I wrote about the family for a story about how Christian couples, churches and ministries are promoting adoption as a manifestation of their faith. (The story will run in The Gazette print edition on July 4 and is online now at gazette.com.)

Barna with 2-year-old Aiden

I enjoyed my visit to the Hassoldts home, though after a while the children began to wear me out a little with their exuberance. I don’t know how Steve and Shonni handle it all so serenely.

The Hassoldts live on five acres in Black Forest. While Steve works during the day as a team claims manager at State Farm Insurance, Shonni home-schools 9-year-old Kiana, born in China, 8-year-old Landon, born in South Korea, 7-year-old Garett, born in Vietnam, and the oldest daughters, Kalyn, 15, and Caresse, 11, both born in Colorado Springs. 

Meanwhile,  4-year-old Corbin, born in Tulsa, Okla., and the Liberia-born Alia, 4, Joeliana, 4, and Aiden, 2, play.

Also during the day, the children perform chores, such as cleaning the house and feeding the chickens.

The younger children can certainly be a handful, especially Alia, Joeliana and Aiden. But they also are a lot of fun. Aiden liked to walk up close to my face and laugh. Alia liked to make faces and bend my fingers. Joeliana liked to leap onto my  lap.

I also got a chance to spend time with Kalyn and Caresse, the two birth daughters, during my visit. They both seemed so mature for their ages. Kalyn’s passion is going on Christian missions. Caresse’s passion is alternative medicine. She talked about natural remedies for upset stomachs and runny noses.

Both girls seem to really enjoy helping raise the children. “They are a lot of fun and you never have a dull moment,” Kalyn said.

I hope to do a followup blog on when the Hassoldts bring home their Ethiopian child next year. Stay tuned!

T0 read more about the Hassoldt family, go to their Web site here.

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“I’m not going in that direction,” he said.

Haggard says that everyday,  people in Colorado Springs ask him to start a church. He thinks the request is being made,  in part, because  New Life — the church he

Haggard

founded and was forced to resign from in November 2006 after a sex scandal –  is changing its elders, and its theology is drifting more toward a liberal point of view.

“New Life’s theological position has shifted, and people are saying ’ it’s not something we orginally signed up for,’” Haggard said.

 The rumors, Haggard said, are mostly coming from disgruntled New Life members and staff.

Haggard says he is busy speaking at churches across the country about his fall from grace and how he’s rebuilt his marriage and deepened his faith. ”They aren’t lectures but dialogues,” Haggard said. “I don’t think I have the right to lecture anyone.”

Haggard speaks at churches about once a week. His next engagement is in Oakland, Calif.

Given his speaking engagement schedule and the huge response from his appearances on talk shows and in the documentary “The Trials of Ted Haggard,”  Haggard  has not been pursing his insurance career in recent months, he said.

On his Web site, tedhaggard.com, the window about his insurance business has been  eliminated.

And finally, to conclude my Haggard update, the former New Life pastor said HBO has offered “The Trials of Ted Haggard” for consideration in the Emmy Awards. If the documentary ends up being nominated and wins, Haggard said he’ll be at the ceremony to accept the award.

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The Haggards on "Divorce Court"

Haggard, who resigned his senior pastor position at New Life Church in November 2006, after his affair with a male prostitute was revealed,  has gone through a number of phases over the last 28 months. 

FIRST: December 2006-November 2008. The Silent Phase

During this period, Haggard was exiled from the area by church leaders and not allowed to tell his story publicly. This resulted in some wild rumours being circulated about him, such as that he was starting a church in his basement. It also seemed to stoke anger toward him.

SECOND: December 2008-early January 2009. The Rebellious Phase

Haggard grows weary of not being able to tell his side of the story. He and the Rev. Brady Boyd, Haggard’s replacement at New Life, meet twice, in part to talk about lifting the agreement that Haggard would not talk publicly to the media.

THIRD: January 2009. The Public Penitent Phase

Free to talk to the media, Haggard with wife Gayle go on several national talk shows. Haggard repeatedly appolgizes for what he has done.  

“I did the interviews to communicate my repentance,” Haggard told me.

FOURTH: March 2009-  The Return

I write about this phase of Haggard’s life in my March 29 column in the Gazette. A rejuvenated Haggard talked to me this month about his upcoming speaking engagements at evangelical churches, possible book deals, the love he and Gayle have for each other, and what he’s learned during his walk through the valley of death.

He also addresses his apparent need to be in the limelight. Speaking of limelight, on Wednesday and Thursday, Ted and Gayle Haggard will be on Twentieth Television’s “Divorce Court,” which can be viewed locally at 11 a.m. on Fox’s KXRM TV. On the show the couple talk about how they held their marriage together during trying times.

Below are  edited excerpts of my sit-down interview with Haggard.

 MARK BARNA: Why did you agree to appear on “Divorce Court”?

TED HAGGARD: The Haggards have had two worst days. One, they raised a handicapped boy, and 80 percent of married people who have a handicapped child divorce. Then, of course, we went through my crisis. And through all that, today, me and my wife are happier than we’ve ever been. And all our children are in great relationship with us.

So the “Divorce Court” folks thought, What a perfect message. No matter what happens, if you make the right decisions, your marriage is going to make it.

BARNA: You asked Gayle to divorce you after your relationship with Mike Jones became public.

HAGGARD: I told Gayle, “I am toxic. I am poisonous, and you need to divorce me.” I told her, ”We probably are going to live in poverty the rest of our lives. And life could be difficult for you and our children. But if you divorce me, they will embrace you and they’ll embrace the kids. If you don’t, they are going to treat you and the kids like they are going to treat me.” She said, “I’m in.”

BARNA: Where are you now in your life?

HAGGARD: The story has moved forward.  We want to be able to say that the word of God has been faithful to us. We read the Bible every morning. That is our lifeline.

If people choose to judge me and not forgive me, that is justice and I accept that. If they choose to be grateful and kind, I am grateful.

Everybody needs a break at least once. And we can all give someone a break because we are all so plagued with our humanity. And sometimes our humanity shows up when we are high school students, mine didn’t. My humanity showed up when I was 50 years old. It couldn’t have been more embarassing, but the Gospel was still alive in me …

BARNA: Why did you go on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and “Larry King Live” in January?

HAGGARD: I wanted to publicly take responsibility for what I had done.

BARNA: In “The Trials of Ted Haggard,” filmed in 2007, you are bitter toward New Life of how you say they treated you. What are your feelings now.

HAGGARD: [Haggard says he loves the people of New Life and regrets the hurt he's caused them. But he is still bitter about, according to him, being totally cut off from the church. He draws an analogy between how he and Gayle held their marriage together by working together, and how she didn't give up on him, in contrast to New Life's severing ties with him.]

Only in the most severe situations would you have to amputate a body part. And that is if a person is nonrepentent. In my letter to the congreation, I said I accepted responsibility. …

… You don’t reject one another. You don’t throw each other out. A healthy family is a microcosm of what the church should be.”

BARNA: Some say that you are a driver, a Type A person who craves the limelight.

HAGGARD: I am a responder. I am not a driver. I am not a high-powered control guy.

I never negotiated for a salary at New Life. I’ve never applied for a job until the health insurance job. I did not initiate anything with HBO or Oprah or Larry King. I am not calling to speak anywhere or calling publishers to write a book. I respond to people who contact me.

People assume because of my past success, and they will assume because of my future success, that I am a driver. That I plan these things like that. But here is what I do: I read my Bible and I pray. Doors open for me and I walk through them. That is all I’ve every done.

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Jones has found himself in a strange middleground with New Life.

On the one hand, former and current congregants at New Life have sought him out. Young men alleging inappropriate behavior by people at New Life have contacted him, Jones said, while others have written him kind letters and emails.

On the other hand, New Life leaders have kept Jones at arm’s length. This week New Life senior pastor Brady Boyd told me that the church has not reached out to Jones. Boyd said he declined Jones’ request in August 2007 to meet with him about alleged inappropriate behavior by people at New Life because Jones had no new information to provide. Boyd did not specify how he knew Jones had no new information.

Jones posted a YouTube video Jan. 25 in which he expresses anger toward New Life.

Yet Jones has found some solace in both Haggard’s apologies on national TV shows toward Jones and in the letters and emails he has received from current and former New Life congregants.

Below are excerpts from some of those letters:

FROM AN EMAIL SENT JAN. 26, 2009, AFTER VIEWING JONES’ YOUTUBE VIDEO.

“The family of believers at New Life Church was not aware until this past Thursday that there were others with whom Ted Haggard reportedly had homosexual relations. So some of us have been rewounded by the unfolding of these news releases and upcoming HBO special….

While I don’t speak for New Life Church, I do speak as a believer in Jesus. Please forgive us our trespasses against you, Mike Jones. One sin does not deserve another….

I would be glad to meet with you sometime to talk with you and to honestly hear from your heart the pain that you felt from the reaction of the church. And I would like to tell you face-to-face how sorry I am, and ask you to forgive us.”

Peace to you,

Glory

FROM AN EMAIL SENT JAN. 27, 2009:

“I know you see an organization that was trying to cover things up, but on this end, since I’m not part of the administration, it felt protective. On this end it was like the media wanted to bash us over and over and the ‘cover up’ you saw, to me, was more like they were trying to put out the fire by getting rid of the fuel. Mostly New Life Church is a big bunch of people who love God and just want to do good and live a peaceful life….

I mostly want you to know many us at New Life do feel sorry that this happened and we don’t blame you and we are sorry you were beat up in all this when what you wanted was to reveal the truth — and we would ask you to somehow find it in your heart to realize most of us forgive you ….”

cheryl

EMAIL SENT BY SPRINGS RESIDENT JAN. 26, 2009 AFTER WATCHING JONES’ YOUTUBE VIDEO:

“I want to tell you that your video moved me and I truly hope that you can heal. I believe that you didn’t choose to be gay and I am sure your life has been difficult because of the judgements from our society. I feel for you and I hope that you find peace.”

Good luck,

Kat

Do think Jones is deserving of an apology from New Life leaders? Please post your comments below.

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