Another New Life Church Fundie is Banished

Yes, it happened again…first it was Tweaker Ted, then it was Rev. Paul Barnes, now a staffer at New Life Church in Colorado Springs (pastor Ted’s church), has resigned for, well, you take a guess… (Denver Post):

An executive staff member at New Life Church in Colorado Springs has resigned after admitting to sexual misconduct and other mistakes – the result of an examination of the staff’s moral makeup after the ouster of senior pastor Ted Haggard, a church official said Sunday.

Christopher Beard [you can’t make this sh*t up!], who headed a ministry that trained young adults in leadership skills, stepped down Friday after admitting to “a series of decisions displaying poor judgment, including one incident of sexual misconduct several years ago,” said Rob Brendle, an associate pastor at the 14,000- member church.

Citing confidentiality over personnel issues, Brendle would not discuss the nature of the sexual misconduct except to say it did not involve Haggard or a minor. Beard, a New Life employee for nine years, was not married at the time of the incident but is now, Brendle said. Beard could not be reached for comment Sunday.

…Brendle said Beard’s disclosures came during a meeting with the board, which is made up of four pastors from other congregations. Brendle said Beard’s resignation was voluntary and is another step toward making sure the “disordered moral life” demonstrated in Haggard’s fall is “excised from the church.”

An interesting twist to this guy is that in 2002, he was taken to the woodshed by the church leadership after he held a missionary training drill using fake assault weapons, which a motorist saw and became alarmed, resulting in a SWAT team being dispatched. Nice!