I don’t know if I just missed this information, but just the other day I ran across Elevation Church’s (dynamic church in Charlotte, NC) video message where Steven Furtick interviewed Ted and Gale Haggard. Here is the audio.

It’s an incredible message that everyone needs to hear. I always had a tremendous amount of respect for Ted. I have a lot of family and friends who attend New Life Church in Colorado and Ted used to come to my college and speak quite a bit. There is no doubt that God has used this man.

It truly does break my heart to see what he’s gone through. Yes, what he’s experiencing now is the consequence of his sin. We also must remember that God disciplines those he loves. He claims now to have a closer relationship with his wife than ever before and his relationship with God is more powerful than ever before. It’s unfortunate that he had to walk through the fire (and still is) to get to this place.

What humbles me about Ted’s story is about how a similar situation could happen to any one of us. All of us could be just one poor decision away from a career-ending mistake or a marriage ending mistake. These poor decisions may seem unlikely to us, but small compromises can make destructive decisions very easy. My life is not ruled by fear, but I do have a healthy fear concerning this stuff. I’ve seen too many great men of God fall in similar ways. Am I any better than them? How is my story going to be any different?