Colorado church approves successor to Haggard

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — New Life Church, the Colorado megachurch that dismissed leader Ted Haggard last year after a sex and drug scandal, has approved a new senior pastor. Brady Boyd, a pastor at Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, received more than 95 percent approval in an Aug. 27 vote by the Colorado Springs congregation, a church secretary/treasurer announced in a message posted on New Life’s Web site. “This is a great day for New Life Church,” Boyd, 40, said in a statement. “All of us are excited about writing the next chapter together.”

Haggard was dismissed from his church for “sexually immoral conduct” in November. He said he bought methamphetamine and paid a Denver man for massages. Haggard, who acknowledged sexual immorality but denied that he used the drug, also resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals.