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  • Frank Lockwood is the religion editor at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Frank is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Idaho College of Law. In 2004, he received a Knight Wallace Fellowship at the University of Michigan. A native of Oregon, Frank has been a reporter in Idaho, Kentucky and Washington, D.C.

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REPORT: HAGGARD FIRED

Posted November 4, 2006

Bible Belt Blogger: REPORT: HAGGARD FIRED

Frank Lockwood

The Gazette, of Colorado Springs, is reporting that overseers have dismissed Ted Haggard as pastor of New Life Church, the 14,000-member congregation he founded in his basement two decades ago.

In a statement, the board of overseers said that Haggard had "committed sexually immoral conduct."

(News reports say Haggard will address his congregation tomorrow. But with Haggard fired, it seems unlikely that the board would let him show up and speak. Perhaps they'll let him make a videotaped statement.)

Sometimes, megachurch pastors stack their boards with friends and family. When scandal erupts, they're thus able to keep control of their multi-million-dollar ministries (ala Jimmy Swaggart in 1988) -- even after they're defrocked. In this instance, the board of overseers was made up not of relatives, but of fellow ministers. (The most famous being Larry Stockstill, pastor of Bethany World Prayer Center in Baton Rouge, La.) These preachers moved quickly to remove Haggard from the pulpit.

To read the latest, go to: www.gazette.com