Rev. Ted Haggard announced Wednesday that he's starting a new church where everyone is welcome.

Haggard is the evangelical pastor who ran afoul of his Denver congregation after admitting to a three-year pay-for-sex affair with male prostitute Mike Jones. Immediately after Jones reveled their sexual association in 2006, Haggard denied being gay, saying only that he had committed “sexual immorality.” Since that time, Haggard has said he's undergone intensive counseling. On February 6, 2007, Tim Ralph pronounced Haggard “cured,” adding that Haggard is “completely heterosexual.”

Haggard made his announcement outside of his 1865 Old Ranch Road home in Colorado Springs, with his family by his side.

St. James Church in Colorado Springs will welcome everyone, Haggard said, including people who are “gay, straight, bi, tall, short, whether you're an addict, a recovering addict, or you have an addict in your family.” Democrats, Republicans and independents are also welcome, he added.

While Haggard's new church will be gay-welcoming, no gay or lesbian couples will be allowed to marry in the church.

“God's ideal plan for marriage is the union of a man and a woman,” he said, then added that some people fall short of God's ideal.

Haggard founded Colorado Springs-based New Life Church and grew it into a $50 million megachurch before being forced to step down amid his sex scandal.