Megachurch leader may replace Haggard

COLORADO SPRINGS (AP) — A search committee at New Life Church is recommending a Texas megachurch leader replace disgraced senior pastor Ted Haggard.

The committee has nominated the Rev. Brady Boyd for the job, after conducting what it said were "dozens of hours of interviews" over eight months.

As part of the hiring process, Boyd, associate senior pastor at Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, will preach at New Life Sunday services leading up to Aug. 27, when church members will vote whether to accept him. Boyd must win a two-thirds majority to get the job.

Haggard was fired last year after a former male prostitute alleged a three-year cash-for-sex relationship with him. The man also said he saw Haggard use methamphetamine. Haggard confessed to unspecified "sexual immorality" and said he bought meth but never used it. Haggard also resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals in the wake of the scandal.

Since Haggard's fall, attendance has dropped more than 20 percent and giving has declined by 10 percent. Haggard had started the church in his basement and built it into a 14,000-member congregation.

Boyd, a graduate of Louisiana Tech University, served as senior pastor of Trinity Fellowship Church in Hereford, Texas, before joining Gateway in 2001. He has experience in sales management and in TV and radio broadcasting, according to his Web site. He is married with two children.