It’s a megacomplex with several large facilities. I was told it has it’s own zip code. It happened to be the one night a month where the men met in one auditorium, with Ted Haggard presiding, the women in another with his wife.

Our meeting room had the 27 foot diameter globe of the world which rotated slowly during the service.

The gist of Pastor Haggard’s sermon was that once we accept Christ’s sacrifice for us on the cross and our redemption through him we ought not keep dwelling on this, but rather focus on living our lives as Jesus taught us. As a Christian, this seems reasonable to me.

He came across as a sincere, energetic man, dedicated to the wellbeing of his church and the congregation. I could see why he was elected President of the National Evangelical Association.

The only odd thing was during a Q and A session afterward. He was asked about the charge that there was inappropriate promotion of religious beliefs, especially fundamentalist ones, at the Air Force Academy.

Instead of his usual reasoned response, he went into a rant about the Lutheran chaplain who brought this matter to public attention, mentioning several times how “butch” she looked and so on, which all seemed irrelevant to the question at hand. At one point, he mentioned he had to be careful about what he said in this regard. Someone (a pro gay activist?) might be in the room recording what he said to use against him later.

Good grief. Disdain for a chaplain who has rather short hair for a female? Concern that a gay person may have infiltrated the service to gather incriminating evidence against him?

It seemed rather odd at the time, but not so much in light of his subsequent outing.

Why are closeted gays so anti-gay and paranoid, I wonder.