Reporting from Colorado Springs, Colo. - Ted Haggard climbed onto a bale of hay, Bible balanced in his palm. "Welcome to my barn," he called out. "Does anybody need a blanket?" his wife, Gayle, inquired as men and women in down coats shivered in the frigid November air. Some huddled underneath a space heater. Then the blue-jeans-clad preacher began chanting: "God is good, God is good, God is good." .... Last month, Haggard -- who declined to be interviewed -- opened his home for a prayer meeting. He expected a dozen people. More than 100 came, and the Haggards moved the furniture out of the living room to make space. A week later, he swept out his barn and rented 75 chairs. When they were filled, people stood against the back walls. Many were former or current members of his old church who called him Pastor Ted. They said they had missed him, that he was born to preach -- not to sell insurance as he had when he first returned here. They said they had forgiven what they and Haggard regarded as his sins. "I love a good redemption story," said Elly Kraai, a former New Life member. "I'm seeing one playing out here." If Haggard can make a comeback, it will be because many evangelical Christians find his story appealing, said Michael Hamilton, an associate history professor at Seattle Pacific University who studies evangelicalism. "Sin, sorrow, repentance, conversion and trying to live out your new faith -- that's the standard evangelical way to look at one's life," he said.
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Last month, Haggard -- who declined to be interviewed -- opened his home for a prayer meeting. He expected a dozen people. More than 100 came, and the Haggards moved the furniture out of the living room to make space. A week later, he swept out his barn and rented 75 chairs. When they were filled, people stood against the back walls. Many were former or current members of his old church who called him Pastor Ted. They said they had missed him, that he was born to preach -- not to sell insurance as he had when he first returned here. They said they had forgiven what they and Haggard regarded as his sins.
"I love a good redemption story," said Elly Kraai, a former New Life member. "I'm seeing one playing out here." If Haggard can make a comeback, it will be because many evangelical Christians find his story appealing, said Michael Hamilton, an associate history professor at Seattle Pacific University who studies evangelicalism. "Sin, sorrow, repentance, conversion and trying to live out your new faith -- that's the standard evangelical way to look at one's life," he said.
