James S. MacDonald (born October 4, 1960) is a Canadian-born American evangelical pastor, author, and broadcaster who founded Harvest Bible Chapel near Chicago, Illinois, in 1988 and built it into a multi-campus megachurch with more than 13,000 weekly attendees. For three decades, MacDonald was one of American evangelicalism’s most recognized voices through his daily broadcast, Walk in the Word. That reputation collapsed in February 2019, when Harvest’s elders fired him for conduct they called harmful to the church, the start of a public unraveling that has included a lawsuit against his own critics, a felony assault charge, and a $10 million defamation settlement.
[IMAGE: James MacDonald preaching during his years at Harvest Bible Chapel]
James MacDonald at a Glance
| Personal | |
|---|---|
| Full name | James S. MacDonald |
| Born | October 4, 1960, London, Ontario, Canada |
| Age | 65 (as of 2026) |
| Nationality | Canadian-American |
| Spouse | Kathy MacDonald (m. 1983) |
| Children | Luke, Landon, and Abby (three adult children) |
| Grandchildren | Eight |
| Education | |
| Undergraduate | London Baptist Bible College, Ontario (B.A. in Theology, 1984) |
| Graduate | Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (M.A. in Religion, 1988); Phoenix Seminary (D.Min., 1996) |
| Ministry | |
| Church founded | Harvest Bible Chapel, Rolling Meadows, Illinois (1988 to 2019, fired) |
| Broadcast ministry | Walk in the Word, founded 1997, discontinued 2019 |
| Church network | Harvest Bible Fellowship, planted roughly 200 churches |
| Current ministry | James MacDonald Ministries; Act Like Men |
| Denomination | Non-denominational evangelical, Baptist background |
| Career | |
| Books | 15+ titles, including Vertical Church, Lord Change My Attitude, and I Really Want to Change…So, Help Me God |
| Net worth | Estimated around $2.2 million (unverified) |
Early Life and Background
James MacDonald was born on October 4, 1960, in London, Ontario, Canada. In March 1978, at age 17, he sensed a call to ministry during a Word of Life Island event in Schroon Lake, New York, an experience he later described as a direct response to a powerful sermon he heard there. That moment sent him into student ministries and local churches within a year, and he enrolled in Bible college soon after.
MacDonald married his high school sweetheart, Kathy, also from Ontario, in 1983, before he had finished his ministerial training. The couple has remained together since, marking their 40th wedding anniversary in 2023.
Education
MacDonald earned a Bachelor of Arts in Theology from London Baptist Bible College in Ontario in 1984, followed by a Master of Arts in Religion from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in 1988. He completed a Doctor of Ministry at Phoenix Seminary in 1996. He was ordained in 1985 at Riverside Baptist Church in Windsor, Ontario, and went on to pastor several congregations, including a church in Arlington Heights, Illinois, now known as The Orchard.
Ministry Career: Founding Harvest Bible Chapel
In 1988, a small group of ministry partners recruited MacDonald and Kathy to plant a new congregation in the Chicago suburbs. Harvest Bible Chapel began with just 18 people meeting in a local high school. The church grew rapidly, adding campuses across the Chicago area, in Rolling Meadows in 1995, then Elgin and Niles in 2004, Crystal Lake in 2007, a downtown Chicago Cathedral campus in 2010, Aurora in 2011, and Deerfield Road in 2012. By 2012, Harvest had grown to more than 13,000 weekly attendees across seven campuses, earning repeated spots on Outreach Magazine’s lists of both the fastest-growing and largest churches in America.
MacDonald’s ministry extended well beyond his own pulpit. In 1997, he launched Walk in the Word, a daily Bible-teaching broadcast that eventually reached more than three million people through roughly 2,000 radio and television outlets across North America. He also founded Harvest Bible Fellowship, a church-planting network that helped launch nearly 200 congregations globally, and Vertical Worship, a music collective connected to the church.
Rise to Prominence
MacDonald’s preaching style, direct, confrontational, and built around what he called “unapologetic proclamation” of Scripture, helped make Harvest Bible Chapel one of the most recognized megachurches in the Midwest by the early 2010s. His book Vertical Church became a widely read text among church planters, and his Walk in the Word broadcast earned the Billy Graham Award for Excellence in Christian Communication in 2012.
That same confrontational leadership style, however, had already begun generating internal friction and public criticism well before it became a national story, with longtime members and former staff describing years of financial secrecy and bullying behavior behind the church’s rapid growth.
Books and Publications
MacDonald authored more than 15 books over his career, most focused on leadership, personal discipline, and church structure. Notable titles include:
- Vertical Church: What Every Heart Longs For. What Every Church Can Be.
- Lord, Change My Attitude Before It’s Too Late
- I Really Want to Change…So, Help Me God
- Downpour: How God Multiplies Ministry
- Act Like Men: 40 Days to Biblical Manhood, connected to his men’s ministry initiative of the same name
Personal Life
James MacDonald and Kathy have three adult children, sons Luke and Landon and daughter Abby, along with eight grandchildren. All three of the MacDonald children married and, at various points, served alongside their parents in ministry. The family has lived in the Chicago suburbs for decades, and MacDonald has continued to describe his marriage to Kathy as one of the stable constants through years of professional turmoil.
Theology and Ministry Philosophy
MacDonald identifies within the Baptist-rooted, non-denominational evangelical tradition, emphasizing biblical authority, expository preaching, and personal discipleship built around small groups and men’s ministry initiatives like Act Like Men. His leadership philosophy at Harvest centered on strong, top-down pastoral authority, an approach that fueled the church’s rapid growth for decades but also became the central complaint in the controversies that eventually ended his tenure there.
Influence and Legacy
Harvest Bible Chapel’s growth from 18 people to more than 13,000 weekly attendees across seven campuses made it one of the defining Chicago-area megachurch stories of the 1990s and 2000s, and MacDonald’s Harvest Bible Fellowship network extended that model to nearly 200 additional church plants worldwide. Walk in the Word’s daily broadcast reach, at its peak spanning roughly 2,000 stations, gave MacDonald a national platform few pastors of his generation achieved.
That legacy is now inseparable from the church’s collapse following his firing. Harvest Bible Chapel itself has since undergone significant downsizing and restructuring, and MacDonald’s case has become a frequently cited example in broader evangelical conversations about unchecked pastoral authority and financial oversight at rapidly growing megachurches.
Criticism and Controversies
MacDonald’s downfall unfolded publicly over several years. Longstanding criticism over Harvest’s finances and MacDonald’s authoritarian leadership style, documented for years by outside watchdogs, culminated in February 2019 when leaked audio surfaced of MacDonald making vulgar, sexually charged comments about journalists covering the church, including staff at Christianity Today. Harvest’s elders fired him days later, stating he had engaged in conduct “contrary and harmful to the best interests of the church.” The church subsequently discontinued the Walk in the Word broadcast entirely, citing financial strain connected to the controversy.
In April 2023, MacDonald was arrested in Coronado, California, and charged with two felonies, assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and battery with serious bodily injury, after police said he struck a 59-year-old woman’s car while parking and then physically attacked her when she got out to speak with him, leaving her hospitalized for three weeks. MacDonald’s attorney disputed the characterization of events, and MacDonald himself later told an interviewer he “barely touched the lady” and that he had “blacked out” during the encounter. In October 2023, a California judge ruled MacDonald eligible for a mental health diversion program based on a PTSD diagnosis his attorneys said dated back to 2020, and by late 2025 MacDonald confirmed he was no longer facing the felony charge.
MacDonald has not accepted the full scope of Harvest’s original allegations against him. In 2025, he announced he had settled defamation lawsuits against both Harvest Bible Chapel and Chicago radio host Mancow Muller for a combined $10 million, asserting that public statements made about him during the scandal had gone beyond fair criticism into defamation. As of this writing, MacDonald has not been reinstated to any formal pastoral role at a mainstream evangelical church, and Harvest’s elders have publicly maintained he remains disqualified from pastoral ministry.
Net Worth and Financial Information
Public estimates place James MacDonald’s net worth at roughly $2.2 million, though no independently verified figure has been published. Financial mismanagement and a lack of transparency around Harvest Bible Chapel’s budget during MacDonald’s tenure were among the central allegations that led to his 2019 firing, a history that makes any specific net worth figure difficult to verify independently. Flicxa presents this estimate as unconfirmed rather than a verified fact.
What Is James MacDonald Doing Now
Since his 2019 firing, MacDonald has continued preaching and teaching outside any formal denominational structure, running James MacDonald Ministries and his Act Like Men men’s discipleship initiative. He has described leading a small recovery ministry he calls Rock Bottom, preaching most Saturday nights to a few dozen recovering addicts and their families in a garage next to a sobriety house, a sharp contrast to the multi-campus megachurch he once led. He continues to guest preach at various churches and produce online content, though he has not returned to leading a mainstream evangelical congregation.
Awards and Recognition
- Billy Graham Award for Excellence in Christian Communication (2012), for Walk in the Word
- Built Harvest Bible Chapel onto Outreach Magazine’s lists of both the fastest-growing and largest churches in America
- Harvest Bible Fellowship’s church-planting network extended to nearly 200 congregations worldwide
Interesting Facts About James MacDonald
- He felt his call to ministry at age 17 during a single sermon at a youth camp in upstate New York
- Harvest Bible Chapel started with just 18 people meeting in a local high school
- He settled defamation lawsuits against his former church and a Chicago radio host for a combined $10 million in 2025
- He now preaches most weeks to a few dozen people at a recovery ministry he calls Rock Bottom, a sharp turn from the roughly 13,000 weekly attendees Harvest once drew
- A California court found him eligible for a mental health diversion program tied to a PTSD diagnosis rather than face trial on felony assault charges
Timeline of Key Events
- October 4, 1960: Born in London, Ontario, Canada
- March 1978: Feels a call to ministry at age 17
- 1983: Marries his high school sweetheart, Kathy
- 1984: Graduates from London Baptist Bible College
- 1985: Ordained at Riverside Baptist Church, Windsor, Ontario
- 1988: Founds Harvest Bible Chapel with 18 people in Rolling Meadows, Illinois
- 1997: Launches Walk in the Word
- 2012: Harvest Bible Chapel reaches more than 13,000 weekly attendees across seven campuses; receives the Billy Graham Award for Excellence in Christian Communication
- February 2019: Fired as senior pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel following leaked audio of vulgar comments about journalists
- 2019: Walk in the Word ceases radio and television broadcasting
- April 2023: Arrested and charged with two felonies for allegedly assaulting a woman in Coronado, California
- October 2023: Ruled eligible for a mental health diversion program based on a PTSD diagnosis
- 2025: Announces $10 million defamation settlements against Harvest Bible Chapel and radio host Mancow Muller; confirms the felony assault charge is no longer pending
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is James MacDonald?
James MacDonald is a Canadian-born American pastor who founded Harvest Bible Chapel near Chicago in 1988 and led it for three decades before being fired in 2019 amid allegations of financial mismanagement and bullying leadership.
What did pastor James MacDonald do?
Harvest Bible Chapel’s elders fired MacDonald in February 2019 after leaked audio surfaced of him making vulgar, sexually charged remarks about journalists covering the church, following years of separate allegations about his leadership style and the church’s financial transparency.
What happened to pastor James MacDonald?
After his 2019 firing, MacDonald was later charged with felony assault and battery in 2023 following an alleged parking-dispute attack on a woman in California. He was found eligible for a mental health diversion program in 2023, and by 2025 the felony charge was no longer pending. He now runs a small independent ministry and men’s discipleship program.
Is James MacDonald still preaching?
Yes, though not as a mainstream megachurch pastor. MacDonald leads James MacDonald Ministries and preaches regularly through a small recovery ministry he calls Rock Bottom, alongside guest preaching engagements.
Where is James MacDonald now?
MacDonald continues to live in the Chicago area and leads independent ministry work through James MacDonald Ministries, including Act Like Men and his Rock Bottom recovery ministry.
Who is James MacDonald’s wife?
His wife is Kathy MacDonald, his high school sweetheart from Ontario, Canada. The couple married in 1983 and marked their 40th anniversary in 2023.
How many children does James MacDonald have?
James and Kathy MacDonald have three adult children, Luke, Landon, and Abby, along with eight grandchildren.
What books has James MacDonald written?
His books include Vertical Church, Lord, Change My Attitude Before It’s Too Late, I Really Want to Change…So, Help Me God, and Act Like Men, connected to his men’s discipleship ministry.
A Note on Related Search Terms
Some searches for “James MacDonald” or “James Macdonald” turn up unrelated people who share the name, including a film director credited on IMDb and various actors and historical figures named James MacDonald or James A. Macdonald. None of these are connected to the Chicago-area pastor covered in this biography, and each would be a better fit for a separate, dedicated profile rather than a section here.
Final Word
James MacDonald built one of the largest churches in the Chicago area over three decades, then lost nearly all of it within a matter of weeks once the leadership pattern that had fueled that growth finally became public. His story since 2019 has moved from a public firing to a felony courtroom to a $10 million settlement, a trajectory that makes him one of the more closely tracked cautionary tales in recent American evangelical life.
Read Also
No other biography in our archive shares a close enough ministry, denominational, or historical connection with James MacDonald to recommend here.
