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It's not uncommon these days for worship leader Ross Parsley to introduce himself as "The pastor of New Life Church—yes, that church." One of America's most prominent megachurches, New Life made international news in November 2006 when Senior Pastor Ted Haggard, then president of the National Association of Evangelicals, confessed to sexual immorality and buying drugs, and subsequently left the pastorate. The news staggered New Life's congregation, but the church has found strength and comfort in the gospel to take assessment of their own lives and press forward. We recently had a roundtable discussion with Parsley and fellow worship leaders Glenn Packiam, Jon Egan, and Jared Anderson (from the church's Desperation Band) to talk about how their church has found healing and renewal in the aftermath of a scandal.

New Life Church pastor and worship leader Ross Parsley

Let's start with the initial reaction from the church. What was the general mood?

Ross Parsley [On the Sunday it was announced], there was simply a depth of sadness because it involved someone we loved so deeply. When you realize something has been tormenting your friend that destroys their working relationship [to the church], you're just struck with this deep sadness. Not necessarily anger or judgment, but pronounced weeping in the congregation that day and the following few weeks.

At the same time, there was a tremendous resolve to embrace the gospel message—that Jesus died for sinners, not perfect people or preachers. Worship that day was huge because people were grabbing on to what was unmovable. This guy had failed and we're tremendously sad about that, but we are not the kind of people who build on [one pastor]. That resolve was pretty obvious after that first service.

That's incredible that New Life built such resolve from essentially the first day.

Parsley Well, I don't think we built that in a day, but our church has always been about the truth of the gospel. We had a charismatic leader who helped promote the message of the gospel, but the truth is it's a group of people who are defined by the freedom they experienced. We've been singing Jon's song "I Am Free" for three or four years at our church, and it's a reflection of our congregation. There have been many people set free from sin and bondage, and that's where the sadness comes in. Here's the guy who led us through our hurts and then we learn, "What, you mean he's not free?" It's a commitment by our body of believers to embrace that ideal.

Was there similar resolve at New Life's first youth service?

Jon Egan One of the things I marvel at with our youth is that they love the community that they have with each other. When the news hit, I think all they wanted to do was be together as a family. We opened up our offices to our youth right after it happened, and it was flooded with people who were laughing, crying, playing games, and counseling each other in the corner. There was confusion, for sure, but there was great resolve too—in their commitment to each other and to this family.

Glenn Packiam The Friday night college service was our church's first public meeting before stuff began to break. [Haggard] told the media Thursday night that some of the allegations were true, and then Friday morning was a frenzy. That night I remember as we gathered together for worship that I had no idea what it was going to be like. But it felt like everybody more than ever was linking arms. People always say that a church is a community, but that's never tested unless you go through something like this.

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