The Elevation Church, one of those evangelical churches that offer free-ranging “worship experiences,” has invited Ted Haggard and his wife to be its guest next Sunday. Haggard, you remember, made a career out of fiercely denouncing homosexuality — until, oops, it turned out that Haggard was buying both gay sex and crystal meth. The purpose of having Haggard at Elevation, says Pastor Steve Furtick, is to “allow the story of Jesus to be told through a man who lost it all and his wife who stood by him.” OK, we admit there probably is a lesson in forgiveness to be learned there. But that’s probably not all that can be learned in this situation. Hopefully, Haggard will also “teach” the Elevators the best techniques for picking just the right same-gender partner for impersonal, guilt-ridden sex; his picks for best lubricants; where to score some meth; and how to make a living from being a two-faced, conflicted hypocrite.
This article appears in Apr 14-21, 2009.
OR you could consider the fact that Elevation is having him there not to endorse anything, agree with anything he has done, but to allow someone who was put on a pedestal (although he is just another sinful human like the rest of us) and fell from grace (like we all do) to be honest about his struggles, and allow him and his wife (a real hero) to tell a story of faith that has been tested and the healing process.
Praise God. I want to encourage Mr Haggard, once he really repented to God, his family & the world, what authority has man to try & keep him down in life. He paid for the consequence of his sins now it’s time to release the man & let him go. God forgive him. I hope New life church did because they wouldn’t be forgiven either.
And maybe Frank should get a friggin life other than bashing CL writers 24/7. The truth is, this is a minor issue at best. I don’t know why Grooms picked the Haggard thing to write about (unlike Frank, I’m not under the illusion that I can read the minds of writers I’ve never met), but he makes a good point by ridiculing the whole thing — it’s a ridiculous event, so why not? Personally, I think the blog should have been about how weird and kind of ridiculous “churches” like Elevation are to begin with.