MINISTER ADMITS HE BOUGHT DRUG BUT DENIES TRYST

After denying that he had ever met a gay escort who claimed to have
had a three-year sexual relationship with him, the Rev. Ted Haggard
admitted yesterday that he had summoned the escort to give him a
massage in a Denver hotel room and bought methamphetamine from him.

But Mr. Haggard, one of the nations leading evangelical ministers,
maintained that the two men never had sex and that he threw out the
drugs without using them.

I never kept it very long because it was wrong, Mr. Haggard said,
smiling grimly and submitting to questions from a television reporter
as he pulled out of his driveway yesterday, his wife, Gayle, silent in
the passenger seat. I was tempted, I bought it, but I never used it.

Mr. Haggards explanation came two days after the male escort, Michael
Jones, stepped forward to claim that Mr. Haggard was a monthly client
for the last three years. On Thursday, Mr. Haggard had resigned as
president of the National Association of Evangelicals and stepped down
as pastor of his 14,000-member Colorado Springs megachurch, pending an
independent investigation of the accusations.

The escort failed a lie detector test on Friday that he had
volunteered to take, but the man who administered the test said the
results might have been skewed because Mr. Jones had slept little and
was suffering from a migraine. Mr. Jones insisted he was telling the
truth and said he would take another lie detector test.

Mr. Haggards difficulties are bound to echo beyond his own church,
especially on the eve of the midterm elections. He is at the center of
several intersecting evangelical power circles and has ties to the
Bush administration.

He was an ambassador representing the interests of evangelicals to
Washington, and vice versa participating in the White Houses Monday
conference calls with conservative Christian leaders. He was also
politically active, championing the fight against same-sex marriage in
Colorado and other states.

And Mr. Haggard, 50, was elected president of the National Association
of Evangelicals, an umbrella group that represents 45,000 churches.

The associations executive committee unanimously accepted Mr. Haggards
resignation on Friday after learning that he had admitted that some of
the accusations were true, said the Rev. L. Roy Taylor, chairman of
the board of directors and the stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church
in America.

Its personally difficult to believe, knowing Ted, but theologically,
we recognize that we all struggle with a dark side and that sinful
behavior is possible for anyone, Dr. Taylor said.

When Mr. Haggard was elected three years ago as the National
Association of Evangelicals president, the magazine Christianity Today
hailed him as a new kind of evangelical who could revive a flagging
organization.

He was younger, less formal and more moderate than many of the bigger
names in conservative Christianity. He was soon pushing to add issues
like global warming, poverty and genocide in Darfur to the movements
traditional agenda of opposition to homosexuality and abortion.

Pastor Ted was a symbolically important figure and a very public
figure, so I think the ramifications could be enormous, said Randall
Balmer, a professor of American religious history at Barnard College.
Among evangelicals, there is such a cult of personality that grows up
around these various figures.

In Colorado, Mr. Haggard was a leader in the campaign for Amendment
43, which would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
Mr. Haggards accuser said this was his main motivation for going
public with his account of having sex with Mr. Haggard.

In a telephone interview from Denver, Mr. Jones, 49, said, When the
federal marriage amendment came up before the Senate earlier this
year, I wanted to see the stance of his church, and the more I read
about it, the angrier I got.

Hes preaching against homosexuals and yet hes having gay sex behind
peoples backs, Mr. Jones said.

In an interview with MSNBC, Mr. Jones denied selling methamphetamine
to Mr. Haggard, saying he met someone else that I had hooked him up
with to buy it.

Experts on evangelicals were uncertain how the revelations about Mr.
Haggard would affect the midterm elections, and evangelicals
involvement in politics in the long term. Some experts said
accusations that such a politically involved pastor was a closet
homosexual could further alienate evangelicals from political
involvement, while others said it could motivate them.

Members of Mr. Haggards church were stunned by the
accusations.

This is inconsistent with everything that I know of him, said Patton
Dodd, Christianity editor at the Web site Beliefnet, who edited seven
of Mr. Haggards books, attends his church and considers him a close
friend. He said Mr. Haggard had close family ties, taking a Sabbath
day at home every Saturday to be with his wife and five children.

Elizabeth Miller, a 46-year-old mother of three who has been a member
of the church for almost six years, said she was so upset that she
took the day off from work to pray.

Its like a death in the family, except its not that clear, Ms. Miller
said. Its more like having someone slowly dying from a painful illness.

She said that she and the other church members believed in redemption
and forgiveness and would stand by Mr. Haggard.

In the past, Mr. Haggard proved more accepting of gay men and lesbians
than some of his evangelical colleagues. He did not publicly oppose
another measure on the November ballot, Referendum 1, which would give
same-sex couples some legal rights and benefits.

The Rev. Nori Rost, executive director of Just Spirit, a watchdog
group that monitors the religious right, recalled that Mr. Haggards
church once invited the choirs from other churches in town to perform
at an ecumenical Easter service. At the time, she was the pastor of a
predominantly gay Metropolitan Community Church. When some other
evangelical churches learned that the gay church had also been
invited, they refused to sing unless Mr. Haggard retracted the
invitation to the gay church. Mr. Haggard refused, and the gay choir
sang, she said. In the impromptu interview in his car, Mr. Haggard
said that he stayed at hotels in Denver because he wrote books there,
and that he met the male escort through a hotel referral for a massage.

Mr. Jones had a different version of the story. He said he began
advertising on the Internet as a male escort, and was called by a man
who identified himself as Art from Kansas City. He said they met about
once a month for a relationship Mr. Jones said was purely physical.

I had no impression of him, other than that he was a nice guy, Mr.
Jones said. The only thing of a personal nature he ever volunteered
was that he was married.

Mr. Jones said he discovered Mr. Haggards true identity about six
months ago when he saw him on television two days in a row, first, on
a special about The DaVinci Code and then on a Christian station that
a TV in his gym was tuned to.

When I saw him, I didnt say, Oh, that looks like Art, Mr. Jones said.
I said, Oh my God, thats Art.

After Mr. Jones looked up his alleged client on the Internet and
learned of his stature in the evangelical community, he said he was
amazed. I thought this guy is really taking a big chance, he said.

Mr. Jones maintained that his decision to speak out about the
relationship was not suggested by any gay rights groups. He also said
the decision was not based on financial motives, though Mr. Jones did
file for bankruptcy in April 2005. If Id wanted to make money, I could
have blackmailed him, he said.

Mr. Jones said he hoped that his assertions would convince the
religious right to rethink their opposition to same-sex marriage.

Conservative Christian organizations reacted with both sympathy and
dismay. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, said in a
statement, The situation has grave implications for the cause of
Christ and we ask for the Lords guidance and blessings in the days
ahead.