Director of ‘The Trials of Ted Haggard’ reflects on her subject

January 23rd, 2009, 5:27 pm · 2 Comments · posted by

Below are edited excerpts from my interview with Alexandra Pelosi, director of “The Trials of Ted Haggard,” an HBO documentary premiering Jan. 29.

Pelosi

MARK BARNA: What was your impression of Haggard during the filming of “Friends of God,” your documentary filmed in 2005 and 2006 on Haggard and other evangelical leaders?

ALEXANDRA PELOSI: Ted was my tour guide into the Christian world. While filming “Friends of God,” I met a lot of powerful Christian leaders and I respected Ted because he did not come across like the stereotypical judgmental Christian leader. He and Gayle invited me and my husband into their home and we discussed our different world views.

BARNA: What was you impression of him during “The Trials” filming, which was during spring and summer of 2007? How was he doing?

PELOSI: He was miserable. At times we were very concerned that he was suicidal. Once my husband called him to just see how he was doing, and he was sobbing. We felt sorry for him.

BARNA: Some say Haggard agreed to the film because he sees it as a launching pad for a comeback. His agreeing to promote the film seems to support that view.

PELOSI: Ted did not agree to promote the film. That is a mischaracterization that the media came up with. For two years, the church forbid him to tell his side of the story. Now that they have allowed him to speak again, HBO is airing our movie and all the press want to talk to him. He has welcomed the opportunity to set the record straight about what he has been through.

BARNA: Did Haggard ever regret his hypocrisy about gays while you were with him?

PELOSI: I think Ted is full of regret and shame and that is something he has to live with for the rest of his life.

BARNA: What surprised you the most about him during “The Trials” filming?

PELOSI: When I first met Ted in 2005, he was surrounded by his adoring flock. When I met him again in 2007, Gayle and his kids were the only people who wanted to be seen anywhere near him.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Beliefnet

Craig Groeschel on How to Detox Your Soul

Is your lifestyle dangerous to your spiritual health? […]

Cómo vencer la timidez

El tema de la timidez ha sido bastante estudiado por especialistas de la conducta. Existe un gran número de teorías y definiciones en torno a este tema, pero en resumen podemos decir que la timidez es un estado muy complicado que afecta nuestras relaciones personales con los que nos rodean y limita nuestro desarrollo social, ya que no nos permite sentirnos c […]

MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski: Championing Women in the Workplace

MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski asks the tough questions we are afraid to ask. […]

Pew Forum

National Post: UPDATED: Board suspends Toronto Islamic school’s operating permit after row over anti-Jewish curriculum

An Islamic school that had been using teaching materials that disparaged Jews and encouraged boys to keep fit for jihad has lost its license to use Toronto District School Board property. […]

Daily Mail: 'Dangerous atheists want to wipe out Christianity': Cardinal warns lack of belief fosters violence

The country’s most senior Roman Catholic warned yesterday that secular atheists mean to wipe out Christianity in Britain. […]

Guardian: Money becomes new church battleground

The Rev Paul Perkin seemed bewildered by the question: what was his take on the latest scheme for conservative evangelical churches to withhold money from the rest of the Church of England in order to keep it out of the hands of liberals, gay people or women priests? […]

Dianne Palmer says:

January 24, 2009 at 7:50 pm

The Kingdom of Heaven has come and with it comes every characteristic of Jesus. Whether we want to forgive or not is immaterial. We are commanded to forgive. It is not an option. If we are going to make the transition from the religious world of the church to Kingdom we are going to do the will of the father which is always to FORGIVE. It is a command. The characteristics of one being the dwelling place of God is humility, kindness, love, long suffering, meekness , mercy and so on. Hate the sin love the person. Too many of you religious ones are more concerned about the letter of the law rather than the spirit of Christ which is always love. I urge you to to seek an opportunity to love rather than an opportunity to judge. Anything else is going to be judged by God and you think Ted has experienced pain?

Scott Scrimshaw says:

January 26, 2009 at 4:10 pm

May I suggest that Mr. Haggard look to the example of Jim Bakker the former disgraced PTL club host: Admit the sin & the wrong. Lay low. Build again from the ground up – refusing to capitalize on the national forum his sin has made possible.

His going about on National TV, his HBO program and now more accusations is sad. His sin didn’t arise overnight and it wasn’t short lived in the acting of it out. He needs to live a quiet, non-public life letting the work of Gods discipline take its course restoring him as a man.

Jim Bakker demonstrated a contriteness which over a long period of time offers a restoring faith in Christ as the redeemer. Haggards “words” of repentance,”words” of self comprehension and “words” of behavioral recognition are lost in his desire to be in the spotlight. Jesus gets laughed at because of it.

And why shouldn’t Jesus be laughed at? I am new to this town, with a church on almost every corner and a culture of Christianity rotten at its core. It’s a Christianity in love with itself, it’s institutions, it’s power. So many Christian folk around here seem infatuated with their own personal legacies of greatness. They know what their Grandfather did, who James Dobson is but they seem to not know Jesus. Few have made it safe enough to know the dark secrets of their own children, friends and family let alone those who might walk into their churches, homes or lives. That gets messy. Jesus loved “messy”, lived “messy” and died “messy”.

It seems to me this is a faith community whose haggard and worn icons, leaders and institutions are being judged. Amen! The resulting brokenness, humiliation, and exposure of shallowness might just work its work and bring about redemption. Just ask Jim Bakker.