c. 2007 Religion News Service

Colorado Megachurch Approves Successor to Haggard

(RNS) New Life Church, the Colorado megachurch whose leader Ted Haggard was dismissed last year after a sex and drug scandal, has approved a new senior pastor.

Pastor Brady Boyd, a pastor at Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, received more than 95 percent approval in a Monday (Aug. 27) vote by the Colorado Springs congregation, a church secretary/treasurer announced in a message posted on New Life’s Web site.

“This is a great day for New Life Church,” Boyd, 40, said in a statement. “All of us are excited about writing the next chapter together.”

Haggard was dismissed from his church for “sexually immoral conduct” in November. He said he bought methamphetamine and paid a Denver man for massages. Haggard, who acknowledged sexual immorality but denied that he used the drug, also resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals. _ Adelle M. Banks

Visitors to Confess `Eco-Sins’ to Priest at Greenpeace Fair in England

LONDON (RNS) Visitors to East Anglia’s annual Greenpeace fair in England on Sunday (Sept. 2) will be able to confess their sins against the environment to a Catholic priest.

But the Rev. Antony Sutch, who will be hearing people’s eco-confessions, said it would be a question of secular rather than sacramental confession.

“I am going along because I am someone conscious of the need to look at our consumption and greed and what this is doing to the world God gave us to live on,” he said.

The fair is taking place just outside Bungay, 100 miles northeast of London, and is the biggest fund-raising event organized by East Anglia members of Greenpeace, the environmental organization founded in 1971. They hope to raise more than $30,000. This year the sound system at one music stage will be powered by a member of the audience riding an exercise bicycle. _ Robert Nowell

Quote of the Day: Atlanta Falcons Quarterback Michael Vick

(RNS) “I’m upset with myself, and, you know, through this situation I found Jesus and asked him for forgiveness and turned my life over to God. And I think that’s the right thing to do as of right now.”

_ Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, making a statement after pleading guilty Monday (Aug. 27) to a dogfighting conspiracy charge in Richmond, Va. He was quoted by The Washington Post.

DSB END RNS