I eventually found it increasingly difficult to reconcile the person who James was on the stage and the James I came to know in real life. However, as my time at Harvest went on, things began to become more toxic. I was always grateful that James chose to take a bet on this young punk that barely knew how to play guitar and helped me eventually become his main worship pastor and leader. Some of those hours were good and we had some amazing times serving together. I spent significant amounts of time personally with James in many different settings. We started Harvest Songs (now Vertical Worship) in the hopes of capturing the stories of God at work in our church, spent countless hours planning services, and went on many trips for Walk In the Word, church events and the Downpour Lifeway tour. I began overseeing worship and production across the then four campuses. Over the next ten years, the church grew quickly and my role evolved into that of Worship Pastor. At that point, I believe the church had around 1800 people attending weekly services, and only one campus in Rolling Meadows. I was 23 when I became the Junior High Youth Pastor. I served at Harvest Bible Chapel during very formative years of my life and ministry. McKnights recent blog post about pastoral power abuses, I feel compelled to share some of my personal thoughts and observations. Inspired by my friend Lindsay Mattingly‘s brave post (see below) and Scot X. With all of the activity surrounding Julie Roys’ recent World Magazine article and subsequent blog posts, many people have been asking me what I think about it. Today, Matt Stowell posted the following on Facebook, which I am reposting with his permission: None have ever spoken publicly about their experience at Harvest-until now. Then, during a six-month period in 2008, all three Stowells left Harvest quietly. And Matt Stowell served as a worship pastor. His son, Joe Stowell, Jr., served as an executive pastor. Joe Stowell, Sr., President of Cornerstone University and former President of the Moody Bible Institute, served as a teaching pastor there. At one time, three members of the Stowell family worked at James MacDonald’s Chicago-area mega-church, Harvest Bible Chapel.
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