When I first heard that Ted Haggard was accused of using methamphetamine and enlisting the services of a male prostitute, I laughed. It struck me not as mere slander, but as a parody of slander, a lark of a lie. The accusations were inconceivable - Haggard was president of the National Association of Evangelicals in the United States, representing 30 million evangelical Christians, and senior pastor of New Life Church, one of the nation’s most influential megachurches. It was also inconsistent with everything I knew of him personally.

I had served as Haggard’s editor for eight years, helping him to write several books and hundreds of articles. Pastor Ted, as he is called by everyone who knows him, has long been a trusted adviser and a faithful friend. He gave me my first writing job and supported my decision to attend graduate school and pursue journalism. Even when I wrote a memoir criticising some aspects of our evangelical subculture, Pastor Ted was patient and generous. Moreover, he helped usher me into Christianity, pointing me to the moral, intellectual and spiritual riches of the faith that has shaped my life. Though we disagreed - I leaned left, he leaned right - our friendship transcended our differences.