James MacDonald: Harvest Bible Chapel, Rolling Meadows, Ill.

The senior pastor of one of the country's largest and fastest-growing churches talks about lessons learned in ministry.

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JAMES MACDONALD is senior pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel, Rolling Meadows, Ill., a 2011 Outreach 100 church (No. 22 Largest, No. 61 Fastest-Growing).

CONNECTION TO OUTREACH: James MacDonald is one of the featured pastors in the article "The Transparent Leader" in the 2011 Outreach 100.

JAMES SAYS:

A Whole Lot Different, A Whole Lot the Same
One of the things I’ve discovered about people is the truth of Ecclesiastes 3:11, that there’s an eternity in our hearts, a longing God has placed in us. Church ministry has tended to focus on ways people are different; I think the greater emphasis should be on the way we’re the same. We’ve all been made to hunger for something else.

Hiring Challenges
Where we have hired poorly, I wish we had admitted it sooner and made the changes we needed to make. I’ve tended to overestimate my ability to change the behavior of others. I wish the personnel decisions were less rooted in how the people I hired wanted to be and more in what they had been—what their resume showed.

The greatest sin in ministry ...
is to bore people with the Bible.

Never Alone
Don’t be alone. It’s the important thing I’ve learned in ministry. Find a network of churches to be a part of. A lot of years we were very alone. Pastors need other pastors for counsel and support. I wish someone had told me that sooner.

HOW TO LINK: Connect with James at HarvestBibleChapel.org, at JamesMacDonald.com or on Twitter @JamesMacDonald.

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