James MacDonald is the senior pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in Chicago. Their church-planting arm is Harvest Bible Fellowship. Harvest Bible Fellowship runs a network of about 70 churches which are based on the Harvest model which is a Church Growth model that employs facilitator-led groups. Harvest affiliate churches call these facilitator-led groups “Life Groups.” To learn about these Life Groups click here.
James MacDonald has also signed the anti-Christian Manhattan Declaration. To see that he signed it click here. (J Macdonald has signed the Declaration and was listed on an “other signers” list, however, I can no longer find this list online) To learn more about the Manhattan Declaration click here.
Walk in the Word is James MacDonald’s national radio ministry. According to James MacDonald’s blog, Mark DeMoss sits on the Board of Walk in the Word and is James MacDonald’s good friend.
Who is Mark DeMoss? Mark DeMoss is the founder and president of the DeMoss Group. According to his website, “The DeMoss Group is the largest PR firm specializing in faith-based organizations and causes.” The DeMoss Group’s clients and “other organizations with which they’ve worked” include: Billy Graham Evangelical Association, Campus Crusade for Christ International, Prison Fellowship/Chuck Colson (UN-NGO), Potter’s House/TD Jakes, Samaritan’s Purse/Franklin Graham, Concerned Women for America (UN-NGO), Coral Ridge Ministries, Focus on the Family (UN-NGO), Habitat for Humanity (UN-NGO), Harvest Crusades/Greg Laurie, INJOY/John Maxwell, Manhattan Declaration, National Day of Prayer, Promise Keepers, Psychological Studies Institute, Regent University, Salem Communications, Southern Baptist Convention (UN-NGO), Teen Challenge Worldwide Network, The Salvation Army (UN-NGO), Wheaton College and Willow Creek Association.
Mark DeMoss’ sister is Nancy Leigh DeMoss. James MacDonald has committed to speak at her True Woman ’10 Conference. Other speakers include Kay Arthur, Joni Eareckson Tada, and Jennifer Rothschild.
Mark DeMoss is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Liberty University. Mr. DeMoss, who was an advisor to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, considers Mormons to be on a “journey with Christ” with himself. Click here to read more.
The director of operations of Harvest Bible Fellowship is Mr. Bill Molinari. According to his Harvest Bible Fellowship bio., Mr. Molinari currently serves on the boards of John Macarthur’s Grace To You and The Masters Academy’s International (TMAI). He is also an elder at the Harvest Chapel affiliate in Hickory, North Carolina which is now pastored by Kurt Gebhards, an admitted change agent and a former elder at John Macarthur’s Grace Community Church. To learn more about Mr. Molinari scroll down the page here.
John Macarthur, who I’m told is “good friends” with James MacDonald, has attended his Straight Up Conference. John Macarthur’s friend, Al Mohler, has also attended this conference (one can see that here). To see John Macarthur speaking and shaking hands with James MacDonald, then scroll down the pictures here.
The Harvest Bible Fellowship Training Center trains seminary graduates to “launch” a “healthy church plant” based on the Harvest “Church of Life Groups” (church of facilitator-led groups) model. This training lasts 8 months. Their Training Center webpage under the heading “Curriculum” states: “The lecture model is generally avoided in favor of the Socratic method, coaching and case studies. Spirited group discussions are the norm.” The Socratic method isn’t a biblical teaching method; it is a dialectical method. Also from the Harvest Training Center website: “The academically inclined ‘lone wolf’ will not last long in ministry, unless he learns how to take risks and open up relationally with others.” Preaching and teaching God’s word as the Holy Spirit leads is out; facilitating human relationships is in. The duration of any ministry is determined by God alone.
Who is currently attending Harvest Training Center’s 8 month long training program? I’m told that attendance includes recent graduates from John Macarthur’s The Master’s Seminary (TMS). Upon conclusion of this training, these TMS graduates will be obligated to plant Harvest clone churches of facilitator-led groups. To learn about the dangers of group facilitation then click here.
Jason Fevig is one of a few of John Macarthur’s TMS graduates who are already leading these Harvest affiliates. “Prior to planting Harvest Miami in the fall of 2009, Jason completed the Harvest Training Center residency program, having earned his Master of Divinity degree from The Master’s Seminary in Los Angeles, California. While in seminary Jason and his wife, Grethel, served in Adult Ministries shepherding a small group at Grace Community Church (where John MacArthur serves as Teaching Pastor).” Jason’s transition to the Harvest “Church of Life Groups” model must have come easily after acquiring small group facilitation skills at John Macarthur’s Grace Community Church.
James MacDonald’s Harvest Bible Fellowship has admitted that their network of ministries are a TRICK! “Our mens and womens and student ministry is a TRICK to get them into small groups.” To learn more about this trick read A Facilitator-led Church Group is the Gate to Hell: A Letter of Warning to Kurt Gebhards’ Hickory Harvest Church, the Harvest Bible Chapel Affiliate in North Carolina: “A Church of Life Groups”