c. 2007 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Mike Jones, the gay former escort in Denver who outed former megachurch pastor Ted Haggard, says his story comes down to one word: hypocrisy.

“I think we’re all hypocrites to a certain extent, but I do think there are different levels of hypocrisy and, to me, he was probably right at the top,” said Jones, whose tell-all book, “I Had to Say Something: The Art of Ted Haggard’s Fall,” hits stores June 15 from Seven Stories Press.

“When he’s basically putting himself on a pedestal, preaching about how to be faithful to your wife, how to have a strong family, talking to teens about being honest … he’s seeing me at the same time. That is hypocrisy. … Everything he’s preaching against, he’s doing behind their backs.”

Last fall, as Colorado prepared to vote on a move to ban gay marriage, Jones decided to go to the media with his story. He said he had a three-year sexual relationship with Haggard, who usually paid him $200 for monthly trysts. Jones said he also connected Haggard with a dealer who provided the evangelical leader with methamphetamine that the pastor brought with him to their rendezvous.

Jones, 50, said he was shocked to see Haggard on TV’s History Channel one night last year and on a religious network the next morning when he was at the gym. At the time, Haggard was senior pastor of a Colorado Springs megachurch, New Life Church, and president of the National Association of Evangelicals.

“Oh, my God, that’s Art!” he said he exclaimed, recognizing Haggard’s distinct smile. (Arthur is Haggard’s middle name, and Art is the name he used when meeting Jones.)

Jones said he agonized over what to do, but said he eventually felt it was fate that he learned his client’s true identity. Though he had kept his clientele confidential in the past, he said Haggard’s views _ which he learned through admittedly obsessive Internet searches _ prompted him to speak out.

“I have never heard one other person that I’ve been with speak publicly condemning homosexuality,” said Jones. “He was totally the exception. People have to understand this was a very, very unique situation.”

Jones said their relationship began in 2003, when Haggard responded to his ad by calling himself “Art from Kansas City.”

He described Haggard as a “business casual” dresser who paid him with $100 bills or 20s. They would watch gay porn together and Haggard would bring various sex toys with him to their trysts. On one occasion, Jones writes, Haggard paid double to watch Jones and another male “buddy” have sex.

On another occasion, close to the end of their relationship, Jones wrote that Haggard was so desperate for a visit that they met for a brief encounter in a billiards room of Jones’ apartment building while Jones’ father was visiting upstairs.

Jones said he hopes the book will lead to more discussion about how churches deal _ or don’t deal _ with the issue of homosexuality.

“Too many times it seems that something like the Ted Haggard situation, it quickly disappears, it gets swept under the rug,” he said. “It needs to be discussed because the bottom line is, if we don’t deal with it and don’t talk about it there’s going to be … more Ted Haggards down the line.”

Several attempts to reach an official at New Life Church for comment were unsuccessful.

Jones estimates that about 15 percent of his clients have been in church-related positions. Jones said he had “struggled internally” about his line of work _ wondering “Is this good or is this bad?” _ but one client who turned out to be a Catholic priest prompted stronger questions.

“I thought, `If I am going to hell, this will probably do it,”’ he said.

Jones, who also worked over the years in other capacities _ owning a private gym, running a greeting card shop and working in the student loan industry _ said he considers himself a Christian but is not comfortable with organized religion.

“I pray and I’m very spiritual, but I can’t really tell you who I’m praying to, exactly,” said Jones, who has occasionally attended a church affiliated with the predominantly gay Metropolitan Community Churches.

Haggard was dismissed from his church for “sexually immoral conduct” and acknowledged that he was a “deceiver and a liar.” He also resigned from the presidency of the National Association of Evangelicals and has moved to Phoenix with his family.

“Please forgive my accuser,” he wrote to the congregation in a Nov. 5 letter _ which Jones included in his book. “He didn’t violate you; I did.”

(OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)

Jones said his sources of income _ escorting, personal training, art modeling _ have dried up with his revelations about Haggard and himself. As he embarks on a nationwide book tour, he does not know what he’ll be doing next.

“Would I do it again? Yes, I would,” he said. “My whole thing was just to expose his hypocrisy. To me, the end result of what happened was his doing. … I think Ted Haggard is a product or is a victim of his own belief.”

KRE DS END BANKS 875 words, with optional trim to 775

A photo of Mike Jones is available via https://religionnews.com.

With sidebar, RNS-JONES-EXCERPTS