August 2, 2007

Eight months after disgraced former pastor Ted Haggard was fired for alleged gay sex and drug use, the committee charged with selecting a new pastor has invited Brady Boyd of Texas to preach at New Life Church in Colorado Springs. 

"We believe his heart and vision align closely with the heart and vision of New Life Church," associate pastor Lance Coles wrote in a message on the church’s website Tuesday. "He has strong leadership gifts, significant experience and training in senior pastoral ministry, and a passion for teaching the Scriptures,” the message continued.

“Brady is a man of strongest character and reputation,” Rob Brendle, New Life spokesman told the Colorado Springs Gazette. He said Boyd was unavailable for comment.

According to KKTV News and the Associated Press, church officials say Boyd was chosen over internal candidates because of his managerial skills to lead New Life, which currently hovers around 10,000 members – 14,000 before Haggard left – a $12 million budget and a staff of 150.

The Denver Post reports that “the church's board of overseers must still approve Boyd for the job. Boyd will then speak in all of New Life's weekend services for three weeks, after which the… congregation at Colorado's largest church will vote whether to accept him as their pastor.”

The New Life congregation will vote on Brady’s appointment on Aug. 27. A two-thirds majority vote is required for his acceptance.

Boyd has been an associate senior pastor at Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, since 2001, as it grew from 150 members to more than 12,000, the Gazette reports. Before 2001, he was senior past at Trinity Fellowship Church in Hereford, Texas, which had a congregation upwards of 200. Boyd has experience as a sports announcer, radio station manager, and high school basketball coach in addition to his church ministry.

Boyd did not actually apply for the job at New Life but was recommended by a pastor at another church, and the selection committee pursued him, Brendle said in the Gazette.

Rev. Robert Morris, senior pastor at Gateway and Boyd’s current boss told the Gazette that Boyd shared that his mission at New Life would be to “help the church heal and help the congregation move forward in their walk with the Lord.”

“I would see him stepping up more like a Billy Graham, not so political, but as one who preaches the Bible and helps others follow a moral path,” said Morris. “He sticks with Scripture and talks about things that will help individuals, families, the church,” he said.

He does not talk about the environment or other political hot-button issues, Morris said.

By contrast, Haggard was well-known as head of the 30-million member National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), wielding “an influential role in the national political arena as he engaged evangelicals in politics and the environment along with issues of abortion and same-sex marriage,” said The Christian Post. He also worked with Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family Ministries in the past.

With Boyd at the helm, however, the congregation appears to be seeking a new approach. “The focus will most likely be on strengthening the evangelical role rather than the political, especially since the church no longer has leadership in the NAE, now headed by the Rev. Leith Anderson, senior pastor of Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minn.,” the Christian Post reports.

With Haggard’s alleged scandal still fresh in members’ minds, the current focus is on healing the church itself.

“At its heart, the church is a family, which means while we need an effective CEO, we also need someone who can be a father," said Brendle in the Christian Post. “Everybody is excited to take the next step into our church’s future. There is a pervasive sense that a new day is dawning for New Life Church. We believe our future is bright.”

Haggard was fired in November 2006 after a former male escort in Denver alleged a three-year cash-for-sex relationship. The escort, Mike Jones, also said Haggard had used methamphetamine. Despite initial denial, Haggard confessed to “sexual immorality” and paying for meth, but said he did not take the drug.