Ted Haggard Back In Pulpit, Able To Cuss

How many lives does an alley cat have?

Mr. Haggard plays up his new regular-guy image. At the picnic, he asked a friend whether anyone noticed he had said “hell” in the sermon—and not in a Biblical context.

“I cuss now,” he said proudly.

Mr. Haggard said he believes people trust him more as a pastor since his spectacularly public fall. Strangers, he said, keep pulling him aside, asking advice about their personal struggles.

“It’s amazing. People tell me everything,” Mr. Haggard said. “That never happened when we were respectable.”