Ted Haggard, who started New Life Church in his Colorado Springs basement and built it into a megachurch with thousands of worshippers, said Wednesday that he is starting a church at his home.
"We wanted to do something in our house to connect with friends," said Haggard, whose ties to New Life ended in scandal three years ago with the revelation that he'd been involved with a male prostitute in Denver.
Haggard will hold his first gathering, open to the public, at 7 p.m. Nov. 12 at his house at 1865 Old Ranch Road. He referred to it as a "prayer meeting" but said it would also be correct to call it a church.
Although Haggard recently indicated he had no plans to start a church, he said he changed his mind two weeks ago after talking to a friend in Florida who was involved in prayer meetings.
Haggard anticipates that 10 to 20 people will show up for the evening of music and prayer 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 said. "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."
Haggard started New Life Church in 1985 with 25 people meeting in his basement. He soon became a rising star in evangelical circles. In 1996, Christianity Today magazine named him one of 50 up-and-coming evangelical leaders younger than 40. He later became head of the National Association of Evangelicals, as his church grew to a membership of 14,000.
But that ended when a male prostitute in Denver broke the news that Haggard had been one of his clients and used methamphetamine. Haggard denied the story, then acknowledged it was true.
He resigned from New Life on Nov. 5, 2006, and was given a 13-month severance package with conditions that included not starting a church near Colorado Springs and meeting with overseers in a restoration program.
Haggard has tried to support himself and his family as an insurance salesman, but for the past year, he has been giving talks on weekends with his wife, Gayle, at evangelical churches across the nation. The church talks have become the Haggards' primary income.
Several people who have worked with Haggard said it's premature for him to be leading a church. C. Peter Wagner, who co-founded New Life's World Prayer Center with Haggard, said the former pastor should first seek approval from the overseers before leading people in prayer and worship. Haggard quit the five-year restoration program in February 2008.
"My reservation is that he has not followed through completely on apostolic protocol," Wagner said Wednesday.
Gary Black worked with Haggard in the 1990s when Black's youth missionary organization, Rock the Nation, was affiliated with New Life. He, too, was taken aback.
"I would be shocked to think he's ready to lead a church," Black said.
But Haggard said he has changed greatly and deepened his faith since the scandal.
"I am much more compassionate, more kind, more patient," he said. "I've learned that God is sovereign, and the number one thing we should do is trust him."
The Rev. Brady Boyd, who took over leadership of New Life Church in 2007 and lifted the restrictions against Haggard, did not directly address the news that he's starting a church, but said: "New Life Church will always be grateful for the many years of dedicated leadership from Ted Haggard and we wish him and his family only the best."
While Haggard isn't sure where his first gathering will lead, he has no doubt about the first hymn to be sung: "Amazing Grace."
Go to "The Pulpit" blog to read what the ex-prostitute who outed Haggard has to say about Haggard's new church.
