A commitment to overcome tragedy

First a wayward pastor, then a gunman in the parking lot. But many New Life Church members interviewed Sunday spoke of their resolve to stick with a church that has suffered more than its share of recent setbacks.

Some saw Sunday’s shooting as merely a part of the violent times we live in, or as a consequence of New Life’s headline-grabbing past. Others saw it as a sign of the End Times or as the devil’s work.

It was in November 2006 that New Life’s charismatic founding pastor, Ted Haggard, resigned after admitting to “sexual immorality” involving a gay escort. He also resigned as president of the 30 million-member National Association of Evangelicals.

The scandal, which might have felled a lesser church, actually cemented the congregation, members have said. And the shooting will do the same, they predicted.

“It does seem like things are piling on our church, but I don’t feel God is mad,” said Larry Yonker, a church elder. “When you are a large church like we are, we have a lot of visibility, and you are a target for weird things.”

Yonker said the church was just catching its breath after the Haggard scandal. The 13 months have been fraught with anger, sadness and grief — and finally healing. The crisis made New Life a better church and a stronger one, he said.

Haggard’s successor, Brady Boyd, said in October that church membership had stabilized at about 10,000 members, down from 14,000 before the scandal, and that donations had rebounded by a percentage point or two after dipping about 10 percent.

Yonker said the church will survive the latest tragedy, too. “God doesn’t have anything to do with the shooting,” he said. “It’s the nature of man.”

Amy Meyer, a six-year member, said she plans to continue attending the church. “Something like that could happen at Wal-Mart or anywhere,” she said.

Steve Glaeser said he plans to return. “That could happen any place, any time,” he said of the shooting. “This is a safe place. We have a lot of security inside that you don’t see at a casual glance. And I know we have trained specialists who are ushers and others from military background. And there is often a sheriff’s deputy in the lobby, and police directing traffic.”

J.C. Williams said he and his wife, Dianne, attended the first service Sunday, at which the guest speaker was Jack Hayford, pastor of Church on the Way in Van Nuys, Calif. Hayford is one of New Life’s spiritual overseers and helped shepherd the church through the Haggard crisis. His talk was centered on having “soft hearts,” not hardening oneself to the world.

“I feel like the shooting was a reminder not to harden our hearts against God, against even the shooter,” J.C. Williams said.

Dianne Williams, a New Life member for six years, said she sees this incident and other violence in the world as part of what is prophesied in the Bible. “We are told that this kind of thing happens in the End Times and we are told to stand firm, pray and keep going,” she said.

End Times is the time of chaos and spiritual warfare on Earth before Jesus will return, according to some evangelical interpretation of Scripture.

Judy Nelson, who teaches children at New Life, said the gunman was an agent of evil. “It was Satan doing that,” she said, adding, “It’s sad that this happened. The church had turned a corner and a new direction. I’m afraid some will be afraid to come back.”

The church, which was started by a few people meeting for worship in Haggard’s basement, grew to become the state’s largest independent church. Haggard helped put Colorado Springs on the map as an evangelical mecca and was a presidential adviser and conservative political power broker.

Boyd, the new pastor, has been steering the church in a new direction. He has emphasized that he is not interested in becoming a national evangelical leader, or keeping his church in the headlines, or playing a big part in politics.

He said two of his major goals for the church are for it to be more involved in local charitable works and in building bridges between area congregations.

That is just fine with most of the congregation.

Bob Spath, a 20-year member, stuck with the church after the Haggard scandal not because it was famous, but because “the word of God is preached and there is something there for everybody.”

He added, “Unfortunately, we aren’t safe anywhere these days, even at church.”

Spath said he sees the incident as another aspect of the failing moral climate of the nation. “You can’t expect to take God out of schools, God out of politics, God out of our business and lives and not have something like this happen,” he said.

Like others, he said that the church must go on.

“Life is short, very short, and you gotta live one day at a time,” Spath said. “Faith and trust in God allows us to do that. We will keep our eye on God.”

He added, “I’m not afraid to go back. I think there may be some who might be afraid. But I’ll be there when the doors open.”