James MacDonald Sues Critics after 2,000 Leave Harvest Bible Chapel
“The authors of a longtime watchdog blog and Julie Roys, who was reporting on the church, face defamation claims.” - CToday
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I don’t spend time worrying about James MacDonald. I have my own problems!
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
Yes and no for what Tyler notes; MacDonald’s denomination, Harvest Bible Fellowship, is increasingly influential in my area, and quite frankly the local HBF pastor is a guy who used to be the youth pastor at my church. So whether the foundation for HBF—really the thought of Mr. MacDonald—is sound or rotten has some very big implications in my area. Plus, if the thoughts of the detractors are even 10% true, it is an object lesson in how big personalities with outsized appetites can do huge damage to the Church.
To draw a picture from MacDonald’s “Vertical Church”, what do you think the steel contractor thinks of MacDonald’s brand of theology? Do you think that he separates the particular continuationist semi-Reformed brand of MacDonald from Christianity as a whole? And what about the millions of Chicago area residents who see a supposed man of God indulging his appetites in million dollar homes, flying to away games with the Blackhawks, and the like? You know, the guys living in former tenement buildings and projects where the question is going to be whether they get shot or stabbed in the elevators or stairwells.
OK, sure, plenty of other places where the Church is disgraced by her own people, you bet. But let’s not pretend that there isn’t a big issue when you’ve got obvious bullying lawsuits, pastors in giant homes, and former executives with the Van Kampen mutual funds company resigning after taking a look at the books.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
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