Prominent anti-gay evangelical Pastor Ted
Haggard stepped down as president of the influential National
Association of Evangelicals on Thursday after being accused of having
had a three-year "sexual business" relationship with gay escort Mike
Jones.
Haggard also stepped down as head of his 14,000-member New Life Church
pending an investigation by a church panel, saying he could "not
continue to minister under the cloud created by the accusations."
Mike
Jones told The Associated Press that Haggard paid him to have sex nearly
every month for three years. Jones said that he had advertised himself
as an escort on the Internet and that a man who called himself Art
contacted him. Jones said he later saw the man on television identified
as Haggard.
He said that he last had sex with Haggard in August and that he did not
warn him before making his allegations this week.
Jones said he has voicemail messages from Haggard, as well as an
envelope he said Haggard used to mail him cash, though he declined to
make any of it available to the AP.
"There's some stuff on there (the voicemails) that's pretty damning," he
said.
Below is a video of Haggard preaching
against homosexuality from the recent documentary Jesus Camp:
Mike
Jones told The Associated Press that Haggard paid him to have sex nearly
every month for three years. Jones said that he had advertised himself
as an escort on the Internet and that a man who called himself Art
contacted him. Jones said he later saw the man on television identified
as Haggard.
The Hunk
