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"Evangelicalism is a continuum of theologies all the way from Benny Hinn to R. C. Sproul. The R. C. Sproul crowd has a hard time with Benny Hinn, and the Benny Hinn crowd has a hard time with R. C. Sproul. But they're all evangelicals.

"Evangelical does not mean any particular political ideology," Haggard continues. "The African American [evangelical] community has an honorable concern for social justice, and that affects their politics. That concern comes from the Scripture. The Anglo community has a different history, so different Scriptures stand out to them. To the Anglo [evangelical] community, most of their sermons are theological. It's salvation by grace through faith, and other theological points, so social-justice issues don't have the same compelling justification.

"I have a deep love and appreciation for that diversity. I think it's some of the wonder of the body of Christ. I feel like my role is to help the various members of the body respect one another and appreciate one another, and work together."

While much press attention has shone on American evangelicals' new prominence, less light has focused on a corresponding change in the nature of evangelicals. Case in point: Ted Haggard and the NAE.

The National Association of Evangelicals began during the Second World War, an era when evangelicals had lost much of their influence. Liberal theology was ascendant in many denominations and seminaries.

The NAE was formed for defense—to provide intellectual respectability and organizational counterweight. Its statement of faith, used by many organizations to this day, drew clear lines for scattered evangelicals to rally behind. This cross-denominational fellowship gave evangelicals representation with government agencies like the FCC, to give them more TV access, and with the military in its chaplain selection. Church leaders met at the NAE's annual convention to compare notes and reinvigorate their relationships. The early NAE was almost entirely white, eminently respectable, deeply intellectual, and fervent in piety. It represented evangelicalism as it wanted to be seen: men in dark suits with advanced degrees. Evangelicalism's rural, enthusiastic, anti-intellectual cousins were kept mainly out of sight.

During the 1980s and 1990s, evangelicalism changed from embattled minority to the most visible and vital sector of American Protestantism. Furthermore, evangelicals became a potent political force.

Haggard was elected president of the NAE in 2003, succeeding Leith Anderson, who saved the organization from a financial crisis that almost sank it. The financial difficulties were symptomatic of a deeper problem. Evangelicalism had changed, but the NAE had not. Its Washington office, led by Richard Cizik, had a growing insider's voice in the political world. But to the larger world the organization had become, in Jack Hayford's words, "a kind of an old men's club."

Haggard represents a new direction and a new kind of evangelical leader. He pastors an independent, charismatic megachurch. He has no advanced degrees. He rarely wears a suit and drives a pickup truck with a Napoleon Dynamite "Vote for Pedro" bumper sticker. He is ebullient, not cautious. The NAE has gained media attention with him in the spotlight.

When people describe Haggard, they grasp for words to express how sunny and optimistic he is. John Stevens, retired pastor of Colorado Springs' First Presbyterian Church, told the Colorado Springs Gazette, "It's really pretty hard not to like Ted Haggard. You can not like some of the things he does, or some of the things he might say on occasion, but it's pretty hard not to like him personally."

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November 2005, Vol. 49, No. 11