Texas Pastor May Replace Ted Haggard
New Life Church, which has seen a drop in attendance since it let go of founding pastor Ted Haggard over a sex-and-drugs scandal, will vote on a possible new senior pastor this month.
Brady Boyd, associate senior pastor at an evangelical megachurch in the Dallas area, will try out for the leadership post at the 10,000-member Colorado Springs church on Aug. 12, 19, and 26, when he is scheduled to preach.
The New Life congregation will vote on whether to approve his appointment on Aug. 27.
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New Life's pastoral selection committee came out with 40-year-old Boyd for its top candidate after searching since November for a new head pastor with a "spotless reputation."
"Brady is a man of strongest character and reputation," said New Life spokesman Rob Brendle, according to The Gazette of Colorado Springs.
Attendance at New Life has dropped about 25 percent since Haggard's fall as one of the most prominent evangelical leaders in the nation. A former male prostitute alleged Haggard paid him for sex for three years and also took methamphetamine. Haggard, who resigned as president of the 30 million-member National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) last year after the allegations were made, confessed to undisclosed "sexual immorality" and said he paid for methamphetamine, but did not take the drug.
Haggard moved to Phoenix in April as part of his severance package from New Life Church in which he agreed to leave Colorado Springs.
As head of the NAE, Haggard led New Life Church into 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.
As the congregation looks toward healing and new leadership, however, 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.
"I would see him (Boyd) 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 the Rev. Robert Morris, senior pastor at Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, and Boyd's current boss, according to The Gazette.
Boyd is known to stick with Scripture in his preaching and not political issues, according to Morris.
The Dallas-area pastor is a graduate of Louisiana Tech University and was former senior pastor of Trinity Fellowship Church in Hereford, Texas. He also had jobs as a high school basketball coach, a minor league baseball play-by-play announcer and a radio station manager.
Boyd did not apply but was recommended for the senior pastor post at New Life by a pastor at another church, Brendle told The Gazette. If approved, Boyd faces big challenges in leading New Life out of the painful past.
"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. "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."
