Paul Barnes of Grace Chapel, a 2,100-member church in the Denver suburbs, resigned last week and came out to his congregation in a 32-minute videotaped message that was played during services yesterday:

“I have struggled with homosexuality since I was a 5-year-old boy,” Barnes said in the 32- minute video, which church leaders permitted The Denver Post to view. “… I can’t tell you the number of nights I have cried myself to sleep, begging God to take this away.”

His wife, Char, cradled his hand.

Barnes’ resignation was prompted by an anonymous phone call to an associate pastor at the church. Barnes’ name had been mentioned, the caller said, as part of a campaign of “blowing the whistle” on closeted gay evangelicals.