Hoping For A Cup Of Coffee

This morning I broke my normal routine of reading, praying, writing (until now) and watched a number of documentaries on Ted Haggard.  This compelled in me a number of thoughts, and emotions. If you're not sure of Ted's story you can google it and find hundreds of articles about his scandal, at least that is what they refer to his sin as.  There are many disagreements I would have with Ted theologically and therefore practically, but his story compels me on a number of levels.

The first thing that I want to discuss is how they (his former church's leadership) handled his sin.  When Ted's sin became public his church acted quickly by contacting his family and informing them that they are to have no contact with the people of his now former church.  Ted's wife made a statement in an interview about that decision, saying, "these are our friends and we need them right now".  That statement put a great deal of weight on me, as I sat there and thought about it briefly, thinking what should be the response to such a horrible sin from the pastor of any church, let alone a mega-church of about 14,000 people.  Ted was the pastor of the church and member of that church, as was his family. That raises the question, should Ted have been removed? I believe the answer is rather obvious, and would simply answer it with a yes. But was ostracizing his family from the community the had been apart of for 22 years, was this best response to a very public failure, was this the best thing for everyone involved?

The Haggard Family needed community. Ted's wife needed her friends to weep with her, pray with her, and to share a cup of coffee.  Ted needed men to come along side him to share some hard words, and encourage him to love his family through his sin.  His children needed the support and friendship from the believers that had surround that family as long as they have been alive.  

I am not advocating that Ted should have remained on staff, and certainly not as the lead pastor. However I am advocating that the church has a responsibility to discipline its church members, and a responsibility to disciple, encourage, love, counsel, care for, protect and bring back into full fellowship with the Church body.

This was not a case of the leader covering up his sin, or blame shifting, but a man who owned his sin.  This takes on a whole new dimension, as we are not used to men owning their sin.

I was impressed that the Haggard family managed to stay together through Ted's sin, and very public "burning at the stake." as Ted likes to Call it.  That piece of information changes everything for me.

Ted has Recently started a new church called St. James. He chose that name because of the verse which says, "faiths without works is dead" (James 2:17).

TLC did a documentary of Ted and his journey to start a new church. One show that I watched, Ted got a phone call where the person on the other end goes after Ted by saying, "In the New testament, it strictly forbids you from ever holding a position of authority, ever again."  After his exile from the Church his Pastored, Leith Anderson, the man who was made president of the National Association of Evangelicals, stated, "a person at the highest level of leadership has failed with the standards he lifted up for himself."  Rebecca Cope, a church employee stated, "as a person at a high level of leadership, he has to fall harder." and Mike Ware, who was on the board of overseers for New Life church, which handled the departure of Ted said this, "He needs to just disappear".

I'm left with the question, should Ted start another church, lead, teach, pastor another group of people? To be quite honest I'm not certain how I would have handled a situation like this were I in a position to make decision about the Haggard's future and the future of New Life's Church.  But I do know this, we  (American Evangelicals) have affinity for watching people who are seated in the highest positions of authority fall. I believe mostly because of wrong views that anything large is corrupt, and David killed Goliath. But our hypocrisy is revealed when we love to watch some celebrity be restored i.e. Kobe Bryant and Michael Vick come to mind.  But for some reason we don't want to see someone like Ted Haggard Restored.

When Jimmy Swaggart had a very public fall, one that was similarly egregious, but was a heterosexual sin, he returned to the pulpit after just three months.

Those two men had similar sins that took place but were two decades a part, but had dramatically different outcomes. One is left with the question, why? As I stated above, I believe that in part, the problem is with what kind of sin there was. Jimmy's was with a female prostate, and Ted had the misfortune of being involved in a homosexual sin; and American Evangelicals still aren't sure how they are suppose to handle homosexual sin - if we are still allowed to say that publicly.

The main point of this article was to give us somethings to think about, not to answer questions, but to ask some.

There are several things I know. First many of those who raise to the highest places of power will surely fall, and when those titans fall  they crush everyone under them. Second, Jesus, on whom the Christian faith was built appeared to have failed, but truly he had conquered and that is the story of the Christian faith - Christ builds his Church and He doesn't fail. Lastly, Christ is seated on the Throne ruling and reigning because He didn't fail.

Be sure to meet that friend for a cup of coffee, the just might need it more than you could image.

Coram Deo,

Douglas Herron