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<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=4>Before we begin hearing from the local scoffers
claiming scandalous lies against a person of God, here is an excerpt from this
morning's Fox News:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana color=#0000ff><SPAN id=intelliTXT>"The acting senior
pastor at New Life, Ross Parsley, meanwhile, told KKTV-TV of Colorado Springs
that Haggard admitted that some of the accusations were true, but did not
specify which ones."</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=4>Entire story: <A
href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,227159,00.html">http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,227159,00.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=4>Stand by for firther developments and
comment.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=4>W.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=4>----- Original Message ----- </FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=4>From: <</FONT><A
href="mailto:nickgier@adelphia.net"><FONT face=Verdana
size=4>nickgier@adelphia.net</FONT></A><FONT face=Verdana
size=4>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=4>To: <</FONT><A
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com"><FONT face=Verdana
size=4>vision2020@moscow.com</FONT></A><FONT face=Verdana
size=4>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=4>Sent: Friday, November 03, 2006 6:32
AM</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=4>Subject: [Vision2020] Yet Another Conservative
Pastor Accused of Gay Sex</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana><BR><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT></DIV><FONT face=Verdana
size=4>> Evangelist Steps Down Amid Gay Sex Claim<BR>> <BR>> <BR>>
The Rev. Ted Haggard, speaks at the World Prayer Center on the New Life campus
in Colorado Springs, Colo., in this photo taken in December 2002. Haggard,
leader of the influential National Association of Evangelicals, a vocal opponent
of the drive for same-sex marriage, resigned Thursday, Nov. 2, 2006, after being
accused of paying for sex with a man. (AP photo)<BR>> <BR>> By CATHERINE
TSAI<BR>> Associated Press Writer<BR>> November 3, 2006<BR>> <BR>>
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A leading evangelist and outspoken opponent of gay
marriage has given up his post as president of the National Association of
Evangelicals while a church panel investigates allegations he paid a man for
sex.<BR>> <BR>> The Rev. Ted Haggard resigned as president of the 30
million-member association Thursday after being accused of paying the man for
monthly trysts over the past three years.<BR>> <BR>> Haggard, a married
father of five, denied the allegations but also temporarily relinquished
leadership of New Life Church pending an investigation.<BR>> <BR>> "I am
voluntarily stepping aside from leadership so that the overseer process can be
allowed to proceed with integrity," he said in a statement. "I hope to be able
to discuss this matter in more detail at a later date. In the interim, I will
seek both spiritual advice and guidance."<BR>> <BR>> Haggard told KUSA-TV
late Wednesday: "I've never had a gay relationship with anybody, and I'm steady
with my wife, I'm faithful to my wife."<BR>> <BR>> ADVERTISEMENT<BR>>
Carolyn Haggard, spokeswoman for the 14,000-member New Life Church and the
pastor's niece, said a four-member church panel will investigate the
allegations. The board has the authority to discipline Haggard, including
removing him from ministry work.<BR>> <BR>> The acting senior pastor at
New Life, Ross Parsley, said Haggard acknowledged some of the accusations were
true.<BR>> <BR>> "I just know that there has been some admission of
indiscretion, not admission to all of the material that has been discussed, but
there is an admission of some guilt," Parsley told KKTV-TV of Colorado
Springs.<BR>> <BR>> Parlsey did not elaborate, but in an e-mail addressed
to congregants, he wrote that the board of overseers had since met with
Haggard.<BR>> <BR>> "It is important for you to know that he confessed to
the overseers that some of the accusations against him are true. He has
willingly and humbly submitted to the authority of the board of overseers, and
will remain on administrative leave during the course of the investigation," the
e-mail stated. A copy was obtained by KMGH-TV in Denver.<BR>> <BR>> The
allegations surfaced as voters in Colorado and seven other states get ready to
decide Tuesday on amendments banning gay marriage. Besides the proposed ban on
the Colorado ballot, a separate measure would establish the legality of domestic
partnerships providing same-sex couples with many of the rights of married
couples.<BR>> <BR>> Church members were stunned.<BR>> <BR>> "It's
political, right before the elections," said Brian Boals, a New Life member for
17 years.<BR>> <BR>> Church member E.J. Cox, 25, called the claims
"ridiculous."<BR>> <BR>> "People are always saying stuff about Pastor
Ted," she said. "You just sort of blow it off. He's just like anyone else in the
public eye."<BR>> <BR>> The accusations were made by Mike Jones, 49, of
Denver, who said he decided to go public because of the political fight over the
amendments.<BR>> <BR>> "I just want people to step back and take a look
and say, 'Look, we're all sinners, we all have faults, but if two people want to
get married, just let them, and let them have a happy life,'" said Jones, who
added that he isn't working for any political group.<BR>> <BR>> Jones, who
said he is gay, said he was also upset when he discovered Haggard and the New
Life Church had publicly opposed same-sex marriage.<BR>> <BR>> "It made me
angry that here's someone preaching about gay marriage and going behind the
scenes having gay sex," he said.<BR>> <BR>> Jones claimed Haggard paid him
to have sex nearly every month over three years. He said he advertised himself
as an escort on the Internet and was contacted by a man who called himself Art,
who snorted methamphetamine before their sexual encounters to heighten his
experience.<BR>> <BR>> Jones said he later saw the man on television
identified as Haggard and that the two last had sex in August.<BR>> <BR>>
He said he has voice mail messages from Haggard, as well as an envelope he said
Haggard used to mail him cash. He declined to make the voice mails available to
the AP, but KUSA-TV reported what it said were excerpts late Thursday that
referred to methamphetamine.<BR>> <BR>> "Hi Mike, this is Art," one call
began, according to the station. "Hey, I was just calling to see if we could get
any more. Either $100 or $200 supply."<BR>> <BR>> A second message, left a
few hours later, began: "Hi Mike, this is Art, I am here in Denver and sorry
that I missed you. But as I said, if you want to go ahead and get the stuff,
then that would be great. And I'll get it sometime next week or the week after
or whenever."<BR>> <BR>> Haggard, 50, was appointed president of the
evangelicals association in March 2003. He has participated in conservative
Christian leaders' conference calls with White House staffers and lobbied
members of Congress last year on U.S. Supreme Court appointees after Sandra Day
O'Connor announced her retirement.<BR>> <BR>> After Massachusetts
legalized gay marriage in 2004, Haggard and others began organizing
state-by-state opposition. Last year, Haggard and officials from the nearby
Christian ministry Focus on the Family announced plans to push Colorado's gay
marriage ban for the 2006 ballot.<BR>> <BR>> At the time, Haggard said
that he believed marriage is a union between a man and woman rooted in centuries
of tradition, and that research shows it's the best family unit for
children.<BR>> <BR>>
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