Harvest Bible Chapel

Harvest Bible Chapel is an Evangelical Christian megachurch in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Founded in 1988, it has grown to seven campuses in the Chicago metropolitan area. In 2008, the church was listed by Outreach magazine as one of the 100 fastest-growing churches in America. In January 2019, it was listed as one of the 50 largest churches in the United States. The church's current and former ministries include Vertical Church Network, Walk in the Word, Vertical Worship, and Vertical Church Films.

History

Founded in 1988 by James MacDonald and others,[1] Harvest Bible Chapel grew from a group of 18 people meeting in a local high school to a multi-site congregation of thousands. The church moved into a converted warehouse in Rolling Meadows, Illinois in 1995[1] and grew to include 10 campuses;[2] it added campuses in Elgin and Niles in 2004; Crystal Lake in 2007; downtown Chicago in 2009; Aurora in 2011; Deerfield Road in 2012; and Naples in 2018. The church's rapid growth led to its inclusion in Outreach Magazine's "Top 100 Fastest Growing Churches in America" in 2008.[3] In January 2019, Harvest Bible Chapel was listed in the Hartford Institute's database of American megachurches as one of the 50 largest churches in the United States.[4]

As of March 2019, the church had a combined debt of $40 million.[5]

Ministries

Vertical Church Network

Launched in 2002 (as Harvest Bible Fellowship) this church-planting ministry was formed, and ten churches were planted—in just four years. By the 10-year mark, the Fellowship had 62 Harvest Bible Chapels around the world. In 2014, fourteen years into their mission of planting church-planting churches, Harvest celebrated the launch of their 100th church, in Brantford, Ontario. As of 2019 Harvest has planted more than 190 churches.[6]

Walk in the Word

Launched in 1997, Walk in the Word became the radio outlet for MacDonald's teaching ministry at Harvest Bible Chapel.[7] In 2012, the program received the "Billy Graham Award for Excellence in Christian Communication" from National Religious Broadcasters.[8] In 2014, Walk in the Word expanded to global television and, in 2016, received the award for "Best Television Teaching Program".[9] In February 2019, MacDonald announced that the show would no longer be broadcast on radio and television, but would be available in digital format on his website.[10][11]

Vertical Worship

Vertical Worship is the worship and songwriting ministry of Harvest Bible Chapel. Launching formally in 2012 (as Vertical Church Band,[12]) 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.[13] and was at #23 of "CCLI's Top 100 Songs in 2016."[14]

Vertical Church Films

Vertical Church Films was launched in 2012 to produce Christian feature films.[15] The ministry has produced three critically acclaimed short films, The Ride[16] in 2012, Once We Were Slaves[17] (retitled The Two Thieves) in 2014, and The Shepherd in 2017.[18] Vertical Church Films' first feature film, The Resurrection of Gavin Stone, starring Brett Dalton, Anjelah Johnson, Shawn Michaels, Neil Flynn, and D. B. Sweeney was released in nearly 1000 theaters in the United States on January 20, 2017.[19]

Camp Harvest

Camp Harvest is a year-round facility in the picturesque North Woods of Michigan owned and operated by Harvest Bible Chapel . Nestled in 650 acres of lakefront property, it is a special place for those who are hungry to grow in their relationship with the Lord.[20]

Harvest Christian Academy

Harvest Christian Academy is a preschool-12th grade school that launched in 2004. As of fall 2016, Harvest Christian Academy has 700 students, more than 90 staff members, and is aggressively moving forward with a high leadership focus toward increasing excellence in academics and athletics, and all that God has in store for the next chapter.[6]

Controversies

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". According to World, a group of former Harvest Bible Chapel elders had spoken out publicly about their concerns, alleging that the church had a "'puppet elder board'". 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.[21][22] In September 2014, Harvest and MacDonald apologized for their actions toward the two former elders and lifted the church discipline against them.[23][24]

In October 2018, Pastor James MacDonald and Harvest Bible Chapel sued two former members (Ryan Mahoney and Scott Bryant) and their wives, as well as journalist Julie Roys, for defamation. Mahoney and Bryant ran a website called The Elephant's Debt that had been publicly critical of MacDonald and Harvest.[25] In December 2018, World Magazine published an exposé by Roys on the church and pastor, outlining an alleged history of financial mismanagement and authoritarian and abusive leadership by MacDonald.[26] The church disputed these claims.[27] On January 7, 2019, following a court decision denying the church's request to keep subpoenaed documents secret, the church sought to drop the lawsuit, saying that it had no legal means of protecting innocent third parties.[28] McDonald took an "indefinite sabbatical from all preaching and leadership" on January 16, 2019.[29][30] On January 25, Chicago radio personality Mancow Muller, who described himself as a Harvest attender and a friend of MacDonald, publicly criticized McDonald's leadership, called for the elders of Harvest Bible Chapel 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.[31]

On February 12, 2019, James MacDonald was fired from Harvest Bible Chapel after recordings were released to the media of MacDonald making inappropriate comments.[32] In the recordings, MacDonald joked about orchestrating a plot to blackmail Harold Smith, the CEO of Christianity Today magazine, by planting illegal child pornography on Smith's computer.[33] This move came after years of reports from former elders, pastors, and staffers accusing him and the church of financial mismanagement and other improprieties.[34][35][36][37] On February 19, the church's executive committee resigned and announced other planned structural and financial changes to the church.[11] Later that month, MacDonald's two sons resigned from positions at the church,[38] and in March its Assistant Senior Pastor also resigned after the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability suspended its accreditation of the church.[39] Further reporting by Julie Roys showed that MacDonald had used church funds to purchase a vintage 1971 VW Beetle (valued at $13,000) for Ed Stetzer (contributing editor at Christianity Today) and Harley-Davidson motorcycles for several other Harvest members.[40][41]

On April 30, 2019, the outgoing elders of Harvest Bible Chapel issued an apology for filing the 2018 lawsuit. The apology asserted that even if the lawsuit may have been "lawful," it was "a sinful violation of 1 Corinthians 6", and therefore it "biblically should not have been pursued."[42][43][44]

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References
  1. Writer, Julie Deardorff, Tribune Staff. "CHURCH SOWS BASICS, REAPS BENEFITS". chicagotribune.com.
  2. "Illinois Multi-Site Megachurch, Harvest Bible Chapel, Celebrates 25th Anniversary". christianpost.com. 2013-09-22. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  3. "100 Fastest Growing Churches in America - 2008, Compiled by Outreach Magazine" (PDF). theemptycave.files.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2019-01-05.
  4. "Database of Megachurches in the US". hirr.hartsem.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
  5. "A church in turmoil: Inside Harvest Bible Chapel's questionable financial moves and erratic leadership". Retrieved 2019-05-01.
  6. "Our Story".
  7. "James MacDonald Bible Teaching | Walk in the Word". jamesmacdonald.com. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
  8. "2012 Special Service Awards". nrb.org.
  9. Broadcasters, National Religious. "Walk in the Word to Receive Prestigious 2016 NRB Billy Graham Award". National Religious Broadcasters. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  10. Cornelius, Earle. "'Walk in the Word' radio program ending". LNP.
  11. "Harvest announces executive committee will resign, more changes after MacDonald fired". Religion News Service. February 2, 2019.
  12. "Vertical Church Band makes music specific to the philosophy of Harvest Bible Chapel". lancasteronline.com. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  13. "2014 Dove Award Nominees". Dove Awards 2014. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  14. "PraiseCharts". PraiseCharts. Retrieved 2017-01-16.
  15. "Vertical Church Films Archives - Christian Movies All in One Place, Easy to Find! CFDb!". Christian Movies All in One Place, Easy to Find! CFDb!. Retrieved 2018-05-01.
  16. "The Ride". Attic Window. 2014-11-28. Retrieved 2017-01-16.
  17. "Once We Were Slaves". The Attic Film Fest. 2015-03-06. Retrieved 2017-01-16.
  18. "With Vertical Church Films".
  19. "Christians in Film: Why I'm Going to See The Resurrection of Gavin Stone". The Exchange | A Blog by Ed Stetzer. Retrieved 2017-01-16.
  20. "About Us".
  21. Devine, Daniel James. "Not bluffing - WORLD". world.wng.org.
  22. Roys, Julie. "Hard times at Harvest - WORLD". world.wng.org.
  23. Devine, Daniel James. "Harvest Bible Chapel sorry for church discipline". world.wng.org.
  24. "Pastor James MacDonald Admits Harvest Bible Church Board Wrongfully Disciplined 3 Excommunicated Elders". www.christianpost.com.
  25. Shellnutt, Kate. "James MacDonald Sues Harvest Bible Chapel Critics for Libel". Christianity Today. Retrieved 2019-01-05.
  26. Roys, Julie. "Hard times at Harvest - WORLD". world.wng.org. Retrieved 2019-01-05.
  27. Shellnutt, Kate. "Harvest Bible Chapel Disputes World Investigation of James MacDonald". Christianity Today. Retrieved 2019-01-05.
  28. Shellnutt, Kate. "Harvest Bible Chapel Wants to Drop Defamation Suit Against Critics". Christianity Today. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  29. Shellnutt, Kate. "James MacDonald Takes 'Indefinite Sabbatical' from Harvest Bible Chapel". Christianity Today. Retrieved 2019-02-14.
  30. Sarkauskas, Susan (2019-01-16). "Harvest Bible Chapel pastor MacDonald taking sabbatical; elders to begin 'peacemaking'". Daily Herald. Retrieved 2019-02-14.
  31. Muller, Mancow (January 25, 2019). "Mancow: Speaking my truth to Harvest Bible Chapel's Pastor James". Daily Herald.
  32. James MacDonald Fired from Harvest: Leak of “highly inappropriate” comments by founding pastor of Chicago-area megachurch caps months-long clash with critics. Christianity Today, KATE SHELLNUTT, FEBRUARY 13, 2019
  33. "James MacDonald Fired From Harvest Bible Chapel in the Wake of Shocking Alleged Comments". Retrieved 2019-02-13.
  34. Shellnutt, Kate. "James MacDonald Fired from Harvest". News & Reporting.
  35. Harvest Bible Chapel moves quickly to fire founder MacDonald after recordings air Daily Herald, Susan Sarkauskas, 13 February 2019
  36. Harvest Bible Chapel pastor James MacDonald fired: 'A hard but necessary day for our church' Chicago Tribune, Patrick M. O'Connell and Morgan Greene, 11 February 2019
  37. Mancow bites minister: Radio host brings down Harvest Bible founder Chicago Sun-Times, Neil Steinberg, 2/13/2019
  38. Graham, Ruth (2019-03-01). "How a Radio Shock Jock Helped Bring Down a Megachurch Pastor". Slate. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
  39. Smith, Katlyn (March 22, 2019). "Harvest Bible Chapel second-in-command resigns". Daily Herald.
  40. Roys, Julie (2019-04-17). "James MacDonald Took Millions from Harvest and Now Demands Broadcast Ministry". Retrieved 2019-05-01.
  41. Blair, Leonardo (2019-04-18). "Harvest Bible Chapel allegedly made James MacDonald a millionaire; ECFA terminates membership". The Christian Post. Retrieved 2019-05-10.
  42. Hitzeman, Harry (2019-05-01). "Outgoing Harvest Bible Chapel elders apologize, call for prayers, patience". Daily Herald. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  43. Blair, Leonardo (2019-05-01). "Harvest Bible Chapel apologizes for suing journalist, former members, Evangelical Christian Credit Union". The Christian Post. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  44. Greene, Morgan (2019-05-05). "Harvest Bible Chapel's says no tithes or severance will go to former senior pastor who was fired". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
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