Disgraced evangelist Ted Haggard faces new allegations of gay sex abuse & drug use

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Ted Haggard Photo: YouTube screenshot

Evangelist Ted Haggard, who was ex-communicated from his own church in 2006 following allegations he regularly paid for a male escort and was a methamphetamine addict, is facing new claims of misconduct from members of the church he founded in that scandals aftermath, according to the Denver Gazette.

Haggard, who once counted 14,000 worshipers among his flock at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs and often railed against homosexuality and drug use from the pulpit, is accused by two young men of continuing his predatory behavior and meth use at Saint James Church, a congregation started in 2010.

The New Life Church in Colorado Springs wiki

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The individuals, one of whom was a minor when the alleged incidents took place in 2019, claim on tape that Haggard touched them inappropriately on several occasions at the church and during off-site activities.

Sometimes when he touches me, he feels very predatory and very strange, says the younger of the two on tape. Hell touch me on my pecs or my back or hug me in a way that Im sliding up his hip or the side of his thigh or his bum. You can kind of tell its weird.

There’s a lot of highly suspicious things that he does, and youre like, that doesn’t seem or feel normal.’

The second young man recounted similar behavior.

Rev. Kirk Seth Sethman, who was ordained as a minister by Saint James Church in October 2012, shared the tape with elders in 2020, along with a letter demanding Haggards resignation.

People are scared and worried and don’t want to be connected to him anymore, says Sethman.

Sethman also claims another young man, a recovering drug addict, was approached by Haggard in 2012 to buy meth for the evangelist. Sethman says he confronted Haggard at the time, and Haggard admitted to having the drug, which he was preparing to use to celebrate his upcoming birthday.

Despite the revelations, Haggard remained in the Saint James pulpit.

But as news of the allegations began circulating among worshipers, membership dwindled.

Hes such a powerful, influential, persuasive, and manipulative source, said one former congregant. Goal silver-tongued. A snake in many ways, who makes excuses and lies.

Last year, Haggard moved the churchs services and study sessions to his home, forming a new congregation he calls the Storyhouse Church.

Haggard sold the Saint James building on April 1 for $1.95 million, according to county assessor records.

Haggard said in an online Easter sermon that 40 to 60 people have been attending his home services in recent weeks, and that hes been preparing his home for a new church model by expanding a concrete pad in the backyard for outdoor services, and opening the basement to kids, who can use a pool table, play games and participate in other kid-friendly diversions.

Haggard calls it a youth ministry room.

On the tape provided by former Saint James pastor Sethman, the two young men also detail Haggard taking them and other teens and young men four-wheeling without shirts, and physical contact went beyond an acceptable shoulder squeeze.

One young man told Sethman, It was really weird that Ted kept pushing him to go four-wheeling in the woods with him.

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