Layoffs At Haggard's Church

Beset by scandal and a subsequent decline in giving, New Life Church in Colorado Springs has laid off 44 people - or about 12 percent of its workforce - a church official said today.
The nondenominational megachurch had experienced attendance and financial growth in each of its 22 previous years, said Rob Brendle, an associate pastor.
That came to end in early November, when its charismatic founding pastor, the Rev. Ted Haggard, was fired amid allegations he used methamphetamine and paid a male prostitute for sex.
Brendle estimated church income has been down 10 percent since then, forcing the layoffs. The layoffs range from pastoral staff to support staff and nursery workers. Brendle said the cuts took place last week and were announced today during Sunday services.
"We recognize a church is an institution of trust, and that trust has been bruised," Brendle said. "So we're committed to serving people faithfully and earning it back in any cases where it might have diminished."
The state's largest church with about 14,000 members, the non-denominational New Life is cutting 44 people from a workforce of about 350 full and part-time workers, Brendle said. Considering the breadth of the scandal, the financial impact could have been worse, he said.
"We are pleased so many people are staying faithful to New Life," Brendle said, "The reality is, we ask our people to be faithful stewards of their money and living within their means. We have to do the same. So we are reorganizing."
Previously a rising star on the evangelical scene, the 50-year-old Haggard was fired from New Life and resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals after Denver male prostitute Mike Jones alleged a three-year cash-for-sex relationship.
Haggard confessed to undisclosed "sexual immorality," and admitted to buying meth but said he never used it.
Last month, a New Life oversight board also identified "a few staff members struggling with unrelated sin issues." Brendle said the layoffs were not discipline-related, and none of those "few" staff members lost their jobs in the cutbacks.
"These are all fine people who have served faithfully and have done wonderful work," Brendle said. "We are simply not able to pay people to do those functions now."
from The Denver Post