Dobson quits as Haggard counselor

Citing a lack of time, Focus on the Family founder James C. Dobson withdrew from the team overseeing counseling for the Rev. Ted Haggard, the evangelical pastor embroiled in a scandal involving a male prostitute and illegal drugs.

“Emotionally and spiritually, I wanted to be of help -- but the reality is, I don’t have the time to devote to such a critical responsibility,” Dobson said in Colorado Springs.

The other two members of the team, pastors Jack Hayford of Van Nuys’ Church on the Way and Tommy Barnett of First Assembly of God in Phoenix, declined to comment.

Haggard was forced out Saturday as senior pastor of the 14,000-member New Life Church after having resigned from the presidency of the National Assn. of Evangelicals.