Pastor could get a chance to heal New Life

A Texas pastor will be in the pulpit at New Life Church this month, trying out for the leadership post of the 10,000-member Colorado Springs megachurch.

Brady Boyd, 40, is an associate senior pastor at Gateway Church in suburban Dallas, another well-known evangelical megachurch.

He is scheduled to preach at New Life three times — Aug. 12, 19 and 26 — before the congregation votes Aug. 27 on whether to hire him as senior pastor. He must receive a twothirds vote to be hired.

New Life’s pastoral selection committee has been searching for a pastor since the firing of church founder Ted Haggard, who admitted to “sexual immorality” in November. A gay former escort from Denver, Mike Jones, has since written a book describing his relationship with Haggard.

Attempting to put the scandal behind it, New Life has made a spotless reputation an important qualification for a new pastor.

“Brady is a man of strongest character and reputation,” said Rob Brendle, the New Life spokesman. He said Boyd was unavailable for comment.

He was chosen over internal candidates not only because he is a “vibrant communicator,” Brendle said, but because he has the managerial skills to be CEO of New Life, which has a $12 million budget and a staff of 150.

New Life officials said in June that attendance had dropped about 25 percent and revenues were down about 10 percent since Haggard’s fall.

Boyd’s first responsibility would be to stem the bleeding and try to heal the wounded megachurch.

But Haggard’s role stretched far beyond the pulpit of New Life Church, and it remains to be seen whether Boyd plans to assert himself on a larger stage.

Under Haggard, New Life became one of the most influential churches in the country. Together with James Dobson of Focus on the Family, he worked to turn Colorado Springs into a power center for evangelical Christianity where political candidates come to be anointed and the media come to take the pulse of the religious right.

As head of the 30 millionmember National Association of Evangelicals, Haggard became a spokesman for a new breed of evangelical leaders who are engaged in politics and are as concerned about the environment as they are about abortion.

Boyd’s résumé indicates a man who is much more concerned with a church faced inward for healing than a church faced outward toward politics.

He is not well-known nationally, and his selection may show that the leadership of New Life wants to strengthen its core evangelical role rather than regain prominence in the national political arena.

“With regard to the political realm, our influence has come from the fact that our former senior pastor was president of the National Association of Evangelicals,” Brendle said. “Insofar as we no longer have leadership in that organization, I suspect that influence will diminish.”

“I would see him stepping up more like a Billy Graham, not so political, but as one who preaches the Bible and helps others follow a moral path,” said the Rev. Robert Morris, senior pastor at Gateway and Boyd’s current boss.

Morris said attendance at Gateway skyrockets when Boyd is preaching.

He does not talk about the environment or other political hot-button issues, Morris said.

“He sticks with Scripture and talks about things that will help individuals, families, the church,” he said.

Morris said Boyd has told him that his mission at New Life would be to “help the church heal and help the congregation move forward in their walk with the Lord.”

Boyd has been an associate pastor at Gateway Church since 2001, as it grew from 150 members to more than 12,000. Before that, he was senior pastor at Trinity Fellowship Church, a congregation of more than 200 in Hereford, Texas.

Wayne Kniffen, senior pastor at Trinity, said Boyd “communicates the word of God in a way that is understandable to people who don’t know church — blue collar or no collar — without compromising the faith.”

The Trinity congregation was devastated when Boyd left for Gateway, Kniffen said. “They really loved him,” Kniffen said. “They connected with him. He was a visionary for us.”

Boyd has wide-ranging experience. Besides leading churches, he has also had jobs as a high school basketball coach, a minor league baseball play-by-play announcer and a radio station manager.

He and his wife Pam have two adopted children.

Boyd did not apply for the job but was recommended by a pastor at another church, and the selection committee pursued him, Brendle said.

The selection committee, elected by the congregation, chose Boyd as its top candidate, Brendle said. He was then approved by the church’s external board of overseers, the group of outside senior pastors who have authority over the senior pastor and fired Haggard.

After Boyd delivers three sermons and appears at several town hall meetings at the church, the congregation will have the final say in his hiring.

Biographical sketches on the Gateway Web site and Boyd’s own site say he has a passion for training leaders and ministers, especially in the areas of prophecy, leadership, church health and small group ministry.

Those are mainstays at New Life Church.

Brendle said Boyd would have a big job ahead of him.

“We and Brady are aware that there are challenges inherent in an organizational transition,” Brendle said. “At its heart, the church is a family, which means while we need an effective CEO, we also need someone who can be a father.”

Brendle said he hopes replacing Haggard will help New Life put the painful past year behind it.

“Everybody is excited to take the next step into our church’s future,” Brendle said. “There is a pervasive sense that a new day is dawning for New Life Church. We believe our future is bright.”

HERE’S A LOOK AT THE CANDIDATE FOR THE NEW LIFE CHURCH PULPIT:

Name: Brady Boyd Age: 40 Current job: Associate senior pastor, Gateway Church, Southlake, Texas, a megachurch of 10,000. Formerly senior pastor of Trinity Fellowship Church, Hereford, Texas. Education: Graduate of Louisiana Tech University.

Little-known facts:

- Was play-by-play announcer for the Shreveport Captains, a minor league baseball affiliate for the San Francisco Giants.

- Born with heart defect. After praying for healing in 2006, he says his cardiologist told him he was healthy enough to run a marathon.

Online: To hear Boyd preach, go to pastorbrady.com and gatewaypeople. com