The former president of a 30 million-member U.S. evangelical Christian organization has admitted he bought drugs and received a massage from a male prostitute.
But Reverend Ted Haggard told reporters Friday that he never had sex with the prostitute, Mike Jones, and that he threw away the drugs, methamphetamine, before ever using them.
On Thursday, Haggard resigned his post as head of the National Association of Evangelicals. He also stepped down as head of the 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado.
The developments came after Jones said Haggard had regularly paid to have sex with him and used drugs during their encounters.
Jones said he only recently learned of Haggard's true identity and was angered because Haggard has been a vocal opponent of homosexual rights, and supports a ban on same-sex marriage.
Haggard is a prominent church leader and has participated in conference calls with conservative Christian leaders and White House and congressional officials.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.