Restructuing, layoffs at Haggard's former church

Staff layoffs are ahead for the former church of exposed Big Gay drugs user and hypocrite Ted Haggard, the Colo. Springs Gazette reported today; the layoffs amount to between 30 and 50 people, according to local TV station. Contributions are no doubt down at New Life CHurch, Haggard's former fief.

This gives me an irresistible opportuntiy to quote from Jeff Sharlett's 2005 profile of Haggard and New Life Church.

New Lifers, Pastor Ted writes with evident pride, "like the benefits, risks, and maybe above all, the excitement of a free-market society." They like the stimulation of a new brand. "Have you ever switched your toothpaste brand, just for the fun of it?" Pastor Ted asks. Admit it, he insists. All the way home, you felt a "secret little thrill," as excited questions ran through your mind: "Will it make my teeth whiter? My breath fresher?" This is the sensation Ted wants pastors to bring to the Christian experience.

Now that we know more about Pastor Ted's "secret little thrills," passages like that one are priceless.

technorati: Ted Haggard, New Life Church