Listeners prayed yesterday after a talk given by Ted Haggard, including Kim Mow, left, Paula Staton, Cianan Hee, Kahinu Holt, Ceris Hashimoto and Ashley Diaz. Some 5,000 Hawaii residents heard Haggard, a keynote speaker at the three-day Hawaiian Islands Ministries Honolulu 2005 conference at the Hawaii Convention Center.
Evangelical power
Influential evangelist Ted Haggard
tells isle residents that religion
belongs in politics
When the president of the 22 million-member National Association of Evangelicals speaks, powerful politicians and media listen.
Ted Haggard's name is not yet a household word like Billy Graham, but he's getting there. With credentials as spokesman for 45,000 churches in 52 "nondenominational" organizations, he's as likely to be quoted in the news as James Dobson or Jerry Falwell. Time magazine named him one of the 25 most influential evangelical Christians in America.
Yesterday, 5,000 Hawaii residents heard Haggard, a keynote speaker at the three-day Hawaiian Islands Ministries Honolulu 2005 conference at the Hawaii Convention Center. Pastoral rather than political matters were the topics of the man who founded and has been senior pastor of the 11,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., for 20 years.
The idea that church should be separate from state doesn't hold weight with Haggard, who said Thursday: "There isn't an issue in the news that isn't about religion. The Middle East is all about religion. The elections were about religion.
"Evangelicalism has no reservation about being a voice in politics," said Haggard, who is one of several Christian leaders who have the ear of President Bush. He regularly participates in the president's weekly conference call. He was at a recent White House meeting on Bush's faith-based initiative of government support for social services provided by religious groups.
He debunks the modern perception that church involvement in politics is rooted in the affinity of conservative Christians and Republican politicians.
"Martin Luther King Jr. was a stronger political voice than any today," he said of the civil rights activist who sparked liberals and Democratic lawmakers to correct injustices in the 1960s. "People talk about President Bush, but (Democratic Presidents) Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were evangelicals and sought advice from evangelicals."
Ted Haggard was named one of the top 25 evangelical Christian leaders in the country by Time magazine. He is the pastor of the 11,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo. He talked yesterday about three days of fasting that he undergoes. He says he loves food, but loves God more.
He said he has been invited to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on his next visit to the United States. In an earlier meeting, they talked about the wall Israel is building along its West Bank border, which will curtail traffic from the Palestinian territories: "I told him walls work, but it's got to be on your own land."
News commentators seek him for perspective on issues of the day. Last Friday, Fox News talk show host Bill O'Reilly invited Haggard and a Washington, D.C., rabbi to talk about Pope John Paul II. They applauded the late pope's overtures to Jewish leaders.
After he recently met with evangelical Christian leaders in France, Haggard said: "I told the president that he needs to meet with evangelical churches in Europe. Evangelicalism is exploding worldwide," but after burgeoning for the past 30 years, "it's plateauing in America," he said.
It's a form of Christianity that rejects the structured liturgies and bureaucracies of historic, mainline churches in favor of more personal, spontaneous expressions of faith. The definition of an evangelical, Haggard said, is a person who:
» "Believes the Bible is the word of God.» "Has a high view of Jesus, as savior and lord.
» "And you must be born again, must have a conversion experience."
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Haggard takes some personal flack, too, such as e-mail coming in this week scolding him for that recent favorable television commentary about the pope. Criticism crescendoed when, after the terrorism of September 2001, he dared to offer support for the Muslim and Jewish communities in Colorado Springs.
"Christians are responsible to protect everybody," not just Christians, he said.
"Unfortunately, some people draw their security by identifying themselves by who they hate. I speak for more evangelicals than any other person. We do not hate. We offer hope and life."
He added: "We believe fundamentally that people of strength should use it for those who can't help themselves. It is not okay to stand by passively and watch tyranny prevail."
Haggard did not intend to linger for an island vacation after his last talk this morning on "Developing Love as a Force in Your Church."
No matter where the president of the National Association of Evangelicals travels during the week, the pastor of New Life Church gets back to preach to his Colorado Springs flock.
"I'm always home Sundays," he said.
Conference draws
5,000 isle residents
Ministers and members of more than 90 Hawaii church congregations attended the Hawaiian Islands Ministries Honolulu 2005 conference, which ends this afternoon at the Hawaii Convention Center.
The three-day conference offered 40 speakers presenting about 100 seminars on spiritual, inspirational and practical topics, as well as praise and worship sessions attended by about 5,000 people. Nationally known Christian speakers included Jim Burns, Craig Gross, Ted Haggard, Archibald Hart, John Ortberg, Bob Russell, John Vawter, Bruce Wilkinson, Bunny Wilson and John Yates.
It was the 17th year of the assembly, which was founded by the Rev. Dan Chun, pastor of First Presbyterian Church, and his wife, Pam, to provide educational and inspirational opportunities for local church people.
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