Wife of Ted Haggard to Reveal 'Why I Stayed' in Upcoming Book
Gayle Haggard, the wife of disgraced evangelical leader Ted Haggard, has signed an agreement with Tyndale House Publishers to publish her memoir in January 2010.
In Why I Stayed, Haggard will recall the choices she made after her husband, founder and senior pastor of the 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs and the president of the National Association of Evangelicals, confessed to having engaged in sexual immoral acts nearly three years ago.
"This is my story of choosing to love my husband through some of the most difficult challenges any marriage could face," said Haggard, who was directing New Life's women's ministries, teaching women of all ages and overseeing 150 women's small groups when her husband's immoral acts were revealed.
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Out of the experience, Haggard said she has discovered a newfound passion for the central message of the Bible – the message of forgiveness and love.
After reading the manuscript, Mark Taylor, president of Tyndale House, he was "very moved by Gayle's story."
"It is a beautiful-though heart-wrenching-story of the crisis in her marriage and how (with the grace of God) she chose to love Ted, save her marriage, and protect her family," he commented. "I am proud to have Why I Stayed come from Tyndale."
Jon Farrar, Tyndale's nonfiction acquisition director, meanwhile noted how God was already using Haggard's story to touch the lives of thousands of people by the time the publisher met with her.
"We knew this story needed to be heard in its entirety," he added. "It's an amazing story of the choices Gayle made in her darkest hours and how less-than-perfect people everywhere desperately need a community that provides healing and a path to restoration."
Tyndale House will release Why I Stayed, co-written by Angela Hunt, in January 2010 with the release of a national promotional campaign that includes an author tour.
Since returning the spotlight after two years of seclusion, Gayle and Ted Haggard have been guests on numerous network, nationally-syndicated shows and cable programs. An HBO documentary titled "The Trials of Ted Haggard," meanwhile, has aired forty times.
The Haggards currently live in Colorado Springs with two of their five children. The Haggards' remaining three children are over the age of 18.
The Haggards have been married for more than 30 years.
