Recruited by a small group of ministry partners, James MacDonald and his wife Kathy founded Harvest Bible Chapel in 1988. From 1997 to 2019, MacDonald's daily Bible-teaching program, Walk in the Word, was broadcast on radio and television.
Harvest Bible Chapel
Harvest Bible Chapel grew from eighteen people meeting in a local high school in 1988, to more than 13,000 attending on seven campuses in the Chicagoland area. The congregation moved into a converted warehouse in Rolling Meadows, Illinois in 1995. Harvest added campuses in Elgin and Niles in 2004; Crystal Lake in 2007; the downtown Chicago Cathedral campus in 2010; Aurora in 2011; and Deerfield Road in 2012. The church was included in Outreach Magazines "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. 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 MacDonald. 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 also that " this time, Harvest has decided to take down the Walk in the Word website until further notice." They also decided to not launch digital content, and revealed that they had been returning contributions to Walk in the Word since the beginning of March 2019.
Vertical Worship
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 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 the former elders 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 lawsuit against The Elephant's Debt bloggers 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, and that MacDonald had gambling problems. The suit was filed in Cook County Circuit Court 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 false 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 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 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.
Accusations, sabbatical, and firing from Harvest Bible Chapel
Over time, former Harvest members, elders, and staff have accused MacDonald of bullying, sexual harassment, authoritarian behaviour and lack of transparency in finances, as well as misappropriation 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 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 jockMancow Muller, who described himself as a Harvest attendee and a friend of MacDonald, publicly criticized McDonald'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 blackmailHarold Smith, the CEO of Christianity Today magazine, by planting illegal child pornography on Smith's computer.
Financial improprieties
On April 17, 2019, after years of claims of financial mismanagement, the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability 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 for Ed Stetzer, 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 motorcycles for "people inside and outside the church".
Alleged solicitation to commit murder
In May 2019, Mancow Muller 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 on May 18, 2019, and an investigation was commenced.
