Ted Haggard and the woman caught in adultery

If you've been tuning into the national news over the past week there's no doubt you've read the stories concerning the scandal of mega-church pastor Ted Haggard at the 14,000 member New Life Church in Colorado Springs who has been caught (and has admitted to) having a relationship with a gay prostitute and buying meth.

A few have asked me why I haven't posted any thoughts on the events that have transpired this past week.

The reason?
Because this is hitting close to home for me.

I've been quite emotional the last several days whenever I've thought about the situation.
The shock, the surprise, the betrayal, the hurt, the confusion.
Lots of questions, few answers (if any).
As a pastor who sees a high profile pastor fall like this, you hurt for them. But when you've actually interacted with that pastor and know several of his staff and congregants, the hurts run deeper.

Four and a half months ago my wife and I moved from Colorado Springs where I left my position as one of the pastors on staff at Woodmen Valley Chapel, the second largest church in Colo Spgs, in order to begin a new ministry in the Philadelphia area at Calvary Church.

The largest church in Colorado Springs is, in fact, New Life Church. Everyone in Colorado Springs - Christians and non-Christians alike - were familiar with Ted Haggard and New Life Church, the large blue-domed building that sits on the north side of town across from the Air Force Academy towering in the distance as you're driving up Interstate 25. Now the whole world knows about Ted and New Life.

When you're one of the pastors on staff at the second largest church in Colorado Springs you certainly know a lot about the New Life Church.
You run in similar circles, you have mutual friends, you connect with their pastors.
This situation hits close to home because I have names and faces of hurt people running through my head when I log onto my computer or when I see the newspapers.

I would get together for lunch with the pastor of young adults at New Life once a month (along with two other young adult pastors in town) to pray for the young adults in our city.  These monthly prayer times were so refreshing. We would rotate who hosted these monthly get togethers. Last spring we had a new idea: whoever hosted our time together would invite their Senior pastor to join us for lunch so we could get to know him a bit better, pick his brain about ministry, ask questions about leadership.

The last young adult pastors prayer/lunch meeting we had together before I moved to Philly was held in June at New Life Church in Ted Haggard's office.  I had respected Ted from afar based on what I read of him and from the things I had heard from others who work closely with him (he's very charismatic theologically - not my leanings - but I respected him as a leader) but this was my first opportunity to spend time with him face-to-face. For  an hour and a half eating Red Robin burgers and fries we (the four young adult pastors in Colorado Springs) admired the exotic artifacts from all over the world on Pastor Ted's desk, looked at the volumes of books on his shelf, noticed the great view of Pikes Peak out his office window and asked him a range of questions on topics such as leadership, home life, pace in ministry, how do we remain spiritually refreshed, the importance of the Sabbath, preaching preparation methods, what he was currently reading and (of all things) integrity in ministry.

I'm not exactly sure what to think or feel at the moment.
I've been in silence out of sheer shock.
I've shed a few tears out of sadness and feeling betrayed.
I've shaken my head in disbelief.
I've prayed.
I've placed calls and sent emails to friends and New Life staff members I know.
It's just  so daggum hard to take it all in right now.

I'm grateful for the good leadership at New Life Church and the way that they have handled the situation with swiftness and wisdom, with a perfect mix of confidence and humility.

It's tempting to want to be eloquent, to say something profound in this blog post, but I'll resist that temptation and just say this: I've been thinking of the story of Jesus interacting with the woman caught in adultery.
Jesus didn't condemn her to death...and he didn't condone her actions either. Jesus didn't need to tell her that her actions were wrong - she already knew that.

Certainly, Ted was wrong. And he knows that. There is no doubt about it.
But with all the stones that have been thrown at Ted in the last few days in the media, on blogs and in chat rooms, I'm certain that Jesus is wanting to wrap his arms around the Haggard Family and extend comfort, grace and forgiveness.

The world is watching to see how we as Christians respond to the events of the past week.
Will we show love and forgiveness or will we pick up stones and start hurling them?

We need to pray for Ted and Gayle Haggard and for New Life Church leadership, staff and congregation. Healing will not be easy, but it is necessary.

This week has provided a striking reminder that we are all in need of grace...and Ted is no exception to that.

Comments

[Dave King]

Do you think Ted will stay as part of his community? I wonder what the answer says about our communities.

- Peace

[DougG]

JR, Good post. I share your thoughts and have begun "going deep" into my own sinful nature to see if I need improvement in areas I just won't share with anyone else. On the positive side, I like the "hedges" I have built around my purity. on the negative side, I think of my thought life and the time and things I do when I am alone; I have begun to make alist of some "training in godliness" (1 Tim 4) I need to do to clean them out. I will try to count on God to "instruct" this sinner in His ways (Ps 25), to "die" to my sin "because anyone who has died has been freed from sin" (Rom 6:1-7) ... Also, as it just so happens I am currently memorizing Ps 51 (written "when the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.")

DougG

PS One of the guys who works for me in the reserves goes to New Life; it has shaken his family to the core.

PPS "Never blame on satan what can be accounted for by a healthy sinful nature" (me)

[kara]

J.R. you speak words of truth and wisdom.

[allijack]

well said.

[Stan]

It is difficult to understand, and not feel betrayed. I have had similar discussions with people at our church who have experienced similar feelings of betrayal going through divorce. It is harder even yet when it is someone you look up to. I imagine maybe the feelings from a child’s eyes when their parent lets them seriously down too.
Jesus’ tells us that he is the judge, John 5-19-30, and that we must accept, even if we don’t understand sometimes. We can only pray for those who have fallen.

[revtom]

this was very helpful to me to hear of someone i respect (you) who knew the guy and saw the fruit... i think of two things as i read your words: "man looks at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart" and "there but by the grace of God, go I"