Ted Haggard and Other Whole Persons

WORD, DEED & SPIRIT A l T i z on

Ted Haggard and Other Whole Persons

crystal meth and who sought sexual pleasure from men.

Newspapers continue to discover fresh tidbits of basically the same scandal and make front page news out of them.Talk show hosts are having a heyday at Haggard’s expense. Larry King interviewed him recently and asked him to comment on yet another young man who had gone As one who is committed to the vision public with Haggard’s inappropriate of holistic ministry, I cannot think of a behavior toward him. And I haven’t even more compatible place to “do my thing” mentioned the sound bites, the comthan Palmer Theological Seminary of mentaries, the judgments, and hate mail Eastern University. Consider, for example, clogging up the blogosphere. Dear predits mission statement: “The whole gos- atory media, we get it: Leaders—be they pel for the whole world through whole actors,politicians,or preachers—are human, persons.” Simple, profound, even melodic, too.They make bad mistakes and fall just it is at once inspiring (as it excellently like the rest of us.

I just watched The Trials of Ted Haggard, captures the holistic vision) and challenging (as it raises high the bar of Christian an HBO special documentary that, with Haggard’s permission, followed the fallmission).

For me, the meaning of “through whole persons” poses the most challenging part.

As whole persons we see It certainly makes sense to acknowledge our brokenness, beat our chests, the integral connection between our and cry out, “Lord, be merciful personal wholeness and the wholeness of the gospel that we attempt to preach, to me, a sinner.” implement, and model throughout the whole world. But I confess that I have en leader and his family.The film showed considered “whole gospel” and “whole them sticking together and trying to pick world” much more than I have “whole up the pieces of their shattered lives. It pulled no punches as it allowed viewers persons” in my theological reflection.

That has been changing over the past to feel the gravity of his hypocrisy, the few years, as I’ve begun reflecting more depth of the moral hole that he dug for and more upon the importance of “soul himself, and the consequences of his care” among those of us who are prone to actions for him and his loved ones. But overachieve in ministry (read: Christian the film seemed different from the other workaholics). This has only heightened attention-grabbing, scandal-sniffing expoof late, thanks to the ongoing saga of sés on his life. After seeing the film in its fallen evangelical leader Ted Haggard. entirety, I saw neither a hypocrite nor a In case you somehow eluded the media loser; I saw instead a humble, honest, and swirl around him, Haggard was the enor- repentant man—a broken man. It moved mously successful mega-pastor of New me to tears. I’m a crybaby anyway, but Life Church in Colorado Springs and the thought of the incredible pain and president of the National Association of humiliation that this brother and his famEvangelicals, who fell hard in the face of ily have endured since the fall made me a sex and drug scandal. It turns out that profoundly sad. I felt genuinely sorry behind his powerful preaching against for them.

And yet,ironically enough,in Haggard’s drug abuse and homosexuality (among other things) was a man who secretly used utter brokenness before God, church, PRISM 2009

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and the American public, I see a man who is on his way to true wholeness. I realized, as the film allowed me to peer into the depth of a contrite heart, that part of what it means to be a whole person is to see our brokenness, to beat our chests, and to cry out, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.”The documentary intermittently showed clips of Haggard before the fall.

The charismatic, articulate, problem-free, invincible, and successful leader magnificently fulfilled the roles of the wellrespected pastor to thousands and the president of an association that represented millions. He seemed so very together.

But in light of what we all now know about him, the pre-fall Haggard was but a veneer of a whole person. With the disguise stripped away, there stands but a broken man…en route to becoming a genuinely whole person.

For what it’s worth, I forgive Ted Haggard, and I truly pray for his restoration. I pray that the church at large, but especially the church that he founded and served for many years in Colorado, will forgive him, embrace him, care for him, and restore him and his family to full health, and thus show the world a true glimpse of the outrageous grace of God. But enough about Brother Ted.What about you? What about me? Are we on the road to becoming whole persons?

At this point for myself, I only have more questions to address to such a question: How much do I truly trust God with my life? How wide is the gap between my private life and my public persona? Do I have any unresolved issues from childhood? Am I hiding anything? How afraid am I really of what people think? How judgmental am I of other people, and why?

Do I have even an ounce of real humility as I go about trying to change the world for Christ? n Al Tizon is director of ESA’s Word & Deed Network and assistant professor of holistic ministry at Palmer Theological Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa.