COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Evangelist Ted Haggard, who resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals last year after allegations of sexual misconduct, said he is leaving Colorado Springs.

Haggard founded the 14,000-member New Life Church here but was forced out as pastor after a former male prostitute alleged Haggard paid him for sex and sometimes used methamphetamine when they were together. Haggard, who is married, has publicly admitted to "sexual immorality."

Denver escort Mike Jones said last November that he and Haggard had a three-year tryst and that he watched Haggard take methamphetamine.

Haggard told members of the media that he purchased meth from Jones but never used it.

Haggard said in an e-mail Sunday to church members that he and his wife, Gayle, plan to pursue master's degrees in psychology. The e-mail said the family hasn't decided where to move but that they have been offered spots in Missouri and Iowa.

"Jesus is starting to put me back together. I have spent so much time in repentance, brokenness, hurt and sorrow for the things I've done and the negative impact my actions have had on others. That sadness continues as my family and I, along with so many others, go through the painful consequences of my actions. Jesus and his followers, though, have saved my life," he wrote in the e-mail.

A church phone call went unanswered Sunday night.

Haggard and his wife have completed three weeks of intense psychological counseling in Phoenix.

“We all wanted to know why I developed such incongruity in my life,” he wrote in his e-mail. “Thankfully, with the tools we gained there, along with the powerful way God has been illuminating His Word and the Holy Spirit has been convicting and healing me, we now have growing understanding which is giving me some hope for a future.”

Haggard also thanked church members for their love and prayers.

"For the last three months, I've not been communicative because I've been paralyzed by shame," Haggard wrote. "But as God and people like you forgive me, the sun is starting to rise in my life."