Harvest Bible Chapel Naples was the eighth campus of Harvest Bible Chapel in the Chicago area. (Yes, I know Naples, Florida is in no way in the Chicago area. March weather alone would tell you that.) What was a 2-year-old church in the old Harvest Bible Fellowship network became a campus in September 2018. Then in January 2019, everything changed with Harvest Naples.
In a January 17 email to the Harvest elders and pastoral leaders -- an email that the elder Executive Committee chairman did not forward to the full elder board -- Harvest Naples pastor, John Secrest, asked that the ministry agreement between Harvest Chicago and Harvest Naples be revoked. In that same letter, Secrest requested that James MacDonald, who had been placed on "indefinite sabbatical" just two days before, not be allowed to preach at Harvest Naples that next weekend or on subsequent weekends while on sabbatical. Secrest's request about MacDonald was very reasonable given that MacDonald's sabbatical was in reality a disciplinary action due to ongoing sin and behavioral issues MacDonald needed to work on and the fact that the Harvest elders had already decided MacDonald would not preach at any Chicago area campus while on sabbatical. Why would it then be OK for MacDonald to preach at the Naples campus?
When these requests were refused, John Secrest sent an email to the Naples congregation informing them of his efforts to protect the church. For this action, Secrest was fired. Nothing John Secrest did warranted the termination of his employment at Harvest Bible Chapel or even a discussion of anything close to that. Both requests John Secrest made were granted not long after Secrest was fired. In fact, the decision to not have MacDonald preach at Naples was made that same Friday morning, but was not communicated to Secrest who had so adamantly petitioned for it. The proposal for Naples to become an autonomous local church again was brought before the Harvest elder board by the Naples-based elders -- the same men who forced John Secrest out -- as early as the following Tuesday, January 22.
In an email to the Harvest Naples congregation sent shortly after Secrest was fired, the remaining Harvest Naples leadership team and elders labeled Secrest insubordinate and claimed his actions showed that he no longer wanted to work at Harvest Bible Chapel. Both were lies.
John Secrest was not insubordinate. He saw for himself that the ministry agreement made between Harvest Chicago and Harvest Naples was made under false pretense. He was concerned for the flock he was responsible for overseeing at Harvest Naples. He was doing his job as a shepherd.
You only need read John Secrest's January 17 and January 18 emails to see that he very much wanted to continue serving as pastor to Harvest Bible Chapel Naples. He desired to continue to shepherd the flock God had entrusted to him in Naples. He was fired for trying to protect that flock. John Secrest was fired for doing his job.
You might ask why I am writing about what happened with John Secrest and Harvest Naples. I write this because I served as an elder at Harvest Bible Chapel in the Chicago area in January, February and March 2019. I rejoined the board in late December 2018 after a 3-year break. I resigned from the board in late March 2019 calling for reform. In the two years since then, I did not see my role in what happened to John and Jessica Secrest and the people of Harvest Bible Chapel Naples in January 2019. Now I have. It is clear I missed several things:
- Overseeing the flock in Naples (see 1 Peter 5:2-4)
- I should have talked with John Secrest, cared for John and his wife, Jessica, and for those who called Harvest Naples their home church in mid-January 2019
- Listening to John Secrest (see Proverbs 18:13)
- I should have insisted the full Harvest elder board hear directly from John Secrest, one of our pastors, to consider his requests
- Following up on the January 20 statement
- I failed to follow up on the statement I read to the Harvest Chicago campuses January 19 and 20 admitting "shortcomings in the termination of the Naples pastor" (i.e., John Secrest). Inexplicably, the statement was not read or shown on the Naples campus which was directly impacted by those shortcomings. The statement should have been read or shown at Harvest Naples during each of the two services on January 20. The Harvest elders should have investigated the process around the termination of John Secrest's employment at Harvest Bible Chapel and corrected the lack of communication to the Naples campus. I should have ensured both were handled as a priority starting in the January 22 elder meeting.
- Righting a wrong
- I should have fought for John Secrest to be reinstated as pastor at Harvest Bible Chapel Naples immediately.
- Providing prophetic vision
- As the James MacDonald/Harvest Bible Chapel debacle unfolded in late January, February, and early March 2019, I had a hopeful vision for a God-honoring process and outcome transitioning what had been a multi-campus Harvest Chicago church to several healthy, autonomous local churches. Eventually what was Harvest Niles became Cityline Bible Church, which encourages me. But I missed the first opportunity for a healthy, autonomous, local church from the then Harvest Chicago campuses -- Harvest Naples.
- When the proposal for Naples to return to an autonomous local church came before the full Harvest elder board -- from the same Naples-based elders who forced Secrest out -- I should have insisted that the first and only condition be that John Secrest be reinstated as the pastor. John had shown sacrificial shepherding care for the flock there. That action would have righted a grievous wrong, been a God-honoring story of the reconciliation and restoration, and perhaps given hope for a different future to the flock of all eight campuses of Harvest Chicago that I was to oversee then.
- Not overseeing the flock at Harvest Naples in early 2019 as I should have
- How you were hurt, in the Church no less
- Any impact all that happened with Harvest Naples and Harvest Chicago and your pastor, John Secrest, has had on your view of the Church.
I know personally the pain of being hurt in the Church. It can be a long process to untangle it all and heal. Until recently, I did not see how my inaction was sinful and hurt many people in Naples. Now I do. Please forgive me.
I have met and talked with John and Jessica Secrest, apologized for my sinful inaction and the impact it had on them, and asked for their forgiveness which they graciously gave. I thank them.
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