Haggard surprised by attention on prayer meetings

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Story Published: Nov 9, 2009 at 8:09 PM MDT

Story Updated: Nov 9, 2009 at 8:11 PM MDT

By Associated Press

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - Former pastor Ted Haggard says his decision to hold prayer meetings in his Colorado Springs living room has attracted great interest from the media.

Haggard said Monday he will be holding a press conference before his first prayer meeting Thursday to accommodate requests from media outlets including The New York Times and CBS' "The Early Show." No press will be allowed inside the home, Haggard said, adding, "We don't want to be surrounded by paparazzi."

But he said the media is allowed to talk to people before and after the meeting.

"There are no secrets," Haggard told The Gazette in Colorado Springs.

He said he was "trying to go low" with the meetings and was surprised by the attention.

Haggard resigned from New Life Church in 2006 after a Denver man said the pastor paid him for sex. Haggard had founded the church in 1985 with about two dozen people who attended meetings in his basement.

Haggard said it's not his intention to build something like New Life Church again.

Jeff Lavender, who organized a men's conference in Carlsbald, Calif., over the weekend, said Haggard spoke there and that he was "powerful, real and authentic."

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