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
