Recalibrating Vertical: Getting It Right in the Church (Interview)

On Saturday, October 17, 2020, I conducted my first interview on the Harvest Bible Chapel and James MacDonald saga and my story. I talked with host Linda Penn on Today's Living Hope. Our interview is the second hour of the show.

You can listen at TLH Recalibrating Vertical_Getting It Right in the Church

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Statement of Repentance

My wife and I have called Harvest Bible Chapel in Chicago our home church for 23+ years. We have seen God do great things in and through Harvest in that time. We have served as small group leaders and coaches and continue to do so. We have been blessed to invest in many couples through newly married small groups. We have led mission trips to help sister churches in Romania, Moldova, and Haiti. We enjoy it all and count it as service to our Lord Jesus. This statement is about my service as an elder at Harvest Bible Chapel. It is a personal statement, not a statement on behalf of anyone else. It is not a statement on behalf of the church. I served as an elder on the larger elder board from 2010 through 2015 (i.e., two consecutive 3-year terms before a mandatory roll-off). I was off the board for the three years between December 2015 and late December 2018. I rejoined the board in late December. Up until a few weeks ago, I counted it a privilege to have served as an elder at Harvest...

One Year Later -- A Look Behind the Mask of James MacDonald

Recently, James MacDonald started a 40-day “devotional” video series leading up to a re-launch into "ministry." He started this series exactly one year to the day that the elders of Harvest Bible Chapel fired him for cause. If you know James MacDonald, you know starting his “devotional” on February 12, 2020 was intentional. If you don’t know James MacDonald, you need to know starting on that date was intentional. The verse MacDonald used in his February 9 Facebook page teaser post caught my attention : … for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. (1 Corinthians 16:9 ESV) By using this verse and including the second half of the verse, MacDonald hopes to position anyone opposing his return to “ministry” as adversaries. MacDonald regularly portrays himself as under attack or as the victim. He is doing his best to weaponize Scripture here. If you know MacDonald you may share my skepticism. You may share my concern as you see hi...

And That's Enough

Friday afternoon I sat on an exam table at my pain management doctor's office as he gave me 31 Botox injections in key spots in my head (including between my eyes which was fun), my neck and my shoulders. It was the latest step to combat chronic headaches that I have now been battling for fifteen months. I should know later today or tomorrow if the shots are helpful for me. The Botox shots follow a rule of three - three days to take effect, three weeks for full efficacy, and the effect typically lasts three months. For some reason I am more anxious about the results of the Botox shots than other steps we have taken to try to combat these headaches. I say we because my wife, Kim, is right beside me in this whole trial. She is affected as I have had a headache on average more than two out of every three days for the last year and a quarter. Often those headaches are severe enough that I need to take rescue meds and sleep a few hours. When I was at thirteen months I calculated that I...

A Bondservant's Musings

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