, people looking from the outside at evangelicals may attempt to paint them all with one brush.

“There will be those that will think the worst of evangelicals because of this, and I’m sorry about that,” Anderson said.

“This is not who we are. This is not what we do. This is an exception.”

Haggard’s letter was paired with a shorter statement to the church’s women from his wife, Gayle.

“For those of you who have been concerned that my marriage was so perfect I could not possibly relate to the women who are facing great difficulties, know that this will never again be the case,” she wrote, pledging her commitment to her husband. “My test has begun; watch me. I will try to prove myself faithful.”

The immediate steps taken by the NAE indicate the scandal is individual, not institutional, said Luder Whitlock, executive director of Trinity Forum in Orlando, Fla.—a faith-based nonprofit that aids business and professional leaders. Whitlock compared it with the scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., who resigned from Congress after allegations surfaced of inappropriate e-mail exchanges with congressional pages.

“In this instance, no one (in NAE) knew … in so far as I know,” Whitlock said. “Once they did know, they were duty-bound to deal with (Haggard) or else then it became an NAE scandal. As long as it’s the person, and the organization dealt with it appropriately, it’s just the realization anybody can sin.”

Kevin Mannoia, a former NAE president, said Haggard’s statement seeking forgiveness will open a process that can help him heal.

The NAE, too, will move past this eventually, he predicts.

“I think it will hurt the organization,” he said. “I’m not ready to say that it’s unrecoverable. By God’s grace, anything can be redeemed, and that’s why I extend grace to Ted personally as well.”

Likewise, Haggard’s church said it is planning its own recovery. “Our last chapter has not been written; in fact, a new book is now beginning,” reads a note on the church’s website. “The New Life Church family’s best days are ahead.”