The Scandalous Life of Pastor Ted Haggard... And His Dark Return | Documentary

so we don't have to debate about what we should think about homosexual activity it's written in the Bible in the early 2000s Ted Haggard was recognized as one of the most prominent Pastors in the United States he was president of the National Association of evangelicals a best-selling author served on several state boards and spoke with then-president George W bush by phone every week he pestered a mega church of 14 000 people and taught conservative values but Pastor Ted was living a double life one that was more shocking than a chemistry teacher cooking some blue sky in 2006 what Pastor Ted did in the darkness literally would come to light in front of the entire world that Reverend Haggard paid him for sex about once a month for three years as well as for methamphetamines which he says Reverend Haggard snorted before their sexual encounters you know Hagrid says he also contacted you for a massage in a Denver hotel room but he maintains it was just to get the drugs that there was no sexual contact what do you say about that reaction that just doesn't make sense [Music] I woke up open my eyes and looked out to the darkening Skies the world has gone crazy as blood fills the streets still kill destroy the cycle repeats but this is the rise and fall of Ted Haggard and his scandalous return [Music] [Music] Ted Haggard was born on June 27 1956 to parents JM and Rachel Haggard in Indiana his father was a veterinarian but in his spare time he founded a charismatic Ministry that Ted regularly attended with his mother and siblings charismatic Christianity is a type of Christianity that stresses what they believe is the work of the Holy Spirit spiritual gifts and modern day Miracles as an everyday part of life they believe these gifts allow them to do such things as heal someone and give prophecy over another's life claiming it comes from their God if somebody's got demons if somebody's Bound by demons they don't need them in the white coats they don't necessarily need medication they need somebody with authority and power an anointing that says be gone in the name of Jesus charismatic Christians also believe in something called speaking in tongues or the ability to interpret when somebody else speaks in tongues [Applause] [Music] Papa yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah [Applause] while in high school Ted worked on the school's newspaper something he was passionate about at age 16 Ted heard evangelist Bill bright speak in Texas and this became a pivotal moment in his life leading Ted to rededicate his life to Christ after graduating high school he enrolled in college for a degree in Communications Young Ted Haggard was excited to become a journalist but an offer from his father would change the course of his life when his father offered to buy Ted a car but not just any car it was a brand new Pontiac Le Mans blue with tan leather seats but there was a stipulation Ted could only get this dream ride if he left his secular College to attend the Evangelical Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma where Oru students are forbidden to drink smoke or have sex before marriage Ted wanted that car he also wanted to be a world-renowned journalist and at a conference decades later Ted would say when he learned who Oral Roberts was he thought quote this is my entrance into some of the largest newspapers in the country I can skip journalism school if I can find out Oral Roberts is sleeping with somebody other than his wife or if I can catch him in a lie or if I can catch him faking Miracles end quote Ted accepted his father's offer and the soon-to-be journalist sped off to his new University Ted would later tell GQ Magazine it was at Oru where he was taught he could pray through any issues instead of getting real help one morning during his first semester at Oru Ted poured himself a bowl of Cheerios and while eating breakfast Ted claimed he was visited by what Christians call the Holy Spirit this Spirit wasn't craving a bowl of Cheerios but instead brought a message for Ted Ted claimed the spirit called him to be a pastor this was around the same time he met a young woman named Gail Alcorn a fellow student at Oru Ted was immediately attracted to Gail but it wasn't a shared attraction as Gail had a crush on a boy named Paul Osteen the older brother of Joel Osteen who also attended Oru at the time while still on the hunt to expose Oral Roberts Ted attempted to get closer to Gail and in doing so he would confess at a later date quote I fully intended to expose Oral Roberts in order to advance my career but Roberts got to me rather than me getting to him end quote Ted admitted he became suspicious of oral Robert's intentions with Gail at one point being fully convinced the man was sleeping with her I was so heartbroken Ted said but Oral Roberts wasn't sleeping with Gail and Ted never got to see his big break in journalism happen regardless Ted continued his pursuit of Gail and finally convinced her to give him a chance after she broke up with her High School fiancee eventually Ted asked Gail to marry him and in the same year that he finished College they were wed together the couple would go on to have five children who were raised in the same religious environment Ted was raised in over the coming years Ted took up a number of associate pastoral positions at various churches until in the early 1980s when he was told by a close friend they had had a vision of Ted founding his own church in Colorado Springs Ted believed this was his God's call to Ministry and so he resigned from his position as an associate pastor with Bethany World prayer Center in Louisiana and moved to Colorado Ted began his career as head Pastor by holding prayer meetings with a small group of just 20 members in the basement of his home as his followers grew he called his congregation the new life church and he motivated his congregants to Apostolic power has blessed me my only problems are with me not with my enemy not with circumstances not with people end quote but Ted would have many problems with many people down the line over the coming years Ted's congregation grew and he soon had hundreds of people attending his church to accommodate these new members he moved from the basement into various rental spaces in strip malls by the early 2000s New Life Church had graduated from strip malls to a private campus in Colorado Springs with a Congregation of more than 14 000 people the church stood at the foot of the Rocky Mountains and the building alone was worth his success he was on a first name basis with then-president George W bush and his advisors with whom he spoke by phone every Monday at the time Ted was not known to be a traditional preacher instead of speaking on a regular stage he spoke on a round one so his audience could be all around him and he could see all of them rather than hold a Bible he carried a Palm Pilot and showed up for sermons in blue jeans and driving his scooter to save on gas he cared about the environment and didn't believe in young Earth creationism nor did he subscribe to the trauma-inducing left-behind Rapture theology complete with a wide smile and chiseled features Ted quickly became a poster boy for the Evangelical movement and politically conservative values Tad was considered by many to be a fun-loving pastor who preached about positivity and made his congregants laugh congregations the pastor holds the most senior position and receives the highest pay While others below the pastor have much less Authority and receive pay proportional to their standing Ted believed this restricted the church from being able to hold onto High achieving employees who had a lot to offer but wouldn't wait around for the higher paid positions as they might be snapped up by somebody else he implemented a servant Leadership Model whereby all employees were considered equal and were therefore empowered to share ideas and Innovations which could further the interests of the church but the most pioneering part of this model was that all members of the staff would be paid the same scale which was dependent only on how long you had been there and completely unrelated to your skills experience or position it was this concept of a free market approach to religion that established Ted as a truly forward-thinking Pastor his reputation provided The Leverage for Ted to secure a position as the president of the National Association of evangelicals or the nae the nae is an association of 45 000 churches and 30 million Believers and is one of the United States most powerful religious lobbying groups life as Ted Haggard was enviable he commanded an audience of thousands every Sunday had a beautiful wife and children some of whom were following his footsteps into the ministry and he was regularly receiving five and six figure sums to deliver guest sermons at other congregations it seemed there was no stopping Ted and in 2005 he was named by Time Magazine as one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in America while the concepts of an equal opportunity workplace sound reasonable and even admirable Ted's other teachings were much more conventional and devout for Christianity he held firm views on homosexuality and sex outside of marriage and pregnancy these views were already solidly established in his early teen years when he took up a position as co-editor of his high school newspaper in this role he regularly published articles defaming those who didn't abide by his strictly religious principles but that was nothing compared to what he would do once he was a philosophy and preaching was to fight against what he called the evil forces of homosexuality Ted fanatically told his followers they were soldiers in a religious war and encouraged his congregants to physically barricade businesses that sold Services he didn't approve of businesses like massage parlors and liquor stores as pastor of New Life Church and head of the Nae Ted preached for what he believed was the sanctity of marriage as Union between a man and a woman by 2006 Ted was an outspoken supporter of the Colorado Amendment 43 to the Colorado institution which stated quote only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state end quote despite the state's Constitution at the time already defining marriage between a man and a woman gay marriage opponents including Ted sought to ensure no future amendments could be made which would include gay marriage Ted activated his Congregation of soldiers to fight for the amendment to be passed as well as objecting to the initiative which would provide same-sex couples with the equivalent legal protections afforded to married couples in Ted's book titled dog training fly fishing and sharing Christ in the 21st century Ted stated quote I want my finances in order my kids trained and my wife to love life I want good friends who are a delight and who provide protection for my family and me should life become difficult someday I don't want surprises scandals or secrets I want stability and at the same time steady forward movement end quote one would think a conservative Pastor who preached about hope for a life without scandals and secrets wouldn't regularly visit a male masseuse in the middle of the night and use illegal substances but Pastor Ted Haggard was Breaking Bad [Music] thank you on the morning of November 2nd 2006 Ted Haggard was sitting on his son's bed with his wife when he received a text message on his phone it was from a friend of the couple who was letting him know a gay escort in Denver was going public with allegations against a prominent Evangelical Pastor the man hadn't identified who his allegation was against but he was going to reveal their identity on a radio station the following morning Gail read the message the same time as Ted and asked him if he had anything to do with it Ted reassured her in no uncertain terms that it was definitely not him but Gail had every reason to be concerned as in the early stage of their relationship Ted revealed to her his homosexual thoughts but Ted reassured Gail he was indeed a heterosexual man and it was just the devil tempting him and Gail believed him confident in Ted's reassurances the couple tuned in together to listen as the interview is aired on a local station the following morning in the broadcast Mike Jones who was a sex worker and masseuse declared Pastor Ted Haggard had been paying him for sex for three years but it wasn't just that Mike Jones claimed Ted also bought and used Crystal during each and every one of their encounters Mike told the interviewers he came forward after learning of Ted's identity as an Evangelical Pastor who spent considerable time at the pulpit preaching anti-homosexual sentiments at the same time Mike exposed his dealings with Ted Colorado Laws restricting rights for gay couples were due to be voted on the following week because of this Mike shared he felt compelled to come forward saying quote it made me angry that there's someone preaching against gay marriage and going behind the scenes having gay sex I had to expose the hypocrisy he is in the position of influence of millions of followers and he's preaching against gay marriage but behind everyone's back he's doing what he preached against I needed to expose what was happening you can't say one thing and do another there are consequences to our actions end quote Mike went on to detail the origin of the relationship recalling that Ted had responded to an ad he had posted on a gay escort website he claimed that Ted was careful to conceal his identity going by the name art and calling from a payphone to arrange what would be for Ted a secret meeting the pair would meet once a month with Ted parking his SUV or scooter around the corner from Mike's home and arriving under the cover of Darkness Mike never thought much of his regular client but one day while watching TV art came on screen Mike paused and thought that's art but why are they calling him Ted I think I know what you did last night if you send me a thousand dollars I won't tell your wife it was then that Mike learned art was Ted and Ted's real name was Ted Arthur Haggard while listening to Mike's detailed account Gail laughed out loud at the accusations the idea of her devout husband using illegal substances and engaging in homosexual encounters with a sex worker we're too outlandish to believe she knew her husband was a God-fearing man and if Ted was tempted to do what Mike claimed Gail was sure Ted would have told her she reassured Ted they would weather this storm together the day after Mike's shocking claims were made public Ted published a number of statements denying any involvement and seeking to discredit Mike Jones Ted said quote I did not have a homosexual relationship with a man in Denver I am steady with my wife I'm faithful to my wife I have never done drugs ever not even in high school I didn't smoke pot I didn't do anything like that I'm not a drug man we're not a drinking family I don't smoke cigarettes I don't socially drink we don't socially drink we don't have wine in our house we don't do that kind of thing end quote Ted went about his usual business in the days following attending sermons and business meetings his many political and religious allies pledged their support to Ted and they emphasized the allegations against him were politically motivated and only publicized to deflect attention and support for the upcoming vote on the legalization of gay marriage James Dobson another popular Evangelical issued a statement of support for Ted saying quote it is unconscionable that the legitimate news media would report a rumor like this based on nothing but one man's accusations Ted Haggard is a friend of mine and it appears someone is trying to damage his reputation as a way of influencing the outcome of Tuesday's election especially the vote on Colorado's marriage protection Amendment which Ted strongly supports end quote but only two days after these statements Ted resigned as president of the nae and temporarily stepped down as head of New Life Church Ted reassured his supporters that he wanted to allow for an independent investigation to be undertaken and his name cleared before he made any further statements Gail rarely left Ted's side as the couple displayed a united front at every opportunity Gail believed her husband was innocent and she wasn't about to let their political opponents think they had won in tearing the two apart by now Mike Jones was being hounded relentlessly by the media they questioned every part of his story and demanded proof of his supposed relationship with Ted Mike agreed to take a polygraph test to substantiate his claims a Colorado radio station organized such a test but Mike's answers about whether he had had sex with Ted indicated a degree of deception the administrator of the test stated that this could have been related to Mike's stress and lack of sleep in the days prior to undergoing the polygraph [Music] but Ted pounced on these results declaring they proved his innocence and that Mike's allegations were just that unsubstantiated allegations in the aftermath of the claims the congregation of New Life Church rallied around to support Ted and his family after all he was their founding leader and he had long preached against homosexuality and illegal substances there was no way he could have been involved in such a scandal no in their minds this was just another trial God had laid down in the religious war and as soldiers they weren't about to give in to it but Ted's Declarations of Innocence were about to unravel as the following morning Mike Jones was back on the radio with proof of his and Ted's relationship you see Mike Jones had saved voicemails Ted left on his phone and now Mike was ready to share them hello please leave a message after the okay sometimes when Gail heard the voicemails she knew that was her husband's voice she knew then that her husband had been involved with illegal substances there was no point denying it any longer and that night Ted confessed to his wife and children yes he had bought drugs from that man and yes he had used them but he reassured his family there was no three-year Affair as Mike had claimed and that nothing sexual had ever occurred between the two men once again Gail believed her husband's word to be true they had always enjoyed a very regular and satisfying sex life which she believed meant he was obviously straight Gail believed his urges were just another Temptation she could help her husband overcome if they could just pray and believe hard enough after all they had founded an entire church based on the idea of forgiveness and acceptance through God with the support of their congregation they would weather this storm despite admitting to Gail about using the illegal substance to the public and his congregation Ted and Gail maintain their facade Ted continued to deny he had ever used substances of any kind and went about his business with an air of a falsely accused man at the time the pastor who was covering for him at New Life Church Ross parsley wrote an email to the New Life Church community detailing that Ted had admitted to purchasing Crystal but continued to deny having had sex with Mike or using the illegal substance himself while all of this went down Ted and his wife were questioned by a reporter waiting outside their property well we can't get into much we're a little late for an appointment okay good as we talked the other night we're we're so grateful that he failed the polygraph test this morning and my accuser did and I know that Nicole last year in the livesman no I have not okay and the voice expert that is in Denver that was hired by Kusa has matched now 18 of the words left after voicemail message I did call him I did call him and what did you call him about I called him to buy some meth but I threw it away and who are you buying the best for no I was buying it for me but I never used it never use it with him sex with him no I did not and at what point did you decide to throw away the man uh right after I never kept it very long because it's it was wrong I was tempted I bought it but I never used it and how did you know that he would sell it to you he told me about it I went there for I went there for a massage okay we're late for our appointment and so but thank you for your work how did you find him to get a referral Hotel I was staying at the hotel where uh I I've stayed a lot of hotels in Denver because I write in Denver so okay okay all right thank you thank you thank you very much the day Ted admitted using to Gail they made an appointment to meet with her family attorney when they arrived at the office the couple were invited into a private conference room but shortly after their attorney would ask to speak to Ted alone it was a little while later when their attorney came out to retrieve Gail but before bringing her back into his office he said to her Ted has something he wants to tell you Ted sat across from his wife but his face was not The Confident face of the man she had just walked in with Ted looked into Gail's eyes and told her the truth everything Mike Jones claimed had occurred was true using of the illegal substance the sexual encounters and the late night meetings and Ted had something more to say it wasn't just Mike Ted then implied some of his behavior was Gail's fault Ted told her how on one particular occasion when he was attending a church event in [ __ ] Creek Colorado he texted Gail and asked her to join him Gail was busy hosting a New Life Church barbecue and planning Ted's upcoming 50th birthday party so she declined his invite while sitting in their attorney's office Ted told Gail it was after she turned down his invite that he became overwhelmed with a need for companionship so he texted a young volunteer from their church and asked him to join Ted at the hotel Ted texted the young man to ask if he wanted to be Godly or bad that night and when the man arrived at his hotel room Ted performed intimate acts in front of him in the midst of Gail's stunned silence Ted reassured her it was a mistake that he regretted his behavior and he was working on recovering from what he called Gay urges although Gail was angry disgusted and betrayed she sadly began to blame herself she wondered what his actions meant about her she demanded Ted answer her was she not enough was she not attractive to him what else wasn't he telling her at home that night Gail considered for the first time the physical implications of Ted's encounters with men what if they had an STD or something worse she felt sick and yet when Ted reached for her in bed that night Gail decided she should overcome these feelings just like she had coached many women in their marriages before Gail believed this is what God wanted from her and she had to abide by her vows to Ted No Matter his betrayal of those same vows she swore to herself that she would forgive Ted and stand by his side no matter what came to light about her husband's true nature but what she didn't know is that there would be so much more to still come out [Music] just two days after the email proclaiming Ted's innocence went out his congregation was notified that Ted had been fired the email stated in no uncertain terms that Ted had been involved in what new life described as sexually immoral conduct all of a sudden the friends and allies that had once sung his Praises began to distance themselves from Ted they also sought to downplay any influence he might have once held in religious and political spheres especially in relation to the upcoming vote Ted no longer had his weekly conversations with the president and he could no longer preach from the pulpit Ted was compelled by the church's leadership to attend intensive religious Counseling in the wake of the Scandal former colleagues said they would support him through a period of spiritual healing and after only three weeks Ted was determined to be completely healed with one of the pastors involved in his counseling declaring that Ted was completely heterosexual the counseling Ted likely underwent is what's known in Christian circles as conversion therapy conversion therapy is a dangerous and discredited practice that falsely claims to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity or expression and many times in Christian churches those who are doing the so-called counseling are not licensed therapists or psychologists despite Ted's Scandal his termination wasn't a total loss for him Ted was provided with a substantial separation agreement that required him to cut off all contact with members of the church and he was forbidden to comment on the matter for two years performed no Ministry related work and move his family out of Colorado immediately Ted was exiled but he was exiled with a severance that provided 14 months salary for him and Gail totaling about two hundred thousand dollars and the family quickly moved to Phoenix Arizona it was around this time that an email surfaced in which Ted admitted to intimate acts performed on him by Mike and taking illegal substances just as Mike had alleged to the surprise of most despite being fired from New Life Church and being banned from any Services related to the denomination Ted was still receiving regular invites to give guest sermons at other churches as the severance package payout Drew to an end Ted needed a new plan he made plans to move back to Colorado Springs as soon as the agreement ended hoping to re-establish himself as a pastor he knew he wouldn't be able to do it on his own he needed the backing of his previous supporters and so almost to the day that the two-year media silence agreement came to an end Ted and Gail announced they would be speaking out on what many thought of as a media apology to her as part of coming clean to the American public Ted agreed to take part in an HBO documentary titled the trials of Ted Haggard in this documentary Ted was shown as having to take a job selling Insurance to pay the bills despite the show being filmed during the time he was receiving payment from the severance agreement but Ted's public displays of humility and Fall From Grace seemed to work on changing the minds of the congregation that had turned against him after the show aired Ted and Gail made appearances on the Oprah Winfrey Show Larry King live and Good Morning America with Ted dutifully apologizing for his behavior far from decrying the actions of her husband Gail gushed that the Scandal had made their marriage stronger she even made Coy remarks about how their sex life was better than ever above all Gail claimed that due to the Scandal she now understood her husband more fully and was in a better position to support him with what she called his same-sex Temptations though Ted declared he had been cured of his homosexual desires by prayer the couple also volunteered to appear on the show Wife Swap where Gail and the actor Gary Busey's fiancee traded places for a week the show was an attempt to show the forgiving nature of Christianity and the strength of the Haggard family unit in the show The Family decried the haters who had treated Ted so badly in the aftermath of Mike Jones's claims Ted was desperate to be seen as a redeemed man a humble sinner who had repented and been cleansed of his sins and Ted knew how to use his media appearances as a platform from which he could begin his great comeback even telling a handful of reporters that quote people love a good comeback story end quote in a 2011 interview with GQ Ted would admit that if he was young again and in his 20s he would call himself bisexual when asked why he doesn't do that now Ted said because he has a wife and children and they like their ordinary life off the back of his media appearances Ted announced that he was going to begin holding public prayer meetings in the barn of his Colorado Springs home this announcement and Ted's recent TV appearances overshadowed a damning press release from New Life Church the press release stated that a young male member of the congregation had come forward with essay allegations by Ted from his time as head of the church this young man was the church volunteer Ted told Gail about who came to visit him in [ __ ] Creek while Gail was planning Ted's 50th birthday party the young man's name is Grant and before Mike Jones ever came forward with allegations against Ted Haggard New Life Church and Ted attempted to cover up what Ted had done Ted and his new life board members promised to pay Grant hush money and attempted to push the aspiring young Pastor out of the church but Grant decided to fight back this is part of a news interview Grant gave after deciding he had had enough of being silent and filed a lawsuit in this interview Grant releases phone call recordings between Ted and himself deleted all those text messages yes wow didn't save them in any other form I didn't say them I don't have them say to my computer I don't have them saved it was a different phone I even have a new phone now thank you for doing that it's better to forgive and let it go yeah give the people that forgive me forgive it grants accusations and news interview came on the heels of Ted and Gail's media tour and Ted denied the allegations and just as he had in the early days of his Evangelical career he gathered his small congregation and took his position as the head of his small home-based Church by 2010 his congregation had swelled and Ted established the Saint James Church in its own building in Colorado Springs the new church quickly attracted hundreds of New Life members as Ted marketed St James Church with ads and sermons that claimed his experiences had provided him with insights into sin and Grace that other pastors lacked but less than two years later Pastor Ted was up to his old tricks in 2012 it was reported by ministrywatch.com that Ted was counseling a young man overcoming an illegal substance addiction Ted allegedly asked the young church member to buy him some of his favorite illegal substance when confronted by a Saint James Elder Ted acknowledged the purchase and reportedly handed over a briefcase he had in his possession once opened the Elder found Crystal well-used drug paraphernalia a sex toy and gay porn but this wasn't Ted's first rodeo and in his new church he was now the sole leader with what seems like very little oversight this Scandal was handled internally Pastor Ted as judge and jury had found he had sinned and once again decided to forgive himself around that same time Gail published a book titled why I stayed in it she details the ordeal from her perspective focusing mainly on her relationship with her God as the reason to maintain the relationship with her husband the book received mixed reviews primarily due to the fact that Gail focused on why her husband should be forgiven for his sins rather than the damage and repercussions that Ted's action had caused both to the lgbtq plus and religious communities Gail wrote in her book quote Ted and I believed God used a game of Zeus to rescue Ted from the sin that was destroying him God has used the devil to accomplish his will end quote Ted had always labeled his gang encounters as mistakes lapses in judgment and sinful it's sentiments like these along with Gail's dehumanizing rhetoric that ridicule minimize and invalidate the experience of members of the lgbtq plus Community for whom their experiences are real valid and normal let me ask your wife a question Gail what was it like when you found out that your husband had slept with a male prostitute well I was shocked on many levels I I did not know that he had this going on in his life the struggle going on I didn't know that he was acting out on it and so I was I was devastated by it why did you stay with him well I feel like that is an important question for me to answer and that's why I wrote a book by that title why I stayed and it took me a book to explain my position on this but but basically it's that I believe that my husband was so much more than the struggle that was going on in him and I wanted to find out why this developed I wanted to understand it and I wanted to fight for my marriage after all this is this is my husband this is my marriage and I really wanted us to get to the other side because I felt there was so much value in the lives that the life that we had built together do you uh Gail do you doubt his story about being a heterosexual who suddenly had sex with a male prostitute or do you think there's a part of him that is denying who he really yes I don't think he's denying at all who he really is I think he is identifying who he is in this process and and I've lived with this man now for more than 30 years so I know that there is there is so much to his life that that validates that he is who he says he is but I just you know a lot of folks are listening and I just want to be as as open and as honest with you as I think I possibly can be you know it's almost like a person who's gay just all of a sudden saying you know I'm going to go over here and be non-gay or a person who's a heterosexual all of a sudden waking up one day and saying you know I think I'm going to go have a homosexual relationship with a man in a hotel room it doesn't sound it it just doesn't have to make sense to me can you somehow make it make sense to me if you're a heterosexual why why were you even thinking about having a homosexual relationship the boxes that people construct in their mind don't fit for most people and um and so when we have a heterosexual person that has a or sorry when we have a homosexual person that has a heterosexual encounter we don't say he needs to come out of the closet and admit that he's really a heterosexual and so so things are confusing in sexuality things are complex and sexuality and we're seeing that more and more and more because of the internet and things like that for a while Pastor Ted managed to fly under the radar but by 2019 Ted was again engaging in questionable touching with young males according to videotape claims from two St James church members when Reverend Kirk sethman as Saint James Elder confronted Ted Ted called the police claiming a delusional man had him cornered in his office the Colorado Springs Police Department has declined to release a report on the call a group of the church Elders asked Ted to step down from the pulpit but he refused setting up division in the church with many people leaving on April 1st of 2022 Saint James Church sold its building for 1.95 million dollars Ted claimed proceeds from the sale would help quote paying all our debts and that he would reimburse himself and Gail for The Times They had to cover Church expenses Ted also claimed three hundred thousand dollars from the sale went to missions working with Ukraine but he declined to say which organizations received the money or provide documentation saying in a recent sermon quote it's gone so if any of you get any ideas it's already gone end quote Ted again denied the claims but the dam was open and over the coming weeks and in 2022 more and more claims against Ted have been made both from the current and previous churches and acquaintances in the state of Colorado its current law lists 39 professions that are required by law to report suspected harm done to a child the list includes clergy members from any religious body but unfortunately it specifically exempts them from reporting what they learn in confidential Communications as deemed by the church for example a Catholic priest learning of a goose during a parishioner's confession the state of Colorado has a new task force investigating the law that is due to report back in 2024. after selling the church Ted once again moved his prayer sessions back into his home these days the Holy Spirit isn't leaping out of cereal boxes with messages for Ted and Ted continues to host prayer meetings at his home where he announced to his congregation that he is developing the basement into a room where kids can play games and use the pool table he regularly uploads to his YouTube channel titled St James Church Ted Haggard also works part-time as a Lyft driver Gail Haggard continues to stand by her man as for Mike Jones he shared the impact of coming forward in an interview with GQ Magazine he too released a memoir titled I had to say something in which he details his experiences with Ted and says that they are far from the claims of a massage gone wrong as Ted would have people believe but the effect on Mike's life has been much more devastating than that of Ted Mike has struggled to find regular employment and when potential boyfriends Google his name they run after reading about his history I cannot speak for others but I know what my intentions were and my motive I wanted to expose the injustice and the hypocrisy that's why I did it I didn't do it for fame and fortune but I will tell you right now most of my anger is that new life church for over two years I have suffered being alone out there taking all the heat for all this going on when all this time they knew there was others and they paid hush money to this man to be quiet when they could have admitted it there was others right at that moment and that would have helped me out so much instead of putting me out there to face it all on my own I am so angry at the church they stated at the time that Mike Jones was the only man out there that had relations with Ted Haggard and it's wrong and it was a lie and they owe me an apology New Life Church has hurt me deeply and I guess because they think I was just escorting that I'm just a useless piece of meat out there and it has hurt me deeply thank you for listening Mike said quote I wouldn't do it again it's ruined my life too end quote perhaps one of the saddest things of all is that those who claim to offer unconditional love often tell others they're defective for who they choose to love just as the same was told to a young boy with dreams of one day becoming a journalist this has been the rise and fall of Ted Arthur Haggard [Music] if you are a fan of learning about scams Cults and cautionary tales subscribe to the channel and turn on notifications so you'll be notified when a new documentary comes out my name is Josie and thank you so much for watching [Music] my eyes [Music] I just like just like a man with meal with courses like wild running horses we flee from the truth and drink up the light as we confuse our youthful but don't lose high and don't you dare let go there's always hope in tomorrow when we make a way by working to save our two you may not understand but know there's a promised land and the day may be dark was fine let Shadows bow down to the light

Channel: NOT THE GOOD GIRL

Views: 1,551,172

Keywords: ted haggard, gayle haggard, new life church, st. james church, megachurch, christianity, atheism, mike jones, lgbtq, george w. bush, nae, national association of evangelicals, james dobson, colorado, why i stayed, i had to say something

Id: adICmN2RJ1U

Length: 46min 7sec (2767 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 29 2022