Harvest Chapel: Growing List of Pastors Leave

http://theelephantsdebt.com/the-next-step/

The Void

Are we alone in our concerns regarding the leadership of James MacDonald? Over the past few years, many long-standing elders and highly influential staff members have departed Harvest Bible Chapel. While the circumstances of their departures are unique to each of them, each has his own story to tell.

Pastors and elders who have publicly spoken through this website are highlighted in red; and their stories can be found under “Your Story.”



Dave Corning: For approximately 20 years, Dave Corning served Harvest Bible Chapel as the Chairman of its elder board. His wife, Betsy Corning, is the published author of Entrusted with a Child’s Heart: A Biblical Study in Family Life.



Dr. Ron Allchin: For many years, Dr. Allchin faithfully served the congregation of Harvest Bible Chapel as an active member of the elder board. At present, Dr. Allchin works as the Executive Director of the Biblical Counseling Center.



Dr. Joseph Stowell, III: For 18 years, Dr. Stowell served as the President of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois. During his time at Harvest, he was both a Teaching Pastor and a highly visible member of the elder board. Currently, Dr. Stowell serves as the President of Cornerstone University.



Joe Stowell, IV: From 1998 to 2008, Joe Stowell served as an elder and as the Executive Pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel, in which capacity he oversaw budgeting and strategic planning. At present, Joe is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating officer of ELIC.



Rod Vansolkema: During the 2000s, Rod Vansolkema was one of four Stowell family members to be employed by Harvest Bible Chapel. After serving as the Pastor of Young Adult Ministry, Rod was the first of the Stowells to leave the church.



Matt Stowell: From 1998 to 2008, Matt served as a pastor of student ministries before eventually rising to become the director of the worship department at Harvest Bible Chapel. At present, Matt serves as a pastor of church life at Salem Chapel in North Carolina.



Gordon Zwirkoski: Prior to founding FiveStone Churches, Gordon Zwirkoski invested 20 years at Harvest Bible Chapel. During his tenure at Harvest, Zwirkoski served on the elder board, before stepping off to co-found and direct the Harvest Bible Fellowship from 2001 to 2010.



W. Bing Hunter: For many years, Dr. Bing Hunter served “on the Ministry Management Team” of Harvest Bible Chapel. He also served as the Pastor of Adult Ministries before leaving for Phoenix Seminary.



David Jones: From 2001 to 2010, David Jones served Harvest Bible Chapel in a variety of capacities. In addition to his work as the research assistant to James MacDonald, Jones also served as the Director of Training for the Harvest Bible Fellowship.



Sam Jindoyan: Four four-and-a-half years, Sam Jindoyan served as an Elder at Harvest Bible Chapel. He and his wife are both NANC certified Biblical counselors, and they are currently ministering at The Orchard Evangelical Free Church.



Jim Jodrey: From 1995 to 2010, Jim Jodrey served in a variety of capacities. He was a Campus Pastor charged with overseeing operations, stewardship and benevolence. At present, Jim is the Associate Pastor of Harvest Community Church, a ministry once associated with the Fellowship.




Dave DeHaan (see “Your Story”): From 2002 to 2006, Dave served as Pastor of Single Adults. When the Elgin campus opened in 2004, he served as a Family Pastor and as a Campus Pastor for the new HBC location. Dave is currently an associate pastor at New Covenant Bible Church in St. Charles.



Rob Green: From 2003 to 2009, Rob Green served as the Pastor of Assimilation and Counseling at Harvest Bible Chapel. He is married to Anne Green, formerly a worship leader at HBC. At present, Rob works with Joe Stowell at ELIC in Colorado.




Ty Gooch: From 2002 to 2009, Ty Gooch was the Associate Pastor of Adult Discipleship at Harvest Bible Chapel. He is presently the Senior Pastor of Fellowship Life Bible Church, a FiveStone Church located just outside of Elgin, Illinois.




Josh Caterer: For most of the first decade of the new millenium, Josh Caterer served as a leader within the worship ministry department of Harvest Bible Chapel. In that capacity, he authored several songs that were regularly performed at Harvest.



Dan McGhee: For five years, Dan McGhee served as the Senior Pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel-Detroit West. In 2012, Dan and his elders became the first church to leave the Harvest Bible Fellowship over their concerns surrounding the Elephant Room 2.



Jonathan Gaus: In February of 2006, Jon Gaus planted Canyon Bible Church, formerly known as Harvest Bible Chapel – Prescott. In 2012, Canyon Bible became the second church in the Harvest Bible Fellowship to sever its ties with HBF over its concerns related to the Elephant Room 2.


Arvid Svendsen: Arvid Svendsen is the Senior Pastor of Cornerstone Church, formerly known as Harvest Bible Chapel – New Lenox. In 2012, Cornerstone became the third church to disassociate itself from the Harvest Bible Fellowship due to circumstances surrounding the Elephant Room 2.



Mike Bryant: Mike Bryant’s service with Harvest Bible Chapel began in the mid-1990′s. In 2006, he planted Harvest Bible Chapel – Grayslake, and faithfully served within the Fellowship until 2012, when he was removed by the leadership of HBF for privately voicing his concerns over the Elephant Room 2.

If you wish to view and download all of the supporting documentation, please click here.

If you share our concerns and are presently wondering what to do next, please click here.

Bloodstained Ink: 4th Church Leaves Harvest Bible Fellowship

An update and good story on the Harvest Bible Fellowship at:

http://bloodstainedink.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/fourth-church-departs-harvest-bible-fellowship/   Who are these guys?  What would anyone become involved with them?

Fourth Church “Departs” Harvest Bible Fellowship

May9 by Scott William Bryantu

Just over three months ago, James MacDonald, Senior Pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel, made a decision. Against the timely and judicious counsel of certain “influential leaders” within The Gospel Coalition, he decided to proceed with the theological circus known as the Elephant Room 2. At the time, he apparently believed that the opportunity to engage Bishop T.D. Jakes in a public conversation was of such paramount importance that it was worth severing his official ties to The Gospel Coalition. To no one’s surprise, not everyone agreed with his assessment.

In the days and weeks that followed, the churches belonging to the Harvest Bible Fellowship were put in an awkward position. Under the explicit direction of Kent Shaw, the Executive Director of the Harvest Bible Fellowship, they were advised as follows:

“Some, who like to stir up controversy, may approach you for further discussion and we ask that you stand with us by stating only the following: Pastor James stepped off the Gospel Coalition with our support. You should be proud of the battle he is fighting for grace and truth and seek to emulate his courage. He has our full support and the doctrine of Harvest Bible Chapel remains and will remain unchanged.”[1]

Now, this is all fine and good, except for one small problem. What if a church didn’t “support” MacDonald’s decision, and what if a church wasn’t “proud” of his actions?

As we have already seen, one possible course of action, taken by three different churches in Michigan, Arizona and Illinois, was to publicly disassociate themselves from the ministry of James MacDonald and the Harvest Bible Fellowship. In all three circumstances, the leadership teams of the respective churches attest to having repeatedly voiced their concerns to the Fellowship, only to have their concerns summarily dismissed.

Now, as of just two days ago, another church in the Harvest Bible Fellowship has joined the ranks of the “disenfranchised.” What is interesting and perhaps even instructive to note, however, is the manner in which they have been “disenfranchised.” For while the first three churches elected to voluntarily leave the Fellowship after privately voicing their concerns, Harvest Bible Chapel of Grayslake, Illinois has reportedly been removed from the Fellowship in an involuntary fashion. According to reports of a letter that was read to the congregation this past Sunday, HBC-Grayslake had sought to remain within the Fellowship even as they privately expressed their deep concerns regarding the circumstances surrounding the Elephant Room 2. But apparently, their willingness to stay in the fold was not sufficient for the leadership of the Fellowship, and they were cast aside.

This, of course, raises a number of genuinely interesting questions:

Firstly, if the goal of the Elephant Room 2 was to model “grace and truth” amidst disagreement, how is this goal being achieved within the internal ranks of the Fellowship?

Secondly, if the goal was to model “unity” amidst disagreement, how is that goal being achieved as churches are leaving and others are being removed?

Finally, just a little over three months after the conclusion of the Elephant Room 2, five percent (5%) of the churches that had been planted (or replanted) by the Fellowship through 2011 are no longer part of the very system that planted them. Are these churches merely statistical outliers? Or is this the beginning of an exodus? Only time will tell.

UPDATE: According to Erin Benziger of the Christian Research Network, Harvest Bible Chapel of Grayslake, IL has publicly confirmed that it has been “removed from Harvest Bible Fellowship by the leadership.”

[1] The full text of Kent Shaw’s email to the Harvest Bible Fellowship can be found at: http://apprising.org/2012/01/24/theres-more-to-the-resignation-of-james-macdonald-from-gospel-coalition/
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Additional Resources on this subject can be found at:

The Descent: James MacDonald, Harvest Bible Chapel and the Blurry Road to a Prosperity Gospel
How Steep the Decline: James MacDonald, Bryan Loritts, and Sycophantic Uncle Toms
James MacDonald, the Elephant Room and the “Spinning” of the Truth
Harvest Bible Fellowship Takes Second Hit
A Third Church Leaves Harvest Bible Fellowship
The New Elephant In the Room: Mark Driscoll, James MacDonald and Authoritarian Rule in the Church
Does James MacDonald Possess Too Much Power?

Purpose Drivel: Detroit, MI and Prescott, AZ "Franchise" Harvest Churches/Franchises Leave MacDonald's Pastorpreneurial, Sectarian, Chicago-based Confederation

Two stories here, noted consecutively.  We're interesting in following what "Purpose Drivel" asserts.  We have two URLs from them below.  The first:  Harvest Bible Church (Detroit, MI).  The second:  Harvest Bible Fellowship (Prescott, AZ).  Both franchise-outlets have pulled out of James MacDonald's "Pastorpreneurial," Chicago-based confederation. 

http://www.purposedrivel.com/2012/02/defectors-from-harvest-bible-fellowship.html

Defectors from the Harvest Bible Fellowship (praise the Lord!)

A Harvest Bible Church in Detroit has jumped off the Harvest Bible Fellowship. They don't seem willing to limit it only to the T D Jakes incident, indicated by the plural "men" in the following paragraph:

Quoting from "Concerning Our Disassociation With Harvest Bible Fellowship" (bold emphasis added by me)

However, it is with great sadness that our elders have unanimously decided to part ways with Harvest Bible Fellowship. This is not due to any change in our church’s position, but due to what we believe is a change in the Fellowship’s direction. James MacDonald seems insistent in pushing boundaries in the area of associations with men whose ministry philosophy, practice, and even theology we can’t endorse. As a member of HBF, our desire was for good, consistent, conservative leadership from HBF. When we became a member of HBF five years ago this is what we received and this is what we could wholeheartedly endorse; however, in our estimation that has changed. We have been surprised by significant decisions made by James MacDonald (and supported by HBF), resulting in our trust being shaken regarding their guidance as well as future direction as a movement of churches. Despite several personal conversations with HBF leadership, our concerns have not been assuaged.

So how does this gel with James Macdonald's insistence (wrong headed though it is) that you have to go to him privately? (alternate source) It doesn't sound as though he listens then, either. Well, I guess maybe they didn't do it sweetly enough so that Macdonald would be able to recognize his unbiblical definition of love.

Thank you pastors, for taking a stand. I pray you will not back down in the face of the flak you are sure to get. May the Lord grant you continuing courage.

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http://www.purposedrivel.com/2012/02/another-defector-from-harvest-bible.html

Another defector from the Harvest Bible Fellowship (Prescott AZ)

Another church has seen fit to leave Harvest Bible Fellowship! Praise the Lord!A New Season: An update from the Harvest Elders

From the Elders of Harvest Bible Chapel of Prescott,

For the past six years we have counted it an immense privilege and blessing to be part of Harvest Bible Fellowship. As an independent local church we have enjoyed wonderful fellowship, gleaned many valuable resources and wisdom, and made many incredible long-lasting relationships.

Over the last 11 months or so, Harvest Bible Chapel Chicago (HBC Chicago) has made statements and taken actions that we strongly believe reflect a change in the direction of critical parts of their ministry. We believe these actions and resulting changes can be categorized into three areas:

ASSOCIATIONS vs. ENDORSEMENTS
We believe that HBC Chicago has begun championing the idea that Christians can associate with those teaching heresy (such as those who engage in teaching the Word of Faith and Prosperity Gospels) without necessarily endorsing them or their ministries, implicitly or explicitly.

Scripture tells us...

2 John 1:9-11, "Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. [10] If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, [11] for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works."

We strongly believe that when church leaders associate with those teaching false and/or heretical doctrine, it confuses and misleads God's people into potentially dangerous areas of belief and acceptance. Scripture is clear, those who teach heresy are not to be received, much less embraced. We therefore must sharply disagree with HBC Chicago on this matter.

read more at Harvest Bible Chapel Prescott's site,