PASTOR SAYS HE BOUGHT METH BUT DENIES GAY SEX

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The Rev. Ted Haggard said Friday that he
bought methamphetamine and received a massage from a male prostitute.

But the influential Christian evangelist insisted he threw the drugs
away and never had sex with the man. Haggard, who as president of the
National Association of Evangelicals wielded influence on Capitol
Hill and condemned both gay marriage and homosexuality, resigned
Thursday after a Denver man named Mike Jones claimed he had many
drug-fueled trysts with Haggard.

Friday, Haggard said he received a massage from Jones after being
referred to him by a Denver hotel, and that he bought meth for
himself from the man.

But Haggard said he never had sex with Jones. And as for the drugs,
"I was tempted, but I never used it," the 50-year-old Haggard told
reporters from his vehicle while leaving his home with his wife and
three of his five children.

Jones, 49, denied selling meth to Haggard.

"Never," he told MSNBC. Haggard "met someone else that I had hooked
him up with to buy it."

Jones also scoffed at the idea that a hotel would have sent Haggard to him.

"No concierge in Denver would have referred me," he said. He said he
had advertised himself as an escort only in gay publications or on
gay Web sites.

Jones did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press on Friday.

In addition to resigning his post at the NAE, which claims 30 million
members, Haggard stepped aside as leader of his 14,000-member New
Life Church pending a church investigation. In a TV interview this
week, he said: "Never had a gay relationship with anybody, and I'm
steady with my wife, I'm faithful to my wife."

Jones claims Haggard paid him for sex nearly every month for three
years until August. He said the encounters with Haggard took place in Denver.

He said Haggard identified himself as "Art." Jones said he learned
who Haggard really was when he saw the evangelical leader on television.

Jones said he went public with the allegations because Haggard has
supported a measure on Tuesday's ballot that would amend the state
constitution to ban gay marriage. Jones said he was also angry that
Haggard in public condemned gay sex.