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Former New Life Church pastor Ted Haggard says he plans to hold a prayer meeting in his home Nov. 12. In 2006 Haggard was dismissed from the Colorado Springs megachurch after allegations of a cash-for-sex relationship with Denver male prostitute Mike Jones was revealed.

Haggard anticipates that 10 to 20 people will show up, and said he has no expectations of building his new enterprise into something on the scale of New Life.

"For this prayer meeting, I have no goals," Haggard told The Gazette. "I have no secret hope that more people will come. I am not driven as I was. Before I focused on the Great Commission. Now I focus on helping other people."

According to Haggard’s web-site, he and his wife Gayle have been in seclusion since 2006, seeking therapy and restoration.  Due to a contract created by a group of overseers, Haggard was required to leave the state of Colorado, relinquish his ordination credentials, have no contact with New Life members or speak publically about the incidents. The Haggard’s spent time in both Phoenix and Dallas where they received over-site and restorative counseling.

On a business trip, however, Haggard says he sensed a new direction.  “On December 12, 2007, I was driving from Phoenix to Flagstaff, Arizona to sell health insurance. As I drove north, I was listening to a Scripture CD and the Holy Spirit came upon me. He said, ‘When you were 28 years old, I called you to Colorado Springs, and there is no man on Earth who has the authority to negate that call.’ I shut off the CD and there was a silent pause. Then He said, ‘When you were 28 years old, I called you to Colorado Springs, and your sin does not have the power to negate that call.’ There was another pause. Then He said, ‘When you were 28 years old, I called you to Colorado Springs, and YOU do not have the authority to negate that call.’”

In January 2008 Haggard met with Tommy Barnett, pastor of First Assembly of God Church in Phoenix and one of Haggard’s overseers, to share this revelation.

Of that meeting Haggard writes, “I told him the story. He listened intently. When I finished, he leaned forward in his chair and said, ‘I believe that was God.’ I then asked that he talk with the Overseers and have the paragraph removed from the contract that prevented us from ever living in Colorado Springs again.”

In January 2008 Haggard was released from that requirement of the contract. Haggard says release from the overseer’s contract gave his family the freedom to move back into their family home in Colorado Springs.

After a speaking engagement at New Life City in Albuquerque, New Mexico, pastor, Alan Hawkins, made this posting on his blog.

“The closer I have gotten to the case of Ted Haggard the more ashamed I have become of my own failure to handle scandal with loving-kindness. I am exposed by Ted’s exposure and I am ashamed.  Not of him of us. Jesus endured the cross despising the shame.”

The gathering Nov. 12 will include music, an offering to New Life Church and a talk from Haggard about the power of prayer.

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Jesus forgives all the people all the time not just some of the people some of the time.
written by T. Scheffler , November 10, 2009

The great thing about Jesus is the fact that he came for the sinners. Although I am sure this will be met with caution as indeed it should, I am thrilled to hear that their are pastors out there who realize one of the fundamental differences between Christians and non Christians is the willingness to forgive as Christ has forgiven us.

SO many great leaders have fallen and we as Christians have stopped them from being able to finish what they were called to do. Good thing we were not around to do that to David or Jonah, huh?! Both great men were given a job to do and both allowed their sinful nature to take over but only for a little bit and then they both went onto to do great works.

Hopefully we can all learn from this to not be so judgemental. Remember with the stick we use to judge others so will it be used against us. Scary thought, huh?!

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