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Pious Perverts See other Pious Perverts Articles Title: Pastor Quits After Revealing Same-Sex Relations [Another One!] The senior pastor of a suburban Denver evangelical church resigned Sunday after admitting to having had sexual relations with men. The move apparently came after the pastor was confronted by another minister in his church who had been alerted by an anonymous caller, The Denver Post reported. The resignation of the pastor, the Rev. Paul Barnes, from the pulpit of the 2,100-member Grace Chapel megachurch in Englewood came by way of a tearful, 32-minute videotaped address to his congregation. His departure occurred a month after the Rev. Ted Haggard quit as president of the National Association of Evangelicals and senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs when a former male prostitute disclosed that Mr. Haggard had had a sexual relationship with him. Dave Palmer, the associate pastor of Grace Chapel, told The Post that the church received a call last week from a person who had overheard someone speak of “blowing the whistle” on other evangelical ministers in clandestine homosexual relationships, among them Mr. Barnes. Mr. Palmer then spoke with Mr. Barnes. A spokeswoman for Grace Chapel said that church leaders had declined to comment further. A statement issued by the church on Sunday said that Mr. Barnes, who founded Grace Chapel 28 years ago, had confessed to infidelity; it did not mention homosexuality. Mr. Barnes said in his address that he had struggled with his attraction to men since he was 5, The Post said. The only time Mr. Barnes said he had talked to his father about sex, his father told him what he would do if a gay man, for which he used a derogatory term, walked up to him. Mr. Barnes recalled thinking, “ ‘Is that how you’d feel about me?’ It was like a knife in my heart, and it made me feel even more closed,” The Post said. Justin Lee, a self-described gay evangelical, said many men had written messages to his Web site, http://gaychristian.net, telling of anguish similar to what Mr. Barnes described. “The church has created a double standard that all of us are sinful and have temptations and need to be open about that — unless you’re gay,” Mr. Lee said. Mr. Barnes’s wife, Char, told The Post she had been unaware of her husband’s struggles. The couple has two adult daughters. Mr. Barnes avoided preaching about politics, and Grace Chapel did not take a stand on a recent successful ballot initiative backed by most of Colorado’s megachurches banning same-sex marriage.
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#4. To: tom007, ... (#0)
is this being covered in your local news?
Heard about it on the Denver KOA radio station yesterday, a quick glance at the really aweful Colo Springs Gazette shows nada.
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