Ted Haggard. The Video.

Update: More video with Mike Jones and Ted Haggard.

Update:
Ted Haggard is now number one and two on Technorati. Here’s the video where Ted Haggard fesses up to buying meth and tossing it.

I am reposting this blog post with a few updates after noticing that i am the Number 1 google search result for “ted haggard video” and feeling a little sense of responsibility to make sure this video and the other videos are here and are being updated – I am hoping the truth of the incident, as it gets leaked out more and more, will actually be helpful for the American church – maybe not republican politics, but at least the church. After me on Google are others with the same video – 2. beliefNet, then 3.Digg, and 4.YouTube which has two videos –

1. The confession in the car that i am showing above, and

2. an earlier video of a conversation with Richard Dawkins which – btw – is riding up on the long tail of Haggards past and riding high on the wave-crest of happy democratics surfing towards the next American election. It was kinda TIMELY, don’t you think?

ted haggard t-shirtNumber 1 result for “ted haggard t-shirts” is Jolly Blogger who offers a decent post on Ted Haggard but does not offer any t-shirts for the occasion, not a link to wildwOlf ‘s t-shirt slogan that says “I paid to have a good time with a male prostitute, and all I got was a lousy back massage!” nor a mention of Oliver Willis’s Ted Haggard T-Shirt.

Not saying I approve of these t-shirts or anyone who kicks a brother when he is down. We evangelicals need a bit more time than most to see the humor in situations like these.

Original Post from Nov 3:

Tedhaggard-Tallskinnykiwi

I don’t remember Technorati ever having a preacher make number two and three top searches before. Postmodern Negro alerted me to this issue and my friend Will Samson has some good advice and thoughts in response:

“Please pray for Ted Haggard and his family – Even if you do not agree with all of his politics, he is in the middle of a private hell that most of us cannot relate to. This is true whether the allegations are confirmed or not.

Don’t rejoice with either outcome – I find too many people, even some in the Church, hoping for one outcome or the other. Sadly, even my first reaction was to take sides. But love does not delight in evil. Period. If these allegations turn out to be true, how sad. If they are false, how sad. I pray we have the conviction to think this way.

The issue: Will Samson recommends the Washington Post summary of the allegations Story at this point is that he bought meth from a gay escort to experiment with it but threw it away – and there was no sex. We dont know the full story yet, but we do know Ted has resigned temporarily from his church and permanently from the National Association of Evangelicals. Bloggers will no doubt track the story for you. Will’s advise should follow us as we follow the story over the next few weeks. A lot of emerging church folk will not agree with his politics but will surely hold him up in prayer during this difficult time as a fellow brother in Christ.

Heres the video. Ted sounds honest to me. He got tempted. He bought the meth. He got convicted. He dumped it.

Buying it was DUMB

Buying it from a male escort was DUMB

Even requesting the services [massage] of an escort in a hotel is DUMB if you are a pastor and above reproach. And a little weird. Maybe there is more to the story?

I met Ted only once – he was speaking at Peter Wagner’s Post-denominational Conference in Pasadena, 1996. I really liked the guy. And what i already liked about him was his unselfish dream that as his church grew, other churches around it would grow also, rising with the tide of God’s Spirit in the city. I still like the guy. I hope this issue gets resolved soon.

Updates: Bruce on the accuser’s story and Ted’s confession. Actually, Bruce at Ordinary Everyday Christian seems to be on top of it. As for me, I am going to bed soon. good night.

Related:

Ted Haggard. The Video


Meth Was a Bad Choice

Haggard and the Hazzard of Hotels

Carrying Your Dad’s Dumbbell

Gayle Haggard: An Excellent Woman Who Can Find?

Technorati Tags: , ,


Andrew

Andrew Jones launched his first internet space in 1997 and has been teaching on related issues for the past 20 years. He travels all the time but lives between Wellington, San Francisco and a hobbit home in Prague.

14 Comments

  • Brandon says:

    Hey there, Andrew. Funny enough, I found out about this incident earlier today when I stopped by at Technorati and Ted’s name was actually numero uno on the top searches list. I have a lot of friends in Colorado Springs that are devastated by this news.

  • marcussplitt says:

    I agree with you Andrew. The best thing we can do, is to stay. staying silent (we should not raise our fingers), staying humble, staying in prayer. When i see, hear and read stuff like this, my first thought is: Jesus, help me to be honest to my self, to you and to my close friends.

  • ck says:

    I’m waiting to see what the full outcome is. But questions… why would you buy meth more than once from the same guy, out of ‘curiosity’? Why would a straight man go back to a gay massage therapist/escort if he weren’t at least tempted in that direction?

  • Bruce says:

    Pastor Haggard’s problems put me in mind of a comment by Billy Graham that he would never meet alone with a female and that he would never allow a female other than his wife and daughters into his hotel room, simply to avoid the faintest appearance of impropriety – or temptation. Even if Pastor Haggard never engaged in meth use or homosexual activity, he used incredibly poor judgment in putting himself into a position that screamed impropriety. Prayers for Pastor Haggard, his family, New Life Church and the many people indirectly impacted by this failing. (And thanks for the link!)

  • Bryan Riley says:

    We must pray. Our hearts our sick and deceitful. Only God can know it. Jeremiah 17:9. Oh that all Christians would cry out to God as David did, Search my heart O God and see if there are any offensive ways in me!!! Psalm 139:23-24.
    Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer. O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah. But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him. Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD. Psalm 4:1-5.

  • Jon says:

    DUMB could be any of us. All the more reason to follow Bruce’s example of Billy Graham and take “boundaries” seriously.

  • Pray for Ted Haggard

    Reading the news reports and blogs about Ted Haggard, pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs and (now) former president of the National Association of Evangelicals, makes me sad–for Ted and his family, for New Life Church, and…

  • hey – great comments everyone and good advice. i was a little worried about posting this and then going to bed.
    Dumb-r-us – now theres a domain name!

  • Ted Haggard Claims

    I don’t know anything about this man, but here are some people who have opinions and suggestions on how we as Christians should approach this matter and more generally, how we should behave as Christian men and leaders.
    Story at this point is that he boug

  • djchuang.com says:

    Haggard heartache

    All over the news cycle (1,792 articles at the time of this writing) and blogosphere (5,886 results on Technorati + 2nd most popular blog search) is the recent allegations against Ted Haggard, founding pastor of New Life Church in Colorado and now-resi…

  • chiapasgringo says:

    We Must Pray
    We must pray for the pain Jesus bears when Haggard, Dobson and their self-rightous buddies use Jesus’ name to condemn, exclude guilt and even provoke, through this guilt, the suicide of those they don’t approve of. Then, when their same human failings are revealed, they lie and blame democrats or gays for what they then call “mistakes” instead of “sins” If Jesus Christ is your personal Lord and Savior weep for him today for the harm religious extremists and their followers do to others in his name.

  • Quisi says:

    Whoever wrote this…
    Ted sounds honest to me. He got tempted. He bought the meth. He got convicted. He dumped it.
    Buying it was DUMB
    Buying it from a male escort was DUMB
    Even requesting the services [massage] of an escort in a hotel is DUMB if you are a pastor and above reproach. And a little weird. Maybe there is more to the story?
    … has to be the dumbest ass around… or 1 of Tom’s sheep !!!
    Maybe there is more to the story… ROTFLMAO !!!

  • hey Quisi, stop rolling on the floor for a minute and listen up.
    love believes all things and i am always willing to give people the benefit of the doubt. you might be ROTFLYAO but i am not laughing at all when families and lives are getting broken up.
    i guess the story is unfolding and, like i suspected, there really is more to the story.
    but dont you think people find it too easy to jump on people when they’re down and believe the worst?
    so call me a dumb-ass if you like. and i am not one of Ted’s sheep – yes his name is Ted, not Tom.

  • Doug says:

    C.S.Lewis writes in Mere Christianity: “Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story might not be quite true, or not quite as bad as it was made out. Is one’s first feeling, ‘Thank God, even they aren’t quite so bad as that,’ or is it a feeling of disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first story for the sheer pleasure of thinking your enemies as bad as possible? If it is the second, then it is, I am afraid, the first step in a process which, if followed to the end, will make us into devils.” I suggest everyone read (or re-read as it were) chapter 7 “Forgiveness” it is very helpful.

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