Fourth Church “Kicked Out” from Fellowship via “Catapult?”

Pastor Mike Bryant: A Factious Man?

In the absence of a public statement being issued either by Harvest Bible Fellowship or by Harvest Bible Church (formerly Harvest Bible Chapel) of Grayslake, IL, those that are attempting to document the fallout from the Elephant Room 2 are left with the unenviable task of sifting through the available data in an attempt to piece together the developing story.

Yesterday morning, that task became somewhat lighter as Senior Pastor Mike Bryant [no relation to this author] lent credibility to emerging reports, when he addressed the matter in his weekly sermon. 

Fourth Church “Departs” Harvest Bible Fellowship

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.

Does Pastor James MacDonald Possess too much Power?

So what does the leadership of a highly visible mega church do when it begins to feel the pressure mount in the aftermath of a questionable course of action?

A week and a half ago, Harvest Bible Chapel took its next step in trying to answer this question by inviting only the men of the church to a special Sunday night “prayer meeting.”  According to multiple sources, when the men arrived at the church, it immediately became clear that this was going to be more than a typical “prayer meeting.”  Amidst a heightened security presence, the attendees were advised to turn off all phones and/or recording devices, shortly before being advised to report anyone seen using such a device to the security.

The New Elephant in the Room: Mark Driscoll, James MacDonald and Authoritarian Rule in the Church – Part 1

Mars Hill Church.  By all the “measurable” standards promoted by the Church Growth Movement, it stands as one of the towering monuments amongst the 1300 Protestant megachurches presently dotting the landscape of this nation. With a weekly attendance of over 12,000 people gathering on fourteen different campuses in four different states, it’s lead pastor, Mark Driscoll, has become something of a “rock star” amongst the evangelical faithful. His sermon podcasts generally exceed 100,000 downloads per week; he authors New York Times best-selling books on the subject of marital sex; and he does media tours and interviews on popular daytime shows such as The View.  As I said: “rock star.”

The “SS United States”: Troop Carrier or Luxory Liner?

“In the late 1940s, the United States government commissioned William Francis Gibbs to work with United States Lines to construct an eighty million dollar troop carrier for the navy.  The purpose was to design a ship that could speedily carry fifteen thousand troops during times of war.  By 1952, construction on the SS United States was complete.  The ship could travel at forty-four knots (about fifty-one miles per hours), and she could steam ten thousand miles without stopping for fuel or supplies.  She could outrun any other ship and travel nonstop anywhere in the world in less than ten days.   The SS United States was the fastest and most reliable troop carrier in the world. 

The only catch is, she never carried troops.  At least not in any official capacity.  The ship was put on standby once during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, but otherwise she was never used in all her capacity by the U.S. Navy. 

Instead the SS United States became a luxury liner for presidents, heads of state and a variety of other celebrities who traveled on her during her seventeen years of service.  As a luxury liner, she couldn’t carry fifteen thousand people.  Instead she could house just under two thousand passengers.  Those passengers could enjoy the luxuries of 695 staterooms, 4 dining salons, 3 bars, 2 theaters, 5 acres of open deck with a heated pool, 19 elevators, and the comfort of the world’s first fully air-conditioned passenger ship.  Instead of a vessel used for battle during wartime, the SS United States became a means of indulgence for wealthy patrons who desired to coast peacefully across the Atlantic. 

Things look radically different on a luxury liner than they do on a troop carrier.  The faces of soldiers preparing for battle and those of patrons enjoying their bonbons are radically different.  The conservation of resources on a troop carrier contrasts sharply with the opulence that characterizes the luxury liner.  And the pace at which the troop carrier moves is by necessity much faster than that of the luxury liner.  After all, the troop carrier has an urgent task to accomplish; the luxury liner, on the other hand, is free to casually enjoy the trip. 

When I think about the history of the SS United States, I wonder if she has something to teach us about the history of the church.  The church, like the SS United States, has been designed for battle.  The purpose of the church is to mobilize a people to accomplish a mission.  Yet we seem to have turned the church as a troop carrier into the church as a luxury liner.  We seem to have organized ourselves, not to engage in battle for the souls of people around the world, but to indulge ourselves in the peaceful comforts of the world.”

The excerpt above was taken from David Platt’s New York Times Best-Selling Radical, and can be found on pages 169-171.

Time to Get “Radical?”

Having just received a copy of David Platt’s Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream, I am already anticipating that it will make my top-10 books of 2012.  Here, are the opening few pages for your consideration.  If they capture your imagination, be sure to purchase the book.  It only gets better.

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“The youngest megachurch pastor in history.”

While I would dispute that claim, it was nonetheless the label given to me when I went to pastor a large, thriving church in the Deep South — the Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama.  From the first day I was immersed in strategies for making the church bigger and better.  Authors I respect greatly would make statements such as “Decide how big you want your church to be and go for it, whether that’s five, ten, or twenty thousand members.”  Soon my name was near the top of the list of pastors of the fastest-growing U.S. churches.  There I was … living out the American church dream.

But I found myself becoming uneasy.  For one thing, my model in ministry is a guy who spent the majority of his ministry time with twelve men.  A guy who, when he left this earth, had only about 120 people who were actually sticking around and doing what he told them to do.  More like a minichurch, really.  Jesus Christ – the youngest minichurch pastor in history.

So how was I to reconcile the fact that I was now pastoring thousands of people with the fact that my greatest example in ministry was known for turning away thousands of people?  Whenever the crowd got big, he’d say something such as “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”  Not exactly the sharpest church-growth tactic.  I can almost picture the looks on the disciples’ faces.  “No, not the drink-my-blood speech!  We’ll never get on the list of the fastest growing movements if you keep asking them to eat you.”

By the end of that speech, all the crowds had left, and only twelve men remained.  Jesus apparently wasn’t interested in marketing himself to the masses.  His invitations to potential followers were clearly more costly than the crowds were ready to accept and he seemed to be okay with that.  He focused instead on the few who believed him when he said radical things.  And through their radical obedience to him, he turned the course of history in a new direction.

Soon I realized I was on a collision course with an American church culture where success is defined by bigger crowds, bigger budgets, and bigger buildings.  I was now confronted with a startling reality: Jesus actually spurned the things that my church culture said were the most important.  So what was I to do?  I found myself faced with two big questions.

The first was simple.  Was I going to believe Jesus?  Was I going to embrace Jesus even though he said radical things that drove the crowds away?

The second question was more challenging.  Was I going to obey Jesus?  My biggest fear, even now, is that I will hear Jesus’ words and walk away, content to settle for less than radical obedience to him.  In other words, my biggest fear is that I will do exactly what most people did when they encountered Jesus in the first century.

That’s why I’ve written this book.  I am on a journey.  But I am convinced it is not just a journey for pastors.  I am convinced these questions are critical for the larger community of faith in our country today.  I am convinced that we as Christ followers in American churches have embraced values and ideas that are not only unbiblical, but that actually contradict the gospel we claim to believe.  And I am convinced we have a choice.

You and I can choose to continue with business as usual in the Christian life and in the church as a whole, enjoying success based on the standards defined by the culture around us.  Or we can take an honest look at the Jesus of the Bible and dare to ask what the consequences might be if we really believed him and really obeyed him.

I invite you to join the journey with me.  I do not claim to have all the answers.  If anything, I have more questions than answers.  But if Jesus is who he said he is, and if his promises are as rewarding as the Bible claims they are, then we may discover that satisfaction in our lives and success in the church are not found in what our culture deems most important but in radical abandonment to Jesus.

A Third Church Leaves Harvest Bible Fellowship

The shadow cast off by the Elephant Room 2 is beginning to expand as Harvest Bible Chapel – New Lenox has just announced its decision to publicly become the third church to officially separate from the Harvest Bible Fellowship.  As you may recall, back in January of 2012, Pastor James MacDonald of Harvest Bible Chapel and Pastor Mark Driscoll of  Mars Hill Church hosted a gathering of pastors that included the well-known and controversial Bishop T.D. Jakes.  While some have applauded the efforts of the two hosts, others seem to be deeply concerned by their failure to fully and publicly address Bishop Jakes’ unconventional theology.  To date the following churches have left the hosts’ respective church planting ministries:

Acts 29 Network:

Sovereign Grace Church of Bakersfield

Harvest Bible Fellowship:

Harvest Bible Church  (formerly Harvest Bible Chapel – Detroit, MI)
Harvest Bible Chapel – Prescott, AZ
Harvest Bible Chapel – New Lenox, IL (soon to revert back to its intial name, Cornerstone Church)

So the question we must now begin to ask is this: are we looking at a few statistical outliers amongst the 70+ churches planted by Harvest Bible Fellowship, or are we witnessing a snowball near the top of a mountain as it is starting to pick up speed?

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Additional resources on James MacDonald, Harvest Bible Chapel and the Elephant Room 2 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

Harvest Bible Fellowship Takes Second Hit

As some have speculated online and elsewhere, it appears that the fallout from the “Elephant Room 2” continues to rain down on James MacDonald, Harvest Bible Chapel and the evangelical world.  Late yesterday, Harvest Bible Chapel of Prescott Arizona, one of the largest plants in the Harvest Fellowship, became the second church to publicly announce its withdrawal from the Harvest Bible Fellowship.  According to the official statement issued by Pastor Skip Breyer and the Elder Board,

“[Over the last 11 months], we have repeatedly and privately expressed our concern with the leaders of Harvest Bible Fellowship. After many months of prayer and consideration, we have reached a point in time that we believe to continue our association with HBC Chicago would appear to be endorsing their decisions, which would cause confusion for the flock that is under our care. So it is with a heavy heart, out of what we see is our obedience to our responsibility to our Lord to care and shepherd His flock, that we must end our association with HBC Chicago.”

The question is: will others follow suit?  Only time will tell. 

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Additional resources on James MacDonald, Harvest Bible Chapel and the Elephant Room 2 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

Large Churches more Orthodox and Faithful than Small Churches …?

A recent report issued by the Barna Group in November of 2011 has turned up some interesting findings related to church size and the nature of an individual’s theological beliefs and actions.  This study, which was based upon interviews of more then 3000 church-going Protestants, has revealed that individuals who attend large churches are more likely to adhere to orthodox Christian beliefs than those that attend churches with 100 or fewer adult attendees.

Please click to enlarge the image.

More interesting still were the findings related to behaviors and church size.  According to the report, “on seven of the eight behavioral measures, attenders of large churches were substantially more likely than those of small churches to be active. (These included behaviors such as attending church in the past week, reading the Bible in the past week, volunteering at their church in the past week, etc.) The average difference related to these seven behaviors was 17 percentage points.”

So what do you think?  Do these findings surprise you, or is this what you already expected to be true?

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* “Born again Christians” were defined as people who said they had made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that was still important in their life today and who also indicated they believed that when they die they will go to Heaven because they had confessed their sins and had accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. Respondents were not asked to describe themselves as “born again.”  

** “Evangelicals” meet the born again criteria (described above) plus seven other conditions. Those include saying their faith is very important in their life today; believing they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs about Christ with non-Christians; believing that Satan exists; believing that eternal salvation is possible only through grace, not works; believing that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; asserting that the Bible is accurate in all that it teaches; and describing God as the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today. Being classified as an evangelical is not dependent upon church attendance or the denominational affiliation of the church attended. Respondents were not asked to describe themselves as “evangelical.”

“Christians” Killing Homosexuals to Win the “Culture War”

In recent days, the politics of Uganda have once again captured the attention of the global audience, as lawmaker David Bahati has sought to introduce a bill into the National Assembly that would call for homosexuals to face life imprisonment for their crimes.  Three years ago, a similar bill, which also included the death penalty for certain sexual acts, was voted down when pressure from the international community was brought to bear on the largely “Christian” nation.[1]  But according to Bahati, “This is a piece of legislation that is needed in this country to protect the traditional family here in Africa.”[2]   In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Bahati went on to say: