New Life youth pastor resigns over sexual misconduct (Haggard Church)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.gazette.com/display.php?id=1327859

Another pastor at New Life Church has left the church under a cloud of sexual impropriety.

Christopher Beard, 35, who led a young-adult leadership program called twentyfourseven, resigned Friday, admitting he had an improper sexual encounter several years ago.

“I think it became apparent there were a series of bad decisions that reflected bad judgment,” said Rob Brendle, associate pastor for New Life. “That would’ve been one of those decisions, for sure.”

Brendle said the incident involving Beard was not with a minor, nor was it with the Rev. Ted Haggard, New Life’s founding pastor who was removed from the pulpit last month under a similar cloud of allegations.

<snip>

Beard admitted to the sexual encounter during an interview with New Life’s Board of Overseers, the same four-member board that fired Haggard.

[Erika]

1. Give me that old time religion and mega chuches

to boot. What an utter joke. I guess the bucks flow in so fast to these mega churches that the leaders choose to leave God behind. What an utter joke.

These people voted almost exclusively for Rove and W. Says a lot.

[deutsey]

2. They didn't just vote for Bush

they actively collaborated with him...Haggard apparently had weekly phone calls with Bush and other evangelical leaders.

Funny, like Kenny Boy Lay, that male prostitute/"reporter", and so many other interesting connections, our intrepid corporate media have chosen not to make a big deal of these links to the White House. Can't imagine why...:sarcasm:

[hvn_nbr_2]

13. Megachurches = "palaces for prevaricating pervert preachers"??

It's sure starting to look that way.

[KansDem]

14. They should just go back to using old drive-in movie theaters for their services

At least then the atmosphere would be right for this kind of hanky-panky when the sermon got boring.

[Neshanic]

3. He's gay "Twentyfourseven" looks like. Beard...the name, can't beat that.

Looks like the "overseers" need gaydar.

[Joe Bacon]

6. I wonder if Rev Beard got this letter from Santa??????

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/56321

:evilgrin:

[Maraya1969]

7. Does he say it was a gay encounter? And why don't they get rid of

everyone who's had premarital sex or who has committed adultery? Why is the gay sin more important than the adultery sin?

[Katzenjammer]

4. C'mon people, religion is for the suckers, not the preachers

The preachers are all in it for the money and pelf. Thus has it always been. Very very few are like that pope (Paul #6?) who talked, apparently very sincerely, about the Devil. He might actually have been a believer...but he died under mysterious circumstances not long after.

[Joe Bacon]

5. Reverend "BEARD"??????

??????

:rofl:

Who's next?

[Ezlivin]

8. Youth pastors get an early shot at prospective mates

When I was in the ministry it was not rare for a youth minister to marry one of his former charges. At one fundamentalist church I served at the youth minister "courted" one young blonde for several years; when she hit 18 they got married. And at the next church I went to the same thing happened.

There are lots of currently unemployed youth ministers because they couldn't stand the wait.

[NoodleyAppendage]

9. Christian Harems?

I suspect you are right. When I was being placed on the indoctination tract, I noticed quite a few of the younger youth leaders cozying up with the females.

J

[LeftyMom]

11. I had a youth pastor at a local church ask me out on a date once. I was barely 18.

I told him asking out somebody no older than his charges was creepy, and the next day I called the church to let the head pastor know about it. Apparently they don't care, according to the sign out front the guy got promoted a few years back.

[yellowcanine]

10. "Beard is a graduate of Oral Roberts University — Haggard’s alma mater. "

Oh well, that sort of explains a lot, does it not? Oral Roberts built a multimillion dollar "ministry" based on faith healing, including selling healing hankys that had been "prayed over". He also at one point tried to blackmail his followers into sending even more money or he would die. Anyone who would willingly be involved with such a person is either seriously deluded or in the scam themselves.

[underpants]

12. To be fair-this could be the board cleaning house

for internal political reasons or to make sure they stop the bleeding from this controversy.

I mean it could be.

[skypilot]

15. Did I miss something?

I admit that I just skimmed the article after the few paragraphs. Is this guy claiming that he's resigning simply because he had sex with another adult "several years ago"? There has to be something else going on here.

[knitter4democracy]

16. Two questions: how old, and who was the adult?

If he's not married, then according to their church, any sexual encounter isn't okay. Start with that premise. If he's in charge of young adults, that includes college-aged adults, so s/he might have only been 18 or 19. It also depends on who it was, really. If s/he were from an important family or was related to someone on the board, that would be enough to kick the guy out, too.

Saw a lot of this growing up . . .