James MacDonald (pastor)

James MacDonald
Born	(1960-10-04) October 4, 1960 London, Ontario, Canada
Occupation	Pastor, author, Bible teacher
Spouse(s)	Kathy MacDonald
Website	JamesMacDonald.com

James S. MacDonald (born 1960) is an American evangelical pastor, Bible teacher,^[1] and author, originally from Ontario, Canada. He is best known as the founding and senior pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel,^[2] near Chicago, Illinois, and as the Bible teacher for his broadcast ministry, Walk in the Word.

Biography

Born in London, Ontario, MacDonald is a graduate of London Baptist Bible College (BA in Theology, 1984), Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (MA in Religion, 1988) and Phoenix Seminary (D. Min, 1996).^[3]

MacDonald was ordained at Riverside Baptist Church in Windsor, Ontario, in 1985. In 1988, recruited by a small group of ministry partners, MacDonald and his wife, Kathy, founded Harvest Bible Chapel.

Since 1997, his daily Bible-teaching ministry^[4] has been extended through Walk in the Word, which is available by radio and television. Further extension of his ministry includes: Harvest Christian Academy;^[5] the church planting network Harvest Bible Fellowship;^[6] Harvest Training Center for church-planting pastors; a recording ministry, Vertical Church Band; and a feature-filmmaking ministry, Vertical Church Films.

MacDonald currently resides in a Chicago suburb with his wife, Kathy. They have three adult children, five grandsons, and one granddaughter.

Ministry

Harvest Bible Chapel

Founded in 1988, Harvest Bible Chapel grew from 18 people meeting in a local high school, to more than 13,000 attending on seven campuses in the Chicago area. MacDonald's preaching emphasizes the authority of the Bible, practically applied in a compelling and understandable way. Known for its racial and economic diversity, the congregation^[7] moved into a converted warehouse in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, in 1995, adding 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's scale led to its inclusion in Outreach Magazine's "Top 100 Fastest Growing Churches in America"^[8] and "Top 100 Largest Churches in America."^[9]

Walk in the Word

Launched in 1997, Walk in the Word became the radio outlet for MacDonald's teaching ministry at Harvest Bible Chapel, and began on local FM station WYLL. In 2000, the program was added to the Moody broadcasting network,^[10] and by 2010 was heard more than 2000 times a day across North America. In 2012, the program received the "Billy Graham Award for Excellence in Christian Communication".^[11] In 2014, Walk in the Word expanded to global television and, in 2016, received the award for "Best Television Teaching Program".^[12] Today, the program airs daily around the world on the Trinity Broadcast Network,^[13] Daystar Television,^[14] and many other radio and television networks.^[15]

Harvest Bible Fellowship

Harvest Bible Fellowship was founded by MacDonald in 2002 and has planted more than 150 churches on four continents.^[16] Prospective church planting pastors receive post-seminary training through the Fellowship's Harvest Training Center before being sent out to plant a church.

Vertical Church Band

Vertical Church Band^[17] is the worship and songwriting ministry of Harvest Bible Chapel. Launching formally in 2012, their song "Open Up the Heavens," co-authored by MacDonald, was nominated for the Dove Awards Worship Song of the Year in 2014^[18] and is at #23 of "CCLI's Top 100 Songs in 2016."^[19] The band has released four live worship albums: "Frontiers" (2016) "Church Songs" (2015), "The Rock Won't Move" (2014), and "Live Worship from Vertical Church Band" (2013).^[20]

Vertical Church Films

Vertical Church Films was launched in 2012 to produce professional feature-length films that proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. The ministry has produced two critically acclaimed short films, The Ride^[21] in 2012, and Once We Were Slaves^[22] (retitled The Two Thieves) in 2014. Vertical Church Films' first feature film, The Resurrection of Gavin Stone, starring Brett Dalton, Anjelah Johnson, Shawn Michaels, and D.B. Sweeney, released in nearly 1000 theaters across the United States on January 20, 2017.^[23]

Camp Harvest

In 2003, the church was given 650 acres of property in Croton, Michigan,^[24] where it now runs a year-round youth and family camp,^[25] with facilities for 300, and a pastoral retreat center for training, which sleeps 40.

Bibliography

• I Really Want to Change . . . So, Help Me God (Moody, 2000) ISBN 0802434231
• Lord, Change My Attitude . . . Before It's Too Late (Moody, 2001) ISBN 978-0802434395
• Seven Words to Change Your Family (Moody, 2002) ISBN 978-0802434401
• God Wrote a Book (Crossway, 2002) ISBN 978-1581346220
• Gripped by the Greatness of God (Moody, 2005) ISBN 978-1415829219
• Downpour: He Will Come to Us Like the Rain (Broadman & Holman, 2006) ISBN 978-0805441994
• Ancient Wisdom (Broadman & Holman, 2007) ISBN 978-0805444285
• Way of Wisdom (Walk in the Word, 2007)
• Restore My Soul: A Fresh Look at Psalm 23 (Walk in the Word, 2008)
• 10 Choices: A Proven Plan to Change Your Life Forever (Thomas Nelson, 2008) ISBN 0785228209
• When Life Is Hard (Moody, 2010) ISBN 978-0802458704
• Always True (Moody, 2011) ISBN 978-0802458698
• Lord Change Me (Moody, 2012; revised edition of the book previously titled I Really Want to Change . . . So Help Me, God) ISBN 978-0802405265
• Vertical Church (David C. Cook, 2012) ISBN 978-1434703729
• Authentic: Developing the Disciplines of a Sincere Faith (Moody, 2012) ISBN 978-0802457172
• Come Home: A Call Back to Faith (Moody, 2013) ISBN 978-0802457189
• Act Like Men (Moody, 2014) ISBN 978-0802457196
• The Will of God IS the Word of God (Broadman & Holman, 2017) ISBN 978-1433650277

References

External links

• Official website
• Harvest Bible Chapel
• Harvest Bible Fellowship
• Harvest Training Center
• Vertical Church Band
• Vertical Church Films
• Harvest Christian Academy