New Life Church's Ted Haggard: Hide your light

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"And no man, when he hath lighted a lamp, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but putteth it on a stand, that they which enter in may see the light. For nothing is hid, that shall not be made manifest; nor anything secret, that shall not be known and come to light." -- Luke 8:16-17

"For every one that doeth ill hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved." -- John 3:20

"To thine own self be true." -- Shakespeare, Hamlet

Ted Haggard of the New Life Church wants to be sure his parishioners don't weird-out Tom Brokaw and Barbara Walters, so he sent this thoughtful email:

From: New Life Church's Ted Haggard Ted Haggard
To: n.prophet@gmail.com
Date: May 10, 2005 6:51 PM
Topic: Media Attention

Dear New Lifers and friends of New Life Church:

I just received the following e-mail [use the link at the bottom of this post if you want to read the rest] and thought you ought to know about some developments. Yesterday a small team of Evangelical leaders (Sunday Adelaja from Kiev, Michael Little, President of CBN, Jay Sekulow from the Center for Law and Justice in Washington, Brian and Bobbie Houston from Hillsong in Sidney, Australia, and Dr. Brent Parsley from the great New Life Church in Colorado Springs, CO, USA) and myself spent just about three hours with Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister of Finance for Israel near/on the Sea of Galilee in Israel. Then we were in Jerusalem and in two hours we're leaving to meet Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. These discussions are very important regarding Israel's understanding and relationship with Evangelicals worldwide, and our relationship with Jewish people and Israel.

Now we're heading back to the United States and will be in church on Sunday, but I wanted you to see this e-mail about some upcoming media attention that was just forwarded to me so you can help me. Why? Because it indicates the importance of all of our doing a good job. The Lord has sovereignly placed all of us, as a congregation, in a position where we are representing born-again, Bible-believing Christians to groups outside our normal spheres of influence.

Here are a few tips:

1. If a camera is on you during a worship service, worship; don't dance, jump, etc. Secular people watching TV are touched with authentic worship, but jumping and dancing in church looks too bizarre for most to relate to. Remember, people watching TV news are not experiencing what you are experiencing. They are watching and thinking. Worship indicates sincerity, dancing and jumping looks like excessive emotionalism.

2. If reporters want to interview you, talk with them, but use words that make sense to them. Speak their language. Don't talk about the devil, demons, voices speaking to you, God giving you supernatural revelations, etc. Instead, tell your personal story in common sense language (I was a drunk but God changed me and now I'm sober, I'm grateful, etc.).

3. Don't be nervous. Be friendly and open. Reporters typically don't have an agenda, they authentically want to know what we do and why we do it. For example, Barbara Walters is working on a story about heaven and will interview me and get some supporting shots from the church. She might not use any of it, but she wants to put together an interesting story. Since we believe in heaven, we are, in fact, a good source. So, if she talks with you, don't be spooky or weird. Don't switch into a glassy-eyed heavenly mode, just answer, "Heaven is real. It's the place where God will be fully present with his people. He will reward people in heaven. Heaven is better than Colorado Springs." Say it straight and clear. Don't worry (Yeah, sure!)[sic].

Okay, Brent and I are leaving Tel Aviv tonight to speak to a New Life Church's Ted Haggard's conference on Wednesday and Thursday morning in Rochester, NY. We're going to a meeting on Thursday night in Washington, then on Friday morning we'll fly to New York to interview with Barbara Walters and then appear on the O'Reilly Factor Friday evening. Then we'll zip home on Saturday to be with YOU on Sunday. Saints, I need your strength. I would love to see you all on Sunday so we can just have a wonderful family time together. I LOVE you!

And I love being your New Life Church's Ted Haggard,

Ted

Thanks to Westword and Non-Prophet for the tip.

Jim

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