Ted Haggard - tip of the iceberg (article)

(Editor’s note: this article was written in November 2006, right after the Haggard scandal broke. Since then another pastor left a large church in Denver, and one of Haggard’s assistant’s also stepped down in an unrelated sexual misconduct issue. Unfortunately, there’s more to come.)
Envy. Jealousy. Gossip. Glamour. Influence. Fascination with the rich and powerful. America’s obsession with celebrity includes all those elements, and high-profile ministers are not exempt. Throw in the politics of morality and you’ve got a lead story that will last you days.
Ted Haggard’s fall from his perch atop the nation’s loose evangelical hierarchy came just days before Colorado’s vote on the definition of marriage (it passed, “one man and one woman”) and the legal status of domestic partnerships (it failed). Pastor Ted’s accuser, male prostitute Mike Jones, turns out to be telling mostly the truth, and he admits he “outed” Ted Haggard for political reasons.
The Colorado Springs church Haggard founded 26 years ago, New Life Church, a mega-ministry with 14,000 adherents, assembled their board of overseers, who determined that Haggard’s admission of a drug purchase and massage was not all there was to the story. Haggard was fired for sexual misconduct two days after the allegations were made public on a Denver radio talk show. Colorado Springs, home to nearly 100 Christian ministries, has been rocked by this national story of “shame under fire.”
Haggard, whom I once met, was likeable, warm, and personally charismatic. As president of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), he was an outstanding spokesman for evangelical Christianity in America. He resigned that post on the day the story broke. Evangelical Christian leaders must look elsewhere for their next figurehead. The NAE should take care, for the personal lives of Christian leaders are at risk, and the moral / political agenda of the Christian Right is in jeopardy as well.
I remember writing just a couple of years ago, “Who’s next?”

ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRAVELING ALONE
Jones, whom most local media have taken to euphemistically call “a male escort,” went on the air last Thursday to reveal that the man he serviced and sold the illegal drug methamphetamine to over the past three years was none other than Ted Haggard. Jones says he saw the Rev. Haggard on TV supporting the marriage definition Amendment 43. Appalled by the hypocrisy, Jones went public.
Some of the charges were true, Haggard quickly confessed. He was referred to Jones by the Denver hotel he was staying in, and was “tempted” to buy the drug, but he says he never took it. Jones took a polygraph test at a local media outlet, and showed some signs of deception. But the voicemail recordings hit the airwaves, and the drug customer who called himself “Art” (Haggard’s middle name is Arthur) was obviously the disgraced minister.
The elders at New Life Church must be kicking themselves. Besides the deception involved in living a double life, Haggard’s personal traveling style rejected all the safeguards of accountability that should be standard operating procedure for Christian leaders today.
Independent, non-denominational churches are especially at risk with regard to accountability for their founding pastors.
At Haggard’s level, he should never have traveled alone. How many assistants said, “I’ll go with you to Denver, pastor.”? To which he might have replied, “No, that’s OK. You’re plenty busy here, I’ll be fine. Besides, I don’t like the look of traveling with an entourage.” In hindsight, the board at New Life is probably saying it would have been worth the cost of an extra hotel room and plane ticket.
Men are inclined toward isolation. The men’s ministry Promise Keepers teaches that isolation is a core element of masculine context. Conventional wisdom tells men that “distance equals safety.” We just don’t like getting too close to anybody. The truth is that our natural inclination to walk alone is the far more dangerous path.
On the other hand, I know some national-profile ministers who never travel alone. Either their wife, an assistant, or a friend is always flying with them. Some Christian organizations enforce an arcane company lunch and travel policy “no married men or women together by themselves.” That’s also why offices have windows cut into the doors. For Christian leaders, the “third wheel” is a moral and occupational safety device.
Israel’s King Solomon, who had his own issues with sexuality, even warned about men standing alone in the Book of Proverbs, chapter 18: “A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against all wise judgment (sound wisdom).”

THE VALUE OF MENTORING
Unfortunately, not enough Christian leaders are convinced of the relative value of a travel companion. Personal safety and moral security are just part of the benefit of traveling with others.
Over the past 20 years, I have watched some younger Christian leaders rise through the ranks to gain notoriety themselves. But years before taking the big stage, I saw them carrying bags for their mentors. I asked one about that transition from a small pulpit to an arena-sized audience. He told me, “It was relatively easy. By the time I got the invitation, I had already been in the big meetings. I had seen first hand what it was like to function at that level.” Are we training our “Timothy”s?
When it comes to travel, too many Christian leaders have completely abandoned the biblical imperative of traveling in twos. Jesus sent his disciples out two by two (Mark 6:7). Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes (4:9), “Two are better than one.” On the other hand, many pastors and lower-level Christian ministers would love to be able to afford a travel companion. My question to elder boards is: what’s it worth to you?

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
As a journalist since 1976, I have seen more moral failures than I can count, in business, in politics, and in ministry. Most of these large organizations do have safety checks. Even in surveying the ungraceful White House scandal of the late 1990s, one could note countless opportunities to make the right choice or the wrong choice.
Christians believe in an ever-present Holy Spirit, a Comforter. That “still small Voice” does speak to us when we’re about to “cross the line.” When a simple personal desire or physical appetite overcomes other “higher aims,” we have a way of “shush-ing” that voice. The next time, it’s easier to cross the line. The Voice gets quieter.
No doubt, several caution signs, cone zones and barricades were passed on the way to Rev. Haggard’s current transgression.
The New Testament Letter of James teaches (1:14, 15 Amplified): But every person is tempted when he is drawn away, enticed and baited by his own evil desire (lust, passions). Then the evil desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death.

EVANGELICAL PRIDE
The timing of these revelations are purely political. Evangelicals will tell you that the moral future of the nation hangs in the balance as we vote on legal definitions of marriage and elect politicians who will write laws on embryonic stem-cell research, individual liberty, taxation, defense, education, criminal justice, the environment, and countless other issues, all with a moral aspect to them.
(Note: ALL laws are legislated morality.)
The political battles before us are not entirely about “evangelicals making the world in our image,” as Tony Campolo complained on a recent local talk show. Although conservatives tend to be a bit more uniform and unified than those on the left end of the spectrum, many spiritual people (both left and right) buttress their political passions with the notion that they are fighting for the “soul of the nation.”
Campolo is right, though, about a needed change in the prevailing evangelical attitude. Brokenness, the kind faced by Ted Haggard and his family today, is shared by lots of families who have to deal with substance abuse and sexually confusion (gay and straight). Brokenness is a human condition. “Holier than thou” is a poor political platform, and it’s a terrible personal platform upon which to build a community.

FINDING THE LOST, REBUILDING THE BROKEN
Christian organizations, including churches, political action committees, parachurch groups, etc., must revisit the things that make us worthwhile in this culture. What we offer is the Gospel – the good news that although we are sinners, there is a Savior, and a better way to live. The abundant life is within our grasp.
Let’s revisit grace, remembering the fallen condition of all of us, but for the intervention of a Divine man, Jesus Christ.
Let’s revisit compassion for the hurting and the lonely. They ought to expect from Christians a listening ear, a sincere concern, and a love that is tough enough to tell the truth, and tough enough to endure with them all the hardships of life.
Let’s revisit how we treat and train our leaders. Christian leaders must not travel alone, in life or on business trips. (An exemption is granted for personal withdrawal for prayer.) Churches boards must get beyond all the pretty and fashionable exteriors, to make sure that their leaders are getting the tangible support they need (including travel budgets, vacations, leaves of absence, confidential counseling), as well as mutual accountability. In fact, all genuine accountability is invited and mutual.