COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (CNN) -- Evangelical pastor Ted Haggard confessed to a "lifelong" sexual problem, saying he is "a deceiver and a liar," in a letter read to members of his New Life Church Sunday.

"There is part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I have been warring against it all my life," he said in the letter. Haggard apologized to his congregation and asked for their forgiveness in the letter read by Pastor Larry Stockstill, a member of the board of overseers of New Life Church. On Saturday, the board ousted Haggard from the 14,000-member church, which he founded more than 20 years ago, citing his "sexually immoral conduct."

Haggard had previously admitted that he received a massage from Mike Jones, a Denver man who claimed the prominent pastor had paid him for sex over a three-year period, and that he had bought methamphetamine.

Haggard often spoke to the White House on matters of politics and religion.