Pastor Ted: The Comeback Kid?

This photo shows Pastor Ted Haggard giving an informal interview outside his home. Two of his five children are in the back seat.

More than seven thousand members of New Life Church in Colorado Springs showed up for services yesterday morning to hear that their chief pastor is a self-styled liar. My experience from working in the Deep South is that many pentacostals put a blind faith in what their preachers tell them. This must be a devastating blow for the more than 14,000 members of this mega-church.

The more I read about New Life Church the more I come to understand that this is nothing more than a religious cult. And the people who are most "blessed" are the preachers. New Life Church has fourteen ministers -- all of them making more than a quarter of a million dollars a year. Pastor Ted's salary was over 600.000 dollars...and this did not include outside income from real estate and other dealings. Big business! No wonder they feel at home in the Republican Party.

I'm sure Pastor Ted and his PR henchmen are already working on Plan B --- the Redemption Option. A working title for his book could be "How the Devil Made Me Do It!" Maybe the long-suffering wife (see photo) could contribute a chapter on what a good Christian husband Pastor Ted is. Maybe even the kids could make a contribution. In the meantime, I expect that New Life Church will provide some financial assistance to their beloved founder.