Harvest Bible Church Scandal: Firing, Lawsuits, and Arrest

The Harvest Bible Chapel scandal is the collapse of one of the Chicago area’s largest evangelical megachurches after its founding pastor, James MacDonald, was fired on February 13, 2019, following leaked audio of vulgar and threatening remarks, investigative reporting into financial and leadership abuses, and a forensic review that later described a “massive corporate governance failure.”¹ The fallout included the loss of the church’s financial accreditation, a formal declaration that MacDonald was “biblically disqualified” from ministry, allegations of sexual misconduct and solicitation of murder, and years of litigation that MacDonald says produced nearly $10 million in defamation settlements in his favor.

How the Scandal Broke

MacDonald founded Harvest Bible Chapel in the early 1990s. By its peak it drew roughly 12,000 weekly attendees across multiple Chicago-area campuses and had planted about 100 churches worldwide, and MacDonald hosted the syndicated broadcast Walk in the Word.²

Public warning signs appeared years earlier. In 2013, the elder board excommunicated three former elders who had questioned MacDonald’s leadership and his refusal to disclose his salary, and contributions dropped 21 percent between 2011 and 2013. The church reversed the discipline in September 2014 after MacDonald apologized for “harsh language.”³

The story broke open in December 2018, when journalist Julie Roys published an eight-month investigation in WORLD magazine describing an “ongoing pattern of relational and financial abuse, a lack of transparency, and outright deception.”⁴ Roys reported on fund transfers between related ministries, restrictive nondisclosure agreements, 50-mile noncompete clauses for departing staff, and accounts from former elders and employees describing MacDonald’s leadership as controlling and retaliatory.⁵

The Leaked Audio and MacDonald’s Firing

By January 2019, the elder board had placed MacDonald on an “indefinite sabbatical from preaching and leadership,” and MacDonald acknowledged “great shame” about a pattern in relationships that he said “can only be called sin.”⁴

On February 12, 2019, Chicago radio host Erich “Mancow” Muller aired secretly recorded audio of MacDonald. On the tapes, MacDonald joked about planting child pornography on the computer of Harold Smith, the CEO of Christianity Today, suggested that Julie Roys was having an affair with a Christianity Today editor, and hurled extended insults at the publication.⁶ The next day, the elder board fired MacDonald, stating he had engaged in conduct “contrary and harmful to the best interests of the church.”⁴ MacDonald has maintained ever since that the recordings were “falsely edited” and that the elders did not review them before acting.⁷

What the Forensic Review Found

After MacDonald’s departure, a reconstituted leadership team called “Harvest 2020” hired the law firm Wagenmaker & Oberly and accounting firm Schechter Dokken Kanter to review the church’s finances. Their November 2019 report described a “massive corporate governance failure.”¹

Investigators identified two private bank accounts opened in 2014 outside the church’s standard accounting oversight. Between January 2016 and February 2019, $3.1 million flowed through the accounts. One provided $1.2 million in deferred compensation on top of MacDonald’s $650,000 base salary. The other funded $1.9 million in spending at MacDonald’s discretion, including $416,000 in travel, $286,000 in personal expenses (such as counseling, motorcycles, tuition, and car repairs), $171,000 in hunting and fishing trips, $140,000 in meals, entertainment, and club dues, $94,000 in clothing and eyewear, $71,000 on a church-owned deer farm, $36,000 for a private investigator, and nearly $250,000 in gifts and donations, including a $25,000 contribution to the Museum of the Bible.⁸

With deferred compensation and all benefits included, MacDonald’s total annual compensation ranged from $1.24 million to $1.38 million.⁹ The church’s treasurer noted an additional $250,000 spent in 2014 on home security at the MacDonald residence that fell outside the review’s window. Investigators described MacDonald’s leadership as “powerful and subversive,” writing that he built an inner circle that marginalized the elder board and treated ministry funds as his “own business,” and that compensation procedures “lacked the requisite independence, evidence of appropriate due diligence, transparency . . . and any accompanying minutes or report.”⁸ The church closed the private accounts, established a new finance committee, amended MacDonald’s W-2 forms, and said it would seek reimbursement for unauthorized expenses.¹

Biblical Disqualification and Loss of ECFA Accreditation

On November 3, 2019, the elder board formally declared MacDonald “biblically disqualified” from ministry, citing a “substantial pattern of sinful behavior” across nine areas, including anger, verbal bullying, improper exercise of positional and spiritual authority, and extravagant spending of church resources for personal benefit. The elders stated that MacDonald could never return as an elder or pastor at Harvest and said they had not yet seen “the fruits of repentance.”¹⁰

The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability suspended Harvest’s membership on March 14, 2019, and terminated it on April 17, 2019, after initially clearing the church following a December 2018 site visit. The ECFA found “significant violations” of four of its seven standards, covering governance, financial oversight, use of resources and compliance with laws, and compensation-setting and related-party transactions. The watchdog said Harvest had withheld pertinent information during earlier reviews and that restoring full membership was “not a viable option.”¹¹ The ECFA itself drew criticism for having cleared the church despite warnings from former elders dating to 2013.¹²

Other Allegations Against MacDonald

In February 2019, Anne Green, a former worship leader, publicly alleged that in 2005, on a private plane, MacDonald placed his hand on her upper thigh near her crotch. She said she told him, “You can’t touch me there!” and that he joked she was going to take down his ministry.¹³ The church said it learned of the allegation in September 2018 and interviewed three other passengers on the flight, none of whom recalled witnessing anything inappropriate. MacDonald attributed the contact to turbulence.¹⁴

In May 2019, The Roys Report published allegations from two sources that MacDonald had solicited murder. Emanuel “Manny” Bucur, a former deacon and volunteer bodyguard, alleged that during a 2015 motorcycle trip MacDonald asked him to kill Tony Groves, MacDonald’s former son-in-law, and offered to help dispose of the body. Mancow Muller separately alleged MacDonald asked him at least twice in 2018 to help hire a hitman for an unidentified “rival.”¹⁵ Wilmette, Illinois, police confirmed an active investigation after Muller filed a report; Bucur filed a separate report with Bartlett police, who deferred to Wilmette. Under Illinois law, solicitation of murder is a Class X felony carrying 15 to 30 years. No criminal charges related to these allegations were reported.¹⁶

The Failed Lawsuit Against Critics

In October 2018, before MacDonald was fired, Harvest Bible Chapel and MacDonald sued Julie Roys along with Scott and Sarah Bryant and Ryan and Melinda Mahoney, who ran a blog called The Elephant’s Debt, alleging they had published false information about the church’s management. Discovery went badly for the church. Roys obtained internal documents including a 2013 letter from former elders and text messages from a current elder alleging “deceitfulness and manipulation” by MacDonald and top leaders.¹⁷

On January 7, 2019, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Diane Larsen denied the church’s emergency protective order and its motion to stay discovery, meaning subpoenaed documents would become public. The church dropped the suit that same day, framing the decision as “God’s direction.”¹⁸ By May 2019, the new elder board formally apologized to all defendants, called the decision to sue “sinful,” and paid Roys’s legal fees and compensatory damages.¹⁹

MacDonald’s Settlements With the Church and With Critics

In May 2019, MacDonald filed for arbitration against Harvest through the Institute for Christian Conciliation over the terms of his termination and ownership of Walk in the Word. A confidential settlement was reached by September 14, 2020, under which Harvest transferred all digital and physical assets of Walk in the Word to MacDonald along with $1.2 million in cash, a parcel of land adjacent to the Crystal Lake campus, and $250,000 tied to the sale of his prior home.²⁰

In December 2019, MacDonald sued Mancow Muller and Cumulus Media, owner of WLS-AM 890, in Cook County Circuit Court (Case No. 19CH14303), alleging defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and violation of Illinois eavesdropping laws, and seeking more than $50,000 in damages. The suit challenged the on-air claims that MacDonald had conspired to plant child pornography and had sought to hire a hitman.²¹ That case settled in July 2025, with Muller agreeing to pay MacDonald an undisclosed sum.²² In October 2025, MacDonald announced through his organization Act Like Men Ministries that all defamation lawsuits related to his 2019 ouster had been resolved and that the total compensation across those cases came to nearly $10 million.⁷

The 2023 California Arrest

On March 22, 2023, MacDonald was arrested in Coronado, California, after striking a 59-year-old woman’s vehicle while attempting to parallel park and allegedly then attacking the woman, who was hospitalized with serious injuries. A gun was found in his truck. He was charged in San Diego County Superior Court with two felonies, battery causing serious bodily injury and assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, carrying a potential sentence of up to seven years.²³ MacDonald pleaded not guilty. According to later reporting, he is no longer facing the charge, though the specific resolution was not detailed.²⁴

Where the Church and MacDonald Are Now

Harvest Bible Chapel continues to operate under pastor Jeff Bucknam. Weekly attendance fell from around 12,000 to roughly half that number, the Niles campus separated and became CityLine Bible Church, plans for a Hinsdale campus were abandoned, and by August 2020 the church carried over $36 million in debt on a deficit budget.² The church restructured its governance, reducing the elder board to nine members, removing the old executive committee, and establishing a new finance committee with tightened spending controls.¹ As of early 2026, Harvest lists campuses in Aurora, Cathedral (Chicago), Crystal Lake, Elgin, Highland Park, and Rolling Meadows, and reported eliminating its debt as of December 31, 2025, following the sale of its Elgin campus.²⁵

MacDonald runs Act Like Men Ministries, which produces weekly teaching content and operates sobriety houses in the greater Chicago area focused on recovery programming for men dealing with addiction and post-incarceration challenges, headquartered at a facility called “Rock Bottom” in Elgin, Illinois.²⁶ He continues to maintain that the audio recordings that led to his firing were “falsely edited” and has characterized the settlements as vindication.⁷ The elder board’s 2019 finding that he is biblically disqualified from ministry at Harvest still stands.

1
Religion News Service. Report Pins Harvests Massive Corporate Governance Failure on Former Pastor
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The Roys Report. Pastors Harvest Resign
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WORLD News Group. Harvest Bible Chapel Sorry for Church Discipline
4
Baptist Press. James MacDonald Fired After Inappropriate Comments
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Christianity Today. James MacDonald World Magazine Harvest Bible Julie Roys
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The Roys Report. Mancow Airs Shocking Comments James MacDonald Response
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WORLD News Group. Former Harvest Bible Chapel Pastor Settles Final Defamation Lawsuit
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The Roys Report. Harvest Report Shows Massive Governance Failure Allowing James MacDonald to Misuse Millions
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Relevant Magazine. Report James MacDonalds Compensation Totaled More Than a Million Dollars
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Christianity Today. Harvest Elders Say James MacDonald Biblically Disqualified
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Christianity Today. ECFA Suspends Harvest Bible Chapel Financial Accreditation
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Word&Way. Evangelical Financial Watchdog Faces Scrutiny Over Backing of Errant Megachurch
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Christian Post. Former Harvest Bible Chapel Worship Leader Says James MacDonald Touched Her Inappropriately
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The Roys Report. Three Harvest Staff Not Confirm Sexual Abuse Claim James MacDonald Others Indicate Alleged Incident Well Known
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The Roys Report. Chicago Radio Host Former Bodyguard Say James MacDonald Asked Arrange Murders
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Christian Post. Megachurch Founder James MacDonald Allegedly Sought Murder for Hire Police Investigating
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Christianity Today. Harvest Drops Suit James MacDonald Julie Roys Elephant Debt
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Christian Post. Harvest Bible Chapel Scraps Lawsuit Against Julie Roys Bloggers After Judge Denies Motions
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Christian Post. Harvest Bible Chapel Apologizes for Suing Journalist Former Members Evangelical Christian Credit Union
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MinistryWatch. Harvest Discloses Multi-Million Dollar Settlement With James MacDonald
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Religion News Service. Former Harvest Bible Chapel Pastor James MacDonald Sues Chicago Radio Host Mancow Muller
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Daily Herald. Ex-Harvest Pastor Settles Defamation Suit Against Radio Host Mancow Muller
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NBC Chicago. Disgraced Former Pastor of Rolling Meadows Church Charged With Assault in California
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Christian Post. James MacDonald Says He Settled Defamation Lawsuits for Ten Million
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Harvest Bible Chapel. Follow
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PR Newswire. Defamation Settlement Signals New Accountability for Media Figures Vindication for Pastor James MacDonald