While crystal meth and male prostitutes might have sent him into exile, disgraced former preacher Ted Haggard is now mounting his return as a spokesman for God. This time, though, rather than lavish cathedrals, his flock will have to settle for the barn beside his house:
Last month, Haggard—who declined to be interviewed—opened his home for a prayer meeting. He expected a dozen people. More than 100 came, and the Haggards moved the furniture out of the living room to make space. A week later, he swept out his barn and rented 75 chairs. When they were filled, people stood against the back walls.
Many were former or current members of his old church who called him Pastor Ted. They said they had missed him, that he was born to preach—not to sell insurance as he had when he first returned here. They said they had forgiven what they and Haggard regarded as his sins. If Haggard can make a comeback, it will be because many evangelical Christians find his story appealing, said Michael Hamilton, an associate history professor at Seattle Pacific University who studies evangelicalism. “Sin, sorrow, repentance, conversion and trying to live out your new faith—that’s the standard evangelical way to look at one’s life,” he said.
But whether Haggard can achieve his previous success is questionable, said Larry Eskridge, associate director of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College in Illinois. One sticking point could be that Haggard reportedly did not complete a church-mandated “restoration process.” New Life officials have said Haggard quit the process in early 2008; he maintains that the church ended the process and that he did not ask to be released from the obligation.
“The larger question is the inability to put himself under someone else’s authority and whether it shows true repentance,” Eskridge said. Another issue is the nature of the scandal itself.” Even though evangelical theology doesn’t make distinctions between sins,” Hamilton said, “homosexuality is a hard one for evangelicals to cope with.”
To watch Alexandra Pelosi‘s Trials of Ted Haggard in its entirety, click here.