Sunday, Nov. 12, 2006 | 1:21 a.m.
Just a year ago, Christianity Today magazine was touting Ted Haggard as the new evangelical wunderkind. In his three years at the helm of the National Association of Evangelicals, a Washington, D.C., lobbying group representing 30 million Christians, the Colorado Springs, Colo., megachurch pastor had proved himself capable of defending his movement's conservative stance on homosexuality and abortion while also redirecting energy to issues such as global warming, poverty and the genocide in Darfur.
Earning almost as much respect from the faithful and politicians as evangelist Billy Graham and Focus on the Family's James Dobson, Haggard had leveraged his position to "rally the troops" on progressive issues, said Randall Balmer, evangelical historian at Columbia University's Barnard College.
And that is what makes his fall from grace - and the lessons coming out of his tale - that much more humbling for the people who share his faith.
Married with five children, Haggard resigned from his national post and was dismissed from his church after confessing to buying methamphetamine and cavorting with a male prostitute.
In a two-page letter read aloud to church members Nov. 5, Haggard confessed that he was a "liar and a deceiver" who had been unable to deal with his sexual immorality because of pride.
The news shocked, angered and saddened the evangelical community, but for many Las Vegas pastors, the next reaction was one of self-reflection: What can we learn from this?
The Haggard revelations provoked among them a strong awareness of the pervasiveness of sin and a realization that "There but for the grace of God go I."
Evangelical leaders hope Haggard's fall will help other Christians seek greater accountability, transparency and compassion within their church walls. Haggard's hypocrisy is an undeniable blow to the credibility of the movement, and a reminder to followers about the consequences of not practicing what they preach.
"Hopefully this is a wake-up call" for churches to foster those conversations, said Paul Goulet, senior pastor at International Church of Las Vegas, a 5,000-member, nondenominational church with multiple campuses.
Encompassing a wide range of denominations, evangelicals are known for their commitment to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, literal adherence to Scripture and their emphasis on spreading the faith.
There's a tendency within some evangelical churches for people to mask their struggles out of fear they will be judged or ostracized if they don't measure up to the perfect Christian image, pastors and lay members say.
"Most of us either become good liars or we leave the church because we can't be honest," said former Denver Broncos defensive back Randy Rich, now a Las Vegas-based fundraiser for International Cooperating Ministries.
Gard Jameson, pastor at Grace Community Church in Boulder City, said a common fallacy in Christian thinking is that once a person makes the commitment to the faith, "the work is over.
"That is the signal that the work has really just begun," Jameson said.
The question is whether the church is a "museum for saints," or more like a hospital for the sick or a gym where people with various levels of spiritual fitness can flex their muscles, said the Rev. Dr. Mark Wickstrom of Community Lutheran Church.
The perceived need to be perfect is greater for leaders who are called to be examples, pastors say. Haggard's fall reminded many local pastors that they also need to be ministered and confess their own problems.
"All of us in church leadership are susceptible to the dark side of our hearts, and if it goes unchecked it will drag us down," said Kevin Odor, senior pastor at Canyon Ridge Christian Church. "We are human. We aren't some special breed of holy people that don't get tempted."
Talking about sexual sin is particularly hard for evangelical churches, and the more conservative the church, the harder it is, pastors say. Many hold up the biblical standard that sex is reserved for husband and wife, and don't further discuss the matter.
"I think sexuality is not talked about much at all, whether it is evangelical parents to their kids or certainly among themselves, so when something like this transpires the transgression is magnified because there is no real vocabulary to be able to talk about it," said Balmer, who has written several books on the evangelical subculture. "Sexuality is one of the major drives of us all, and to bracket it out and not say it is a driving force is naive and ultimately perilous."
While some pastors wonder whether it is time to rethink the strict stance on sexuality, particularly on same-sex relations, most believe adhering to those biblical standards promotes the best sexual relationships and guides adults away from transgressions.
Perhaps the biggest lesson coming out of Haggard's fall, some pastors say, is the danger of rallying around a dominant leader - especially if he then finds it difficult to seek help because of an exaggerated sense of power among politicians and churchgoers. The more dedicated the followers are to a leader, the greater the damage when that person falls, pastors say.
"Their entire understanding of the faith is refracted through this charismatic individual, and when that individual stumbles, it is impossible to believe it won't have some impact on their faith," said Balmer, whose recent book "Thy Kingdom Come" looks at this issue from a political standpoint.
"The more you put your eyes on people, the more they are going to disappoint you and the harder it is to live out your faith," Goulet said. "Faith has to be in God."
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