James MacDonald (born October 4, 1960) is a Canadian-born

evangelical Christian Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

television evangelist Televangelism (from ''televangelist'', a blend of ''television'' and ''evangelist'') and occasionally termed radio evangelism or teleministry, denotes the utilization of media platforms, notably radio and television, for the marketing of religi ...

, and author. He was the senior pastor of

Harvest Bible Chapel Harvest Bible Chapel is an nondenominational megachurch in Rolling Meadows, Illinois with another main campus in Elgin. Founded in 1988, it has grown to seven campuses in the Chicago metropolitan area. In 2008, the church was listed by ''Outrea ...

megachurch A megachurch is a church with a very large membership that also offers a variety of educational and social activities. Most megachurches are Evangelical, although the term denotes a type of organization, not a denomination. A megachurch draws 2 ...

Rolling Meadows Rolling Meadows is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 24,200. History In 1836, Orrin Ford became the first landowner in the area that is now Rolling Meadows, stak ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, United States and was the host for the church's former broadcast ministry, ''Walk in the Word''. MacDonald was fired from Harvest Bible Chapel in 2019 after over 30 years as senior pastor following allegations that he had engaged in conduct "harmful to the best interests of the church."

Harvest Bible Chapel

Harvest Bible Chapel grew from eighteen people meeting in a local

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

in 1988 to more than 13,000 in 2012, attending on seven campuses in the

Chicago area The Chicago metropolitan area, also referred to as Chicagoland, is the largest metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the Midwest, containing the City of Chicago along with its surrounding suburbs and satellite cities ...

. The congregation moved into a converted warehouse in

in 1995. Harvest added campuses in

Elgin Elgin may refer to: Places Canada * Elgin County, Ontario * Elgin Settlement, a 19th-century community for freed slaves located in present-day North Buxton and South Buxton, Ontario * Elgin, a village in Rideau Lakes, Ontario * Elgin, Manit ...

and Niles in 2004; Crystal Lake in 2007; the

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

Chicago in 2010 (the "Chicago Cathedral");

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

in 2011; and Deerfield Road in 2012. The church was included in ''Outreach Magazine''s "Top 100 Fastest Growing Churches in America" and "Top 100 Largest Churches in America."

''Walk in the Word''

Launched in 1997, ''Walk in the Word'' was Harvest's radio teaching ministry. By 2016 it was heard on more than 1,100 radio and television outlets across North America. In 2012, and again in 2016, the program received the "Billy Graham Award for Excellence in Christian Communication" from the

National Religious Broadcasters National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) is an international association of evangelical communicators. While theologically diverse within the evangelical community, NRB members are linked through a Declaration of Unity that proclaims their joint com ...

(NRB). In February 2019, MacDonald announced that ''Walk in the Word'' would no longer be broadcast on radio and television, but would be available in digital format, citing the financial strain stemming from the controversies surrounding him. Harvest announced on May 9, 2019, that "Walk in the Word is a ministry of Harvest Bible Chapel and as such, it is under the direction of Harvest's leadership," and " tthis time, Harvest has decided to take down the ''Walk in the Word'' website until further notice." Harvest also decided to not launch digital content and revealed that it had been returning contributions to ''Walk in the Word'' since the beginning of March 2019.

Vertical Worship

Vertical Worship Vertical Worship, previously known as Vertical Church Band, is a contemporary Christian and worship band from Rolling Meadows, Illinois, as part of the Harvest Bible Chapel. They are signed to Provident Label Group and have released seven albu ...

is Harvest's worship and songwriting ministry. Launched formally in 2012 as Vertical Church Band, their song "Open Up the Heavens", co-authored by MacDonald, was nominated in 2014 for Worship Song of the Year at the 45th GMA Dove Awards.

Controversies and allegations

2013 excommunication of former elders

In October 2013, ''

World The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

'' reported: "As MacDonald and Harvest celebrate 25 years of ministry, they face a barrage of criticism from former elders, pastors, and staff who say the church leadership has operated in recent years with too little transparency and accountability." After three elders resigned their positions, citing a "culture of fear and intimidation," Harvest publicly reprimanded two of them and removed them from church membership. The discipline was meted out soon after a group of former elders had laid out concerns about MacDonald's character in a letter to the remaining elders. In September 2014, Harvest and MacDonald apologized for their actions toward the two former elders and lifted the church discipline against them.

2018 defamation lawsuit

In October 2018, MacDonald and Harvest filed a

libel Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

lawsuit against ''The Elephant's Debt''

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

gers Ryan Mahoney and Scott Bryant, and against journalist Julie Roys. Mahoney, Bryant and Roys had reported that Harvest was in significant debt, that the church had previously been near

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

, and that MacDonald had

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

problems.Harvest Bible Chapel sues critics, accusing them of defamation
Susan Sarkauskas, '' Daily Herald'' November 28, 2018 The suit was filed in

Cook County Circuit Court The Circuit Court of Cook County is the largest of the 25 Illinois circuit courts, circuit courts (trial courts of original jurisdiction, original and general jurisdiction) in the judiciary of Illinois as well as one of the largest unified cour ...

and used as its basis the Illinois Deceptive Trade Practices Act. MacDonald claimed that his intent in filing the suit was not to seek punitive or financial damages, but only to force the defendants to cease publishing these allegations. Harvest announced that it was dropping its lawsuit in early January 2019, "after a Cook County judge ..ruled against the church's request to keep some documents private." Church elders said that the decision left them without any means of protecting third parties, saying, "In good conscience we cannot knowingly subject innocent people, in many instances against their will, to a full

subpoena A subpoena (; also subpœna, supenna or subpena) or witness summons is a writ issued by a government agency, most often a court, to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of ...

process." They announced that they would undertake a "peacemaking process" in the wake of dropping the suit. At the same time, they announced that MacDonald would go on indefinite

sabbatical A sabbatical (from the Hebrew: (i.e., Sabbath); in Latin ; Greek: ) is a rest or break from work; "an extended period of time intentionally spent on something that’s not your routine job." The concept of the sabbatical is based on the Bi ...

to atone for patterns of behaviour "that can only be called sin," but would be available to take part in the peacemaking process upon request. On April 30, 2019, the outgoing elders of Harvest Bible Chapel issued an apology for having filed the 2018 lawsuit, and they paid Roys $50,000 as a settlement to cover her legal fees.

Accusations, sabbatical, and firing from Harvest Bible Chapel

Over time, former Harvest members, elders, and staff have accused MacDonald of

bullying Bullying is the use of force, coercion, Suffering, hurtful teasing, comments, or threats, in order to abuse, aggression, aggressively wikt:domination, dominate, or intimidate one or more others. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. On ...

sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment based on the sex or gender of a victim. It can involve offensive sexist or sexual behavior, verbal or physical actions, up to bribery, coercion, and assault. Harassment may be explicit or implicit, wit ...

, authoritarian behaviour and lack of transparency in finances, as well as

misappropriation In law, misappropriation is the unauthorized use of another's name, likeness, identity, property, discoveries, inventions, etc. without that person's permission, resulting in harm to that person. Another use of the word refers to intentional a ...

of church funds. In December 2018, ''World'' published Roys' expose on MacDonald and Harvest, outlining an alleged history of financial mismanagement and abusive leadership by the pastor. The church disputed these claims. Outside groups also faced criticism for scheduling MacDonald for conferences and speaking events. In December 2018, it was announced that MacDonald had withdrawn from his speaking slot at the 2019

Southern Baptist Convention The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist organization, the largest Protestant, and the second-largest Chr ...

Pastors' Conference. On January 16, 2019, MacDonald took an "indefinite sabbatical from all preaching and leadership," saying in a statement that he has "...battled cycles of injustice, hurt, anger, and fear which have wounded others without cause", and that as a result he has "...carried great shame about this pattern in certain relationships that can only be called sin." On January 25, Chicago radio

shock jock A shock jock is a radio broadcaster or DJ who entertains listeners and attracts attention using humor or melodramatic exaggeration that may offend some portion of the listening audience. The term is used pejoratively to describe provocative or ...

Mancow Muller Matthew Erich "Mancow" Muller (born June 21, 1966) is an American radio and television personality, actor, and former child actor. Considered a shock jock, his career has been well known for controversy and clashes with the Federal Communication ...

, who described himself as a Harvest attendee and a friend of MacDonald, publicly criticized MacDonald's leadership, called for the elders of Harvest to be removed, urged church members to stop making financial contributions until needed changes were made, and asserted that an outside group should be brought in to lead the church. On February 13, MacDonald was fired from Harvest by the church's elders after alleged recordings of him making inappropriate comments. In the recordings, MacDonald joked about orchestrating a plot to

blackmail Blackmail is a criminal act of coercion using a threat. As a criminal offense, blackmail is defined in various ways in common law jurisdictions. In the United States, blackmail is generally defined as a crime of information, involving a thr ...

Harold Smith, the CEO of ''

Christianity Today ''Christianity Today'' is an evangelical Christian media magazine founded in 1956 by Billy Graham. It is published by Christianity Today International based in Carol Stream, Illinois. ''The Washington Post'' calls ''Christianity Today'' "eva ...

'' magazine, by planting illegal

child pornography Child pornography (also abbreviated as CP, also called child porn or kiddie porn, and child sexual abuse material, known by the acronym CSAM (underscoring that children can not be deemed willing participants under law)), is Eroticism, erotic ma ...

on Smith's computer.

Financial improprieties

On April 17, 2019, after years of claims of financial mismanagement, the

Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) is an American financial standards association representing Evangelical Christianity, Christian parachurch organization, organizations and churches, which qualify for tax-exempt, nonpro ...

(ECFA) terminated Harvest's membership due to "significant violations" of four of seven of ECFA's Seven Standards of Responsible Stewardship. Later reports indicated that MacDonald had used funds from the ''Walk in the Word'' ministry to purchase a vintage 1971

Volkswagen Beetle The Volkswagen Beetle, officially the Volkswagen Type 1, is a small family car produced by the German company Volkswagen from 1938 to 2003. One of the most iconic cars in automotive history, the Beetle is noted for its distinctive shape. Its pr ...

(valued at approximately $13,000) for

Ed Stetzer Edward John Stetzer (born 1966) is an American author, pastor, and Christian Missiology, missiologist. He is Dean and Professor of Leadership and Christian Ministry at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University. He also serves as Distinguished ...

, a contributing editor at ''Christianity Today''. Stetzer reimbursed the ministry in full after learning that ministry funds had been used for the gift. MacDonald also reportedly used church funds to purchase

Harley-Davidson Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D, or simply Harley) is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression along with i ...

motorcycles for "people inside and outside the church."

Alleged solicitation to commit murder

In May 2019,

claimed that MacDonald had, on two different occasions in 2018, asked Muller if he knew of a hitman for hire. Similarly, former Harvest bodyguard Emmanuel Bucur stated that MacDonald had asked him in 2015 to kill MacDonald's former son-in-law. Bucur and Muller reported their allegations to the police of their respective Illinois towns of Bartlett and

Wilmette Wilmette is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Bordering Lake Michigan, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Skokie, Northfield, Glenview, and Evanston, Illinois, it is located north of Chicago's downtown district. Wilmette had a populatio ...

on May 18, 2019, and an investigation was commenced.

2023 assault charge

On March 22, 2023, MacDonald was arrested for allegedly assaulting a 59-year-old woman in a parking lot.James MacDonald Charged with Assault After Allegedly Attacking Woman
''The Roys Report'', 12 April 2023

Bibliography

On February 19, 2019,

Moody Publishers Moody Bible Institute (MBI) is a private evangelical Christian Bible college in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded by evangelist and businessman Dwight Lyman Moody in 1886. Historically, MBI has maintained positions that have identified it as ...

, which had published most of MacDonald's books, said that those titles were no longer available for sale. In addition,

LifeWay Lifeway is a term used in the disciplines of anthropology, sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interact ...

(the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention) said it would no longer publish or carry MacDonald's books or other materials. * ''I Really Want to Change… So, Help Me God'' (Moody, 2000) * ''Lord, Change My Attitude… Before It's Too Late'' (Moody, 2001) * ''Seven Words to Change Your Family'' (Moody, 2002) * ''God Wrote a Book'' (Crossway, 2002) * ''Gripped by the Greatness of God'' (Moody, 2005) * ''Downpour: He Will Come to Us Like the Rain'' (Broadman & Holman, 2006) * ''Ancient Wisdom'' (Broadman & Holman, 2007) * ''Preaching: 25 things you can't learn in school'' (Walk in the Word, 2007) * ''Way of Wisdom'' (Walk in the Word, 2007) * ''Restore My Soul: A Fresh Look at Psalm 23'' (Walk in the Word, 2008) * ''10 Choices: A Proven Plan to Change Your Life Forever'' (Thomas Nelson, 2008) * ''When Life Is Hard'' (Moody, 2010) * ''Always True'' (Moody, 2011) * ''Lord Change Me'' (Moody, 2012; revised edition of the book previously titled ''I Really Want to Change… So Help Me, God'') * ''Vertical Church'' (David C. Cook, 2012) * ''Authentic: Developing the Disciplines of a Sincere Faith'' (Moody, 2012) * ''Come Home: A Call Back to Faith'' (Moody, 2013) * ''Act Like Men'' (Moody, 2014) * ''The Will of God IS the Word of God'' (Broadman & Holman, 2017)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, James 1960 births Living people 20th-century Baptist ministers from the United States 20th-century evangelicals 21st-century evangelicals Canadian spiritual writers Christian bloggers Canadian Evangelical writers Finance fraud in Evangelicalism Trinity Evangelical Divinity School alumni Writers from London, Ontario