BishopAccountability.org
	Upcoming Newschannel 13 Investigation Reveals New Life Church Scandal By Tak Landrock KRDO January 23, 2009 http://www.krdo.com/Global/story.asp?S=9725700 COLORADO SPRINGS - New accusations surface against former New Life Pastor, Ted Haggard, after a NEWSCHANNEL 13 investigation. A member of New Life Church tells NEWSCHANNEL 13 that Haggard took advantage of him sexually one night. The man, in his early 20's, claims he was paid a large sum of money by New Life Church to keep the abuse quiet. Under an agreement with the church he was not supposed to speak of the allegations with anyone outside the church. If he did, he would violate the agreement and would forfeit the money and could be sued by the church. He provided NEWSCHANNEL 13 an audio recording of conversations between himself and Haggard. In those conversations Haggard is heard saying the relationship is 'inappropriate' and asked for forgiveness. Senior Pastor Brady Boyd, who succeeded Haggard as senior pastor of the 10,000-member New Life Church sent a message to members of his church Friday night, after our call on Thursday asking questions about the allegations. The church first asked NEWSCHANNEL 13 to send a list of questions, but refused to do an on-camera interview. Church spokesperson Amie Streater told NEWSCHANNEL 13's Tak Landrock Friday night that they would not be answering the questions we provided to them. But in an interview with the Associated Press on Friday, Senior Pastor Brady Boyd did confirm what our two-year investigation uncovered. Haggard knew about the pending NEWSCHANNEL 13 investigation Wednesday when we reached him by text message. He declined comment and told us to contact his publicist at HBO. The disclosure comes as Haggard, 52, is about to give a series of high-profile interviews to promote the cable documentary about his time in exile. Haggard is scheduled to appear on CNN's Larry King Live on Thursday, the date of the documentary's premiere, and already has taped a segment on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." In early 2007, New Life Church disclosed that an investigation uncovered new evidence that Haggard engaged in "sordid conversation" and "improper relationships" - but didn't go into detail. Earlier, a church board member had said there was no evidence that Haggard had sexual relations with anyone but Mike Jones, the former male prostitute. NEWSCHANNEL 13 will release the details of what happened and what church officials are not talking about. You will also hear from the victim in his own words. Our investigation airs on Monday on NEWSCHANNEL 13 at 10pm. Contact: t.landrock@krdo.com
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