James Mcdonald Sermon

James S. MacDonald (born 1960) is an American evangelical pastor, Bible teacher, and author, originally from Ontario, Canada. He is best known as the founding and senior pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel, near Chicago, Illinois, and as the Bible teacher for his broadcast ministry, Walk in the Word.

Born in London, Ontario, MacDonald is a graduate of London Baptist Bible College (BA in Theology, 1984), Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (MA in Religion, 1988) and Phoenix Seminary (D. Min, 1996).

MacDonald was ordained at Riverside Baptist Church in Windsor, Ontario, in 1985. In 1988, recruited by a small group of ministry partners, MacDonald and his wife, Kathy, founded Harvest Bible Chapel.

Since 1997, his daily Bible-teaching ministry has been extended through Walk in the Word, which is available by radio and television. Further extension of his ministry includes: Harvest Christian Academy; the church planting network Harvest Bible Fellowship; Harvest Training Center for church-planting pastors; a recording ministry, Vertical Church Band; and a feature-filmmaking ministry, Vertical Church Films.

MacDonald currently resides in a Chicago suburb with his wife, Kathy. They have three adult children, five grandsons, and one granddaughter.

Founded in 1988, Harvest Bible Chapel grew from 18 people meeting in a local high school, to more than 13,000 attending on seven campuses in the Chicago area. MacDonald's preaching emphasizes the authority of the Bible, practically applied in a compelling and understandable way. Known for its racial and economic diversity, the congregation moved into a converted warehouse in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, in 1995, adding campuses in Elgin and Niles in 2004; Crystal Lake in 2007; the downtown Chicago Cathedral campus in 2010; Aurora in 2011; and Deerfield Road in 2012. The church's scale led to its inclusion in Outreach Magazine's "Top 100 Fastest Growing Churches in America" and "Top 100 Largest Churches in America.