Here's one more
Evangelical Leader Accused of Gay Affair
Updated 7:30 PM ET November 2, 2006
The Rev. Ted Haggard resigned as president of the influential National Association of Evangelicals on Thursday after being accused of paying for sex with a man.
Haggard who has been a leading opponent of the drive for same-sex marriage also stepped aside as head of his 14,000-member New Life Church while a church panel investigates, saying he could "not continue to minister under the cloud created by the accusations."
The investigation came after a 49-year-old man told a Denver radio station that Haggard paid him to have sex nearly every month for three years.
Haggard, a married father of five, denied the allegations in an interview with KUSA-TV late Wednesday: "Never had a gay relationship with anybody, and I'm steady with my wife, I'm faithful to my wife."
As long as we're beating up on hypocrites...
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As long as we're beating up on hypocrites...
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Killington Zone
You can checkout any time you like,
but you can never leave
"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function" =
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"There's nothing more frightening than ignorance in action" - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Killington Zone
You can checkout any time you like,
but you can never leave
"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function" =
F. Scott Fitzgerald
"There's nothing more frightening than ignorance in action" - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I just read that. Way to go Mike Jones!
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The leader of the influential National Association of Evangelicals, a vocal opponent of the drive for same-sex marriage, resigned Thursday after being accused of paying for sex with a man.
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The Rev. Ted Haggard also stepped aside as head of his 14,000-member New Life Church while a church panel investigates, saying he could "not continue to minister under the cloud created by the accusations."
The investigation came after a 49-year-old man told a Denver radio station that Haggard paid him to have sex.
Haggard, a married father of five, denied the allegations in an interview with KUSA-TV late Wednesday: "Never had a gay relationship with anybody, and I'm steady with my wife, I'm faithful to my wife."
In a written statement, Haggard said: "I am voluntarily stepping aside from leadership so that the overseer process can be allowed to proceed with integrity. 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."
Mike Jones, 49, told The Associated Press that Haggard paid him to have sex nearly every month for three years. His allegations were first aired on KHOW-AM in Denver.
Jones said that he had advertised himself as an escort on the Internet and that a man who called himself Art contacted him. Jones said he later saw the man on television identified as Haggard.
He said that he last had sex with Haggard in August and that he did not warn him before making his allegations this week.
Jones said he has voice mail messages from Haggard, as well as an envelope he said Haggard used to mail him cash, though he declined to make any of it available to the AP.
"There's some stuff on there (the voice mails) that's pretty damning," he said.
Richard Cizik, vice president for government affairs for the evangelicals association, expressed shock.
"Is this something I can imagine of Ted Haggard? No," he said.
Carolyn Haggard, spokeswoman for the New Life Church, said a four-member church panel will investigate the allegations. She did not identify the board members.
"This is really routine when any sort of situation like this arises, so we're prepared," she said. "The church is going to continue to serve and be welcoming to our community. That's a priority."
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The leader of the influential National Association of Evangelicals, a vocal opponent of the drive for same-sex marriage, resigned Thursday after being accused of paying for sex with a man.
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The Rev. Ted Haggard also stepped aside as head of his 14,000-member New Life Church while a church panel investigates, saying he could "not continue to minister under the cloud created by the accusations."
The investigation came after a 49-year-old man told a Denver radio station that Haggard paid him to have sex.
Haggard, a married father of five, denied the allegations in an interview with KUSA-TV late Wednesday: "Never had a gay relationship with anybody, and I'm steady with my wife, I'm faithful to my wife."
In a written statement, Haggard said: "I am voluntarily stepping aside from leadership so that the overseer process can be allowed to proceed with integrity. 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."
Mike Jones, 49, told The Associated Press that Haggard paid him to have sex nearly every month for three years. His allegations were first aired on KHOW-AM in Denver.
Jones said that he had advertised himself as an escort on the Internet and that a man who called himself Art contacted him. Jones said he later saw the man on television identified as Haggard.
He said that he last had sex with Haggard in August and that he did not warn him before making his allegations this week.
Jones said he has voice mail messages from Haggard, as well as an envelope he said Haggard used to mail him cash, though he declined to make any of it available to the AP.
"There's some stuff on there (the voice mails) that's pretty damning," he said.
Richard Cizik, vice president for government affairs for the evangelicals association, expressed shock.
"Is this something I can imagine of Ted Haggard? No," he said.
Carolyn Haggard, spokeswoman for the New Life Church, said a four-member church panel will investigate the allegations. She did not identify the board members.
"This is really routine when any sort of situation like this arises, so we're prepared," she said. "The church is going to continue to serve and be welcoming to our community. That's a priority."
Oh, this story is just getting better and better...
"We didn't have sex! Just a 'massage'! And I bought meth from him! But I didn't use it!"
Holy crap. This slimeball is twisting himself into a pretzel over this. GREAT stuff! My favorite part is where the former male prostitute describes himself as a Christian Democrat who voted for Dubya. You can't make this stuff up...
Evangelical leader says he bought meth but 'never used it'
November 3, 2006
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (CNN) -- The Rev. Ted Haggard, who resigned as one of the nation's top evangelical leaders, admitted Friday he had contacted male prostitute Mike Jones "for a massage" and bought drugs from him.
Haggard said he never had sex with Jones and never used the methamphetamine drug he bought.
He was one of a group of religious leaders who regularly participated in conference calls with White House aides.
Haggard told reporters earlier this week that he did not know Jones, who claims to have had a three-year sex-for-money relationship with the pastor.
Haggard, 50, resigned Thursday as leader of the National Association of Evangelicals -- a group representing more than 45,000 churches and 30 million people -- and he also stepped down temporarily from leadership at New Life Church in Colorado Springs.
Haggard told CNN affiliate KUSA-TV on Friday that he received Jones' name as "a referral" from a hotel where he was staying in Denver.
He did not name the hotel. "I did call him," Haggard said. "I called him to buy some meth, but I threw it away.
"I was buying it for me, but I never used it. I was tempted, I bought it, but I never used it.
"He told me about it. I went there for a massage."
Earlier, Jones said he would not back down from his allegations despite a polygraph test that a polygraph administrator said showed "deception."
Jones took the test voluntarily, answering questions about his alleged ties with the Haggard.
Test administrator John Kresnik said the results "did show deception" but that Jones was physically and mentally exhausted. Kresnik said he would like to take the test again after Jones had slept and eaten, which could provide more trustworthy results.
The Rev. Ross Parsley, who assumed leadership of Haggard's church, said Haggard had made "some admission of indiscretion -- not an admission to all of the material that has been discussed, but there is an admission of some guilt."
Time magazine named Haggard as one 2005's 25 most influential evangelical leaders and has close ties with the White House, participating in a regular conference call with other religious leaders. (Time.com article)
White House counselor Dan Bartlett said Friday that the "revelations" are "shocking and disgraceful if they turn out to be true. I think it's important that we do find out exactly what it is right and what is wrong here and get to the bottom of it."
Haggard has put himself on administrative leave as senior pastor of the 14,000-member Colorado Springs church.
Church members who spoke with The Associated Press were stunned. "It's political, right before the elections," said longtime member Brian Boals, according to the AP. Another, E.J. Cox, 25, told the AP the allegations are "ridiculous." "People are always saying stuff about Pastor Ted," she told AP. "You just sort of blow it off. He's just like anyone else in the public eye."
During a radio interview after the polygraph test, Jones said, "I'm disappointed. I won't back down from statements."
Haggard told CNN affiliate KUSA-TV on Wednesday, "I've never had a gay relationship with anybody. I'm steady with my wife. I'm faithful to my wife."
He added, "I have never done drugs, ever -- not even in high school."
Jones said he has an envelope containing two $100 bills from Haggard, and saved telephone messages from him.
KUSA reported that a nationally known voice recognition expert concluded the voicemails left for Jones probably were from Haggard. A more detailed analysis was under way.
In at least one of the messages, the speaker identifies himself as "Art." Jones said Haggard used the name Art during their alleged three-year affair, with the last tryst occurring in August.
Haggard's middle name is Arthur.
Haggard told reporters this week he does not know Mike Jones.
"He knows I'm Mike Jones," Jones told KHOW. Asked whether he believed Haggard was "lying," Jones responded, "He's lying."
Jones added that if he were making up the accusation, "I could've made it even worse than it was. But I'm just telling you what happened when I was with him."
Jones said that four months ago he learned Haggard's true identity when he saw him on television. He said he became upset when he learned that Haggard's church supported the proposed constitutional ban.
Colorado is one of eight states where voters will consider bans on same-sex marriage.
"I cried many nights, I got sick tormenting myself about whether I should do this," he said. "I finally had to come to peace with myself ... I had to do the moral thing."
Jones, who said he no longer worked as a prostitute, described himself as a Christian and said that while he was a registered Democrat, he had voted for Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush for president.
In a written statement issued by his church Thursday, Haggard said he could "not continue to minister under the cloud created by the accusations."
"I am voluntarily stepping aside from leadership so that the overseer process can be allowed to proceed with integrity," he said. "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."
The church's lawyer, Martin Nussbaum, told the Denver Post earlier Thursday that Haggard's resignation as head of the National Association of Evangelicals was in no way an admission of guilt.
Under the church's governing structure, a board of overseers, made up of four senior pastors of other congregations, will lead the inquiry, with the power to discipline or remove Haggard or restore him to the pulpit, according to the church's statement.
Before word broke of "some admission of guilt," other prominent religious conservative leaders openly supported Haggard.
James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family -- which is also based in Colorado Springs -- called it "unconscionable that the legitimate news media would report a rumor like this based on nothing but one man's accusation." "Ted Haggard is a friend of mine, and it appears someone is trying to damage his reputation as a way of influencing the outcome of Tuesday's election," Dobson said in a written statement.
Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals, told CNN that "the accusations do not comport with the person that I know."
"Since 1942, the NAE has never had a moral, ethical or financial scandal of any sort. Thus, this is very painful," Cizik said. "I believe that our record of speaking and acting in conformity with biblical values will be upheld."
"We didn't have sex! Just a 'massage'! And I bought meth from him! But I didn't use it!"
Holy crap. This slimeball is twisting himself into a pretzel over this. GREAT stuff! My favorite part is where the former male prostitute describes himself as a Christian Democrat who voted for Dubya. You can't make this stuff up...
Evangelical leader says he bought meth but 'never used it'
November 3, 2006
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (CNN) -- The Rev. Ted Haggard, who resigned as one of the nation's top evangelical leaders, admitted Friday he had contacted male prostitute Mike Jones "for a massage" and bought drugs from him.
Haggard said he never had sex with Jones and never used the methamphetamine drug he bought.
He was one of a group of religious leaders who regularly participated in conference calls with White House aides.
Haggard told reporters earlier this week that he did not know Jones, who claims to have had a three-year sex-for-money relationship with the pastor.
Haggard, 50, resigned Thursday as leader of the National Association of Evangelicals -- a group representing more than 45,000 churches and 30 million people -- and he also stepped down temporarily from leadership at New Life Church in Colorado Springs.
Haggard told CNN affiliate KUSA-TV on Friday that he received Jones' name as "a referral" from a hotel where he was staying in Denver.
He did not name the hotel. "I did call him," Haggard said. "I called him to buy some meth, but I threw it away.
"I was buying it for me, but I never used it. I was tempted, I bought it, but I never used it.
"He told me about it. I went there for a massage."
Earlier, Jones said he would not back down from his allegations despite a polygraph test that a polygraph administrator said showed "deception."
Jones took the test voluntarily, answering questions about his alleged ties with the Haggard.
Test administrator John Kresnik said the results "did show deception" but that Jones was physically and mentally exhausted. Kresnik said he would like to take the test again after Jones had slept and eaten, which could provide more trustworthy results.
The Rev. Ross Parsley, who assumed leadership of Haggard's church, said Haggard had made "some admission of indiscretion -- not an admission to all of the material that has been discussed, but there is an admission of some guilt."
Time magazine named Haggard as one 2005's 25 most influential evangelical leaders and has close ties with the White House, participating in a regular conference call with other religious leaders. (Time.com article)
White House counselor Dan Bartlett said Friday that the "revelations" are "shocking and disgraceful if they turn out to be true. I think it's important that we do find out exactly what it is right and what is wrong here and get to the bottom of it."
Haggard has put himself on administrative leave as senior pastor of the 14,000-member Colorado Springs church.
Church members who spoke with The Associated Press were stunned. "It's political, right before the elections," said longtime member Brian Boals, according to the AP. Another, E.J. Cox, 25, told the AP the allegations are "ridiculous." "People are always saying stuff about Pastor Ted," she told AP. "You just sort of blow it off. He's just like anyone else in the public eye."
During a radio interview after the polygraph test, Jones said, "I'm disappointed. I won't back down from statements."
Haggard told CNN affiliate KUSA-TV on Wednesday, "I've never had a gay relationship with anybody. I'm steady with my wife. I'm faithful to my wife."
He added, "I have never done drugs, ever -- not even in high school."
Jones said he has an envelope containing two $100 bills from Haggard, and saved telephone messages from him.
KUSA reported that a nationally known voice recognition expert concluded the voicemails left for Jones probably were from Haggard. A more detailed analysis was under way.
In at least one of the messages, the speaker identifies himself as "Art." Jones said Haggard used the name Art during their alleged three-year affair, with the last tryst occurring in August.
Haggard's middle name is Arthur.
Haggard told reporters this week he does not know Mike Jones.
"He knows I'm Mike Jones," Jones told KHOW. Asked whether he believed Haggard was "lying," Jones responded, "He's lying."
Jones added that if he were making up the accusation, "I could've made it even worse than it was. But I'm just telling you what happened when I was with him."
Jones said that four months ago he learned Haggard's true identity when he saw him on television. He said he became upset when he learned that Haggard's church supported the proposed constitutional ban.
Colorado is one of eight states where voters will consider bans on same-sex marriage.
"I cried many nights, I got sick tormenting myself about whether I should do this," he said. "I finally had to come to peace with myself ... I had to do the moral thing."
Jones, who said he no longer worked as a prostitute, described himself as a Christian and said that while he was a registered Democrat, he had voted for Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush for president.
In a written statement issued by his church Thursday, Haggard said he could "not continue to minister under the cloud created by the accusations."
"I am voluntarily stepping aside from leadership so that the overseer process can be allowed to proceed with integrity," he said. "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."
The church's lawyer, Martin Nussbaum, told the Denver Post earlier Thursday that Haggard's resignation as head of the National Association of Evangelicals was in no way an admission of guilt.
Under the church's governing structure, a board of overseers, made up of four senior pastors of other congregations, will lead the inquiry, with the power to discipline or remove Haggard or restore him to the pulpit, according to the church's statement.
Before word broke of "some admission of guilt," other prominent religious conservative leaders openly supported Haggard.
James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family -- which is also based in Colorado Springs -- called it "unconscionable that the legitimate news media would report a rumor like this based on nothing but one man's accusation." "Ted Haggard is a friend of mine, and it appears someone is trying to damage his reputation as a way of influencing the outcome of Tuesday's election," Dobson said in a written statement.
Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals, told CNN that "the accusations do not comport with the person that I know."
"Since 1942, the NAE has never had a moral, ethical or financial scandal of any sort. Thus, this is very painful," Cizik said. "I believe that our record of speaking and acting in conformity with biblical values will be upheld."
interesting follow-up article in today's nyt..
November 6, 2006
Disgraced Minister’s Church Wrestles With His Absence
By KIRK JOHNSON
COLORADO SPRINGS, Nov. 5 — Long before the first tissue boxes were passed down the aisles for mopping tears, and before the first guitar chords were struck to begin the worship, many of the thousands of people who gathered on Sunday morning at the New Life Church here knew that it would be a service unlike any other in their lives.
Some were curious outsiders, drawn by the moment and the sense of history. Even church leaders were not fully sure what to expect.
“We’re living this in real time,” said Rob Brendle, an associate pastor, as he bustled through the 14,000-member evangelical church making last-minute preparations for the 9 a.m. service.
By then, the news was less than 24 hours old that the church’s founder and senior pastor, Ted Haggard, a prominent author and national evangelical Christian leader, had been dismissed by the church’s Board of Overseers for “sexually immoral conduct.”
A male prostitute in Denver said in a radio interview on Wednesday that Mr. Haggard had been a monthly customer and a buyer of methamphetamines. Mr. Haggard issued denials, but by Saturday the brief, explosive standoff was over. The board members had heard enough — mostly from Mr. Haggard himself, they said at Sunday’s service — to justify his removal.
What was left for Sunday was to begin sorting the tangled skein of spiritual and political implications, betrayal, anguish, anger and sadness that the episode left behind in the church and across the evangelical world. Speakers urged the church’s members to find a way forward without recrimination or bitterness; a letter from Mr. Haggard was read from the 8,000-seat auditorium’s center stage.
Mr. Haggard’s letter said that people should forgive the Denver man who broke the story, Michael Jones, in particular — though Mr. Jones was not referred to by name.
“He is revealing the deception and sensuality that was in my life,” Mr. Haggard wrote. “Those sins, and others, need to be dealt with harshly. So forgive him, and actually, thank God for him.”
Neither Mr. Haggard in his letter, nor the board members who spoke in the service, specified precisely what Mr. Haggard’s transgressions had been.
“The accusations that have been leveled against me are not all true,” Mr. Haggard wrote, “but enough of them are true that I have been appropriately and lovingly removed from ministry. I am so embarrassed and ashamed. I caused this and I have no excuse. I am a sinner. I have fallen.”
Many church members interviewed after the service praised the board for acting so quickly and decisively. Others said the service left them with a new understanding of why many of Mr. Haggard’s sermons had been so powerful: his talk of temptation, sin and guilt were not just idle words.
“He struggled with the same issues he preached about,” said Basil Marotta, who said he ran his own Christian ministry in the Colorado Springs area with his wife.
It was not until a letter was read from Mr. Haggard’s wife, Gayle, that the tissue boxes were really needed. Ms. Haggard was deeply involved with the various women’s groups and classes at New Life Church. She wrote that she loved her husband, with whom she has five children, and would stick with him.
And what Ms. Haggard wrote next received a big and wrenching laugh from the crowd:
“For those of you who have been concerned that my marriage was so perfect I could not possibly relate to the women who are facing great difficulties, know that this will never again be the case,” she wrote.
One woman who came to a New Life service for the first time on Sunday said she was drawn by what she believed would be a positive and open discussion in the church, going forward from here, about sexual addiction.
“I’ll be back, definitely,” she said.
New Life’s interim senior pastor, Ross Parsley, told the church members that for all the difficulty that lay ahead of them and any despair they might feel right now, they should remember that Mr. Haggard’s departure had also cleared out a cloud that, in retrospect, had been hanging over the church because of the pastor’s secrets.
Mr. Haggard, in addition to his prominent role in Colorado, was also the president of the National Association of Evangelicals until his resignation last week. The group announced on Sunday that Leith Anderson, a well-known author and senior pastor of the Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minn., had been named interim president.
“We all feel worse today than we did a week ago,” Mr. Parsley said, “but we were worse off a week ago. Pastor Ted is living in a greater measure of repentance and forgiveness today than he has been living in for years.”
Other speakers urged the congregation not to look for political conspiracies. If the timing of the disclosures affects the nation, or the election on Tuesday, then that is God’s will, the speakers said. Mr. Haggard was a prominent supporter of conservative causes, including a proposed amendment to the Colorado Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman.
“God does things when he thinks they’re appropriate,” said Larry Stockstill, the pastor of the Bethany World Prayer Center in Louisiana, from which the New Life Church began in 1985 as an outreach mission.
“What’s going to happen in the nation?” Mr. Stockstill said. “You know what — I don’t think that’s your concern or mine. He chose this incredibly important time for this sin to be revealed and I actually think it’s a good thing — I believe America needs a shaking, spiritually.”
November 6, 2006
Disgraced Minister’s Church Wrestles With His Absence
By KIRK JOHNSON
COLORADO SPRINGS, Nov. 5 — Long before the first tissue boxes were passed down the aisles for mopping tears, and before the first guitar chords were struck to begin the worship, many of the thousands of people who gathered on Sunday morning at the New Life Church here knew that it would be a service unlike any other in their lives.
Some were curious outsiders, drawn by the moment and the sense of history. Even church leaders were not fully sure what to expect.
“We’re living this in real time,” said Rob Brendle, an associate pastor, as he bustled through the 14,000-member evangelical church making last-minute preparations for the 9 a.m. service.
By then, the news was less than 24 hours old that the church’s founder and senior pastor, Ted Haggard, a prominent author and national evangelical Christian leader, had been dismissed by the church’s Board of Overseers for “sexually immoral conduct.”
A male prostitute in Denver said in a radio interview on Wednesday that Mr. Haggard had been a monthly customer and a buyer of methamphetamines. Mr. Haggard issued denials, but by Saturday the brief, explosive standoff was over. The board members had heard enough — mostly from Mr. Haggard himself, they said at Sunday’s service — to justify his removal.
What was left for Sunday was to begin sorting the tangled skein of spiritual and political implications, betrayal, anguish, anger and sadness that the episode left behind in the church and across the evangelical world. Speakers urged the church’s members to find a way forward without recrimination or bitterness; a letter from Mr. Haggard was read from the 8,000-seat auditorium’s center stage.
Mr. Haggard’s letter said that people should forgive the Denver man who broke the story, Michael Jones, in particular — though Mr. Jones was not referred to by name.
“He is revealing the deception and sensuality that was in my life,” Mr. Haggard wrote. “Those sins, and others, need to be dealt with harshly. So forgive him, and actually, thank God for him.”
Neither Mr. Haggard in his letter, nor the board members who spoke in the service, specified precisely what Mr. Haggard’s transgressions had been.
“The accusations that have been leveled against me are not all true,” Mr. Haggard wrote, “but enough of them are true that I have been appropriately and lovingly removed from ministry. I am so embarrassed and ashamed. I caused this and I have no excuse. I am a sinner. I have fallen.”
Many church members interviewed after the service praised the board for acting so quickly and decisively. Others said the service left them with a new understanding of why many of Mr. Haggard’s sermons had been so powerful: his talk of temptation, sin and guilt were not just idle words.
“He struggled with the same issues he preached about,” said Basil Marotta, who said he ran his own Christian ministry in the Colorado Springs area with his wife.
It was not until a letter was read from Mr. Haggard’s wife, Gayle, that the tissue boxes were really needed. Ms. Haggard was deeply involved with the various women’s groups and classes at New Life Church. She wrote that she loved her husband, with whom she has five children, and would stick with him.
And what Ms. Haggard wrote next received a big and wrenching laugh from the crowd:
“For those of you who have been concerned that my marriage was so perfect I could not possibly relate to the women who are facing great difficulties, know that this will never again be the case,” she wrote.
One woman who came to a New Life service for the first time on Sunday said she was drawn by what she believed would be a positive and open discussion in the church, going forward from here, about sexual addiction.
“I’ll be back, definitely,” she said.
New Life’s interim senior pastor, Ross Parsley, told the church members that for all the difficulty that lay ahead of them and any despair they might feel right now, they should remember that Mr. Haggard’s departure had also cleared out a cloud that, in retrospect, had been hanging over the church because of the pastor’s secrets.
Mr. Haggard, in addition to his prominent role in Colorado, was also the president of the National Association of Evangelicals until his resignation last week. The group announced on Sunday that Leith Anderson, a well-known author and senior pastor of the Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minn., had been named interim president.
“We all feel worse today than we did a week ago,” Mr. Parsley said, “but we were worse off a week ago. Pastor Ted is living in a greater measure of repentance and forgiveness today than he has been living in for years.”
Other speakers urged the congregation not to look for political conspiracies. If the timing of the disclosures affects the nation, or the election on Tuesday, then that is God’s will, the speakers said. Mr. Haggard was a prominent supporter of conservative causes, including a proposed amendment to the Colorado Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman.
“God does things when he thinks they’re appropriate,” said Larry Stockstill, the pastor of the Bethany World Prayer Center in Louisiana, from which the New Life Church began in 1985 as an outreach mission.
“What’s going to happen in the nation?” Mr. Stockstill said. “You know what — I don’t think that’s your concern or mine. He chose this incredibly important time for this sin to be revealed and I actually think it’s a good thing — I believe America needs a shaking, spiritually.”