A New Life big as church

Texan will audition to lead Haggard's former congregation

Bill Gallo, Special to the Rocky

Published August 11, 2007 at midnight

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The desolate stretch of two-lane blacktop connecting Arcadia, La., with the neighboring town of Simmsborough is an unlikely setting for bright lights and big moments.

But for Brady Boyd, a Texas preacher who soon could take the reins at Colorado Springs' scandal-plagued New Life Church, it turned into the Road to Damascus one night back in August 1988.

Then just 21 and haunted by demons of his own, Boyd says he was driving home in his red Chevy pickup when the Holy Spirit suddenly spoke to him. Told him to put the brakes on his dangerous ways and embrace Jesus.

"Since that night," Boyd said, "I've never had any regrets in my life."

On Sunday, the 40-year-old former sports broadcaster and TV sales manager will deliver the first of three weekly audition sermons to the congregation at New Life, the 10,000-plus-member megachurch.

The church was rocked last November when its nationally prominent, politically influential pastor, Ted Haggard, resigned amid allegations that he regularly paid a former male prostitute for sex and had snorted methamphetamine.

New Life members would have to approve Boyd's selection as their new leader by a two-thirds majority vote on Aug. 27 for him to land the job. For now, he remains an associate pastor at the 10,000-member Gateway Church, northwest of Dallas-Forth Worth in suburban Southlake.

After talking with New Life staff and members this week, Boyd was upbeat.

"Contrary to a lot of outside opinions," he said in a phone interview, "the church is in good shape. The people have really been rallying around each other the last eight months, and a great deal of healing has already been happening. There's no feeling here now that the church is in the emergency room."

Still, four months after Haggard's departure, spokesmen announced that New Life attendance had dropped 20 percent, contributions had declined by 10 percent and 44 employees had been laid off. At full strength, the church had 14,000 members, a staff of nearly 200 and a $12 million annual budget.

Seasoned orator

If Boyd is confirmed, New Life will get a dynamic orator who developed verbal skills in his 20s as a radio news anchor and play- by-play man for minor league basketball and baseball games in Shreveport, La. His online bio says his life goal is to put "all of my gifts, fully mature, on display for God's glory."

He's an avid golfer, outdoorsman, and former high school basketball coach.

Asked about New Life's political clout, he says while he's concerned with moral dilemmas facing America and enthusiastic about church members voting, expressing their views and running for public office, he's more pastor than political commentator.

"I will not touch on hot-button political issues from the pulpit," he said. "I will preach the Bible, and the Bible speaks for itself."

At birth, Boyd was found to have a life-threatening heart defect. By age 4 he'd undergone two major surgeries. His devout mother prayed for her son, aloud, every morning in the living room of their 800-square-foot house.

His father, who worked in a rural Louisiana poultry plant, inspired him "to godly manhood." But as a confused teenager he "experimented with marijuana, alcohol and sex" before finding the Lord. "I was never," he said pointedly, "a drug addict or an alcoholic. I was not living on the streets, as some have claimed. I was just a young man trying to find himself and his purpose."

Crossroads at age 21

Jimmy Evans, the pastor of Trinity Fellowship Church in Amarillo, Texas, saw Boyd's potential when the born-again young man, then a TV sales manager, volunteered as a singles counselor.

"He was a great leader," Evans said, "and later, when he became pastor at Trinity Fellowship in Hereford, Texas, that church just exploded. He didn't grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth, and he understands people. His church work has taken him from the warehouse to the executive suite - all faithfully and successfully."

Gateway Church member June Lee Sessions reacts another way: "When Brady preaches, I get the shivers."

That's what Boyd felt on the Road to Simmsborough at age 21. "It was a rustling in my heart," he said. "I knew it was something real and good for me, something the Lord wanted to show me personally."

Was his pickup truck conversion also a kind of Hollywood moment? "Absolutely," he said. "Scene one. Take one. The beginning of my life."

The preacher,/span>

Brady Boyd, born Jan. 11, 1967, Logansport, La.

• He is the sole remaining candidate, culled from a field of 10, to become senior pastor at Colorado Springs' troubled New Life Church. He faces a confirmation vote by the congregation on Aug. 27.

• Family includes his wife, Pam, whom he married Aug. 12, 1989, and two children, Abram, 8, and Callie, 6.

• In the first of three "audition" sermons at New Life, this Sunday, Boyd will discuss "the non-negotiable values by which I live my life," including the primacy of his family over his ministry.

• A 1989 journalism graduate of Louisiana Tech University, Boyd is a former high school English teacher, basketball coach and sports broadcaster. Another "non-negotiable value:" unshakable faith in the Dallas Cowboys.

• Since 2001 he's been an associate pastor at Gateway Church, Southlake, Texas. He formerly was senior pastor of Trinity Fellowship Church, Hereford, Texas.

To hear Brady Boyd

• Services: Sunday, 9 a.m., 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.

• Location: 11025 Voyager Parkway, Colorado Springs.

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