Some have speculated that Haggard has cut himself  loose from any pastoral oversight.

But Haggard told me today that is not the case. For the past several months, five pastors, all chosen by Haggard, of U.S. evangelical nondenominational churches  have helped guide his spiritual walk.

Haggard calls the five his ”accountability team.”

He says the problem with the restoration team was that it was “corporate” whereas the accountability team is “personal and relational.”

“I’ll never be in a situation where I can’t tell the accountability team my mind or heart,” Haggard told me.

Haggard said that when he was with New Life, he sought counsel with some church officials, but their answers left him flat. “They wanted me to memorize Romans Chapter 6 and do extra church work,” Haggard said. He feels he’s gotten better insight from his accountability team.

Haggard also said if his gatherings take off – and today he seemed pretty confident that they will — you won’t see him switch to suit and tie, as he wore at New Life. “I’ll be casual, in blue jeans, and people can interrupt me and ask questions,” Haggard  said.

New Life, he said, was a ”20th century” format. Any new-church project he’s part of will be “21st century.”

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Randy Welsch was the lead elder at New Life Church in Colorado Springs

Haggard

 at the time Ted Haggard resigned in Nov. 2006 in the wake of a sex scandal. Welsch is no longer part of New Life.

Below is my edited excerpt of my interview with Welsch.

MARK BARNA: “How has Haggard changed since the scandal three years ago?”

RANDY WELSCH: “My experience with him is that he is much more compassionate and cares about people more than he ever has. It’s done a good work in him. He is more transparent. He is much more compassionate. He listens to input in a way I never saw of him before.”

“Ted confessed his sin. He’s repented of his sin. What else should he do?”

“Why do we as Christians not give people a second chance? The story of the Bible is a story of redemption. The Lord wants us to be truly loving, and loving people who are struggling.”

The Rev. Bob Wentz worked with Haggard at the National Association of Evangelicals from 2003 to 2005. Wentz has been a pastor for more than 30 years.

BARNA: “Will Haggard start a formal church?”

BOB WENTZ: “When you have spent your life teaching the word of God, and then suddenly you are not doing it, you miss it. I would think anyone who has been a pastor for 20 years and was successful, longs to continue to do that.”

BARNA: “Ted and Gayle are doing pretty well giving talks at churches across the country. Why not just keep doing that?”

WENTZ: “That’s got a shelf life on it. You can only repent for so long.”

BARNA: “You say you are still in contact with Haggard, having lunch with him now and then, but not part of his inner circle. From your vantage point, how would you say Haggard has changed?”

WENTZ: “He was always in motion. A type Double A personality, the energizing bunny type of guy. Now he’s more reflective and thoughtful. Suffering either softens people or hardens them.”

“I sense a very different Ted than three years ago. God has put him on the anvil and he has taken some mighty blows and knocked away some big issues.”

BARNA: “Why do so many people have trouble accepting that Haggard may have conquered his demons ?”

WENTZ: “Some people, it seems, like to drag other people down, because it makes them feel better about themselves. People who rejoice in Ted’s failure, enjoy rubbing his nose in it, do it out of a sense of arrogance. …

“But part of this is the Pentecostal subcuture. There, you don’t deal with psychological issues. Everything is treated as an issue of sin. Not until (the scandal) became exposed and he was discredited, did Ted go and get the psychological help he needed. When you are sexually molested, there is compulsion, revulsion going on at the same time … But in Pentecostal circles, psychology has been the boogie man.”

BARNA: In the Bible, there are many stories of people embroiled in sin, but somehow end up working for the glory of God.

WENTZ: “Not only are they transformed, we also find evidence of people transformed in terms of lifestyle. You read the Bible, you read about the people who are flawed. The Bible is not a story of what should have happened, but what did happen. You find accounts where lives are a mess, and sometimes they get it back and sometimes they don’t. The Bible is extremely honest. We don’t always see that. We idealize and sanitize it instead.”

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I asked Haggard some of the questions posed by people after it was revealed he was starting a new church in his home. Below is an edited excerpt from my interview with Haggard.

MARK BARNA: Many people say you are unfit to lead a church or give talks around the country at churches as you and Gayle are doing.

TED HAGGARD:[Haggard says his only offense was the scandal with the gay escort and with having an inappropriate relationship with Grant Haas, the young man who went public early this year about Haggard's behavior.] We are not talking about missing money. There were 22 years of good things done at New Life.

[He went on to say that his inner life has changed dramatically since the scandal three years ago.] When a person goes through pain, it changes him. I just taught a 2-day’s conference in San Diego [actually, Carlsbad, Calif.] There were a lot of tears. It was very kind and moving and heartfelt.

BARNA: Peter Wagner, who cofounded with you the World Prayer Center, says you are unfit to preach because you have not completed apostolic restoration procedures.

HAGGARD: I am not Methodist. I am not apostolic. Those do not apply …

BARNA: There is a rumor that you have a book deal in the works.

HAGGARD: Not true.

BARNA: Is anyone welcome to your gatherings, including people with same-sex attraction.

HAGGARD: Sure. Jesus welcomes anybody to a prayer meeting.

BARNA: What will your church gatherings lead to?

HAGGARD: I believe Jesus builds the church. And if Jesus builds it, then it is my responsibility to structure it to be legal [filing a 501 (c)(3), etc.]. But if that doesn’t happen, that’s OK. I have no pre-conceptions.

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Haggard and Jones

Here it is in full:

Ted Haggard certainly has the right to do what ever he wants and deserves to be happy in life.  But make no mistake: Ted does nothing by accident.  This will be in the press, two months before Gayle’s book is released and then his book to follow.  At this point, publicity is publicity. 

But to sum it up, if Ted and Gayle were at Disneyland,they would never leave Fantasyland.  But this time they have Oprah as Tinkerbell to spread the fairy dust. 

Mike Jones

Will you attend Haggard’s church? Please explain why below.

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But Haggard told me Wednesday, Sept. 30, that he is not starting a church and has not re-entered the ministry.

In a news release from The Independent, Haggard is quoted as saying he is now motivated “to re-enter full-time ministry” and is considering opening a church in Colorado Springs.

Here’s what Haggard says about that. “We have no plans to start a new church,” he told me, “ but (Gail and I) do consider it from time to time. We are regularly asked by people to start one, and that is flattering.”

Haggard also told me he has no plans to be a pulpit minister. He is currently making his living doing weekend speaking engagements at churches across the country, as I reported in The Gazette months ago. Last week, he said, he spoke at a church in Phoenix, and the week before that at a church in Orlando, Fla. “We’ve gotten more than enough invitations to fill the weekends,” Haggard said. “For the last six weeks it’s been non stop.”

But Haggard emphasized that he is not speaking as a pulpit minister. “We are guest speakers,” he said. “I am there as a Christian businessman. Not a pastor.”

And finally, Haggard took issue with  The Independent saying in a news release, “Haggard also admits that despite prior denials, he was a repeat user of methamphetamines.”

 ”I initially denied using it  in the beginning (but days later) admitted it,” Haggard told

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 me. “That’s been well known.”

Haggard says he’s enjoying Colorado Springs since returning from exile 15 months ago. He plans to stay here a long time.

“We are so grateful for the way Colorado Springs has responded to us and our family,” he said. “The city has provided a healing environment to all of us.”

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Following the revelation of the scandal in November 2006, Jones started training for a new career as a caregiver. 

Mike Jones

In the email he says he was hired two weeks ago by Christian Living Communities.  “I was having praise basked upon me for the excellent job I was doing with the seniors,” he writes. “Then today, I was pulled into corporate and fired for my past.  They had pulled a pile of information off the Internet about me and also had a copy of my book with them as they fired me. 

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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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I have a call to Haggard and hope to confirm or dismiss the rumor soon. In February, he told me he didn’t feel he was ready to start a church yet, and he was going to be making a lot of guest appearances at churches throughout the U.S. — but a lot can change in a few months.

In any case,  it seems inevitable that Haggard will eventually start his own church.

If he does, would you:

a. STAY AWAY

b. ATTEND FOR CURIOSITY’S SAKE

c. BECOME A CHURCH MEMBER AS SOON AS YOU CAN

d. NONE OF THE ABOVE

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