Grant Haas

The former volunteer for the New Life Church grabbed headlines when he disclosed that the religious group's then-pastor Ted Haggard allegedly sent him explicit text messages and masturbated in front of him in 2006.

Before the explosive scandal, Grant Haas is just a simple volunteer struggling with his sexual identity. He attended the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois and was studying for a Bachelor's Degree in Pastoral Theology.

Struggling with his homosexuality, Haas got kicked out of the Institute. He decided to volunteer at New Life Church in 2006 when a school counselor advised him to confide to Haggard about his personal issues. According to Grant, Haggard's attitude towards him changed when he told the pastor that he got kicked out of the Moody Bible Institute because of his sexual orientation, Haggard then started sending him text messages with sexual content, The pastor was said to have masturbated in front of him while they were staying in Cripple Creek, Colorado.

Haas further narrated that the pastor sent him more than a thousand text messages in a month, describing his sexual experiences and illegal drug use while on the road.

The allegations further added to Haggard's existing scandals, Earlier Grant Haas was accused of having had a relationship with a male prostitute. The pastor confessed to committing “sexual immorality” and apologized for his “inappropriate relationship” with Haas. However, he denied having any physical contact with the volunteer.

The once-influential national evangelical leader resigned as pastor of New Life Church and president of the National Association of Evangelicals.

New Life Church reportedly reached a legal settlement with Haas in 2007 in exchange for his secrecy. The settlement included college tuition and counseling. Grant Haas provided documents showing that the church promised to pay him $179,000 through 2009. According to him, the New Life Church did not follow through on the arrangement for medical treatment and counseling.