‘Elephant Room 2’ Drama Emerges A Decade Later, After James MacDonald Challenges Voddie Baucham’s Testimony
In 2012, Pastor James MacDonald of Harvest Bible Church hosted a series of meetups called ‘The Elephant Room,’ where prominent preachers from different backgrounds discussed matters related to style, theology, ministry, and more.
Josh Barzon discusses the history and impact here, summarizing the second Elephant Room:
“The second Elephant Room in 2012 proved far more destructive than the first. The controversy centered on the inclusion of T.D. Jakes, a megachurch pastor long associated with prosperity theology and modalism which is the denial of the Trinity as three distinct persons.
When pressed by Driscoll, Jakes affirmed “manifestations” instead of “persons,” using classic Oneness Pentecostal language. Still, MacDonald and others declared him a brother in Christ.
The fallout was swift. Reformed leaders like Voddie Baucham, who declined to participate, warned that the platforming of heresy under the guise of conversation was spiritual compromise. Justin Taylor, Thabiti Anyabwile, and others publicly critiqued the event.
Alongside MacDonald, the 2012 panel included Mark Driscoll, T.D. Jakes, Crawford Loritts, Wayne Cordeiro, Jack Graham, and others , most from large, seeker-friendly or charismatic contexts. Many saw this second Elephant Room as the moment when influence trumped orthodoxy, and the cost was long-lasting credibility.
In 2011, Voddie Baucham wrote that he was invited to participate in the event but ultimately declined, explaining:
In October of 2011, I was invited to participate in The Elephant Room 2. The invitation followed Mark Dever’s decision to pull out. James MacDonald called me and asked me to take his place. He also informed me of the controversy at that time surrounding the invitation to Jakes and Dever’s decision to pull out, and that Crawford Loritts had agreed to fill in. I knew James MacDonald only indirectly, and I had only recently heard of the Elephant Room.
Initially, it sounded like a very good idea to “pin Jakes down” on the Trinity. My area of emphasis in my theological training is Evangelism/Apologetics. Moreover, I addressed Jakes’s modalism in my first book in 2004, so I am well aware of the issues in question, and believed I could make a contribution. Also, to my delight, James indicated that Jakes had abandoned Oneness Pentecostalism, rejected Modalism, and, he believed, Jakes would make that clear at ER2.
I called my fellow elders to make them aware of the invitation (we usually meet monthly to review and consider invitations, but this was an urgent matter, and MacDonald had asked for a decision by the next day). We agreed that I should 1) find out more about the Elephant Room (specifically, was this an apologetics forum, or a forum that would assume Jakes’s orthodoxy), and 2) find out why Dever had backed out.
After investigating the matter, I decided to decline the invitation. My decision was based on four major areas of concern (Note: I voiced these four concerns to James MacDonald during our phone conversation the next day) [Baucham goes on to list his four concerns]
He later added:
Whether MacDonald meant to or not, he was painting a picture of tokenism. If he meant it, I didn’t want to be used, and if he didn’t mean it, I didn’t want to be the source of misunderstanding.
While Pastor MacDonald said he “respected” my decision, he made it clear that he did not agree with me. We agreed to disagree and he moved on. At this time, I made two important decisions. First, I decided not to get involved in the public furor over ER2. I had spoken my piece to James, and saw no advantage in getting involved any further.
Notably, Baucham was scheduled to be a speaker at MacDonald’s Men’s Conference two days after the Elephant Room, but after Baucham shared his disagreement on his ministry’s Facebook page with Jakes being invited to attend in the first place and his distress at how Jakes was allowed to slip through Driscoll’s questions while still affirming modalist languge, MacDonald was vexxed. Baucham explains:
This did not go over well with James MacDonald. Upon my arrival at the church the next day, he and I sat down (along with my assistant and several members of his staff) and had a candid conversation about my decision to answer questions in a public forum. Ultimately, we agreed that it was not a good idea for me to speak at the conference.
Nearly 15 years later, James MacDonald has come forward and denied those claims, however, insisting that “Voddie Baucham was never invited to the Elephant Room and he knows why” while hinting he’s about to drop some dirt soon.
MacDonald had more thoughts on Jakes’ orthodoxy, which he affirmed, despite the famed Modalist’s church website reading “There is one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in three manifestations: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”
When pushed to clarify the discrepancy between his and Voddie’s public statements, MacDonald was dismissive.
We await with baited breath to see what comes next. As far as what MacDonald has been up to, he
was arrested in 2023 and charged
with felony battery and assault after allegedly assaulting a 59-year-old woman in a road rage incident that put her in the hospital for 21 days. A judge later ruled that despite the seriousness of her injuries, MacDonald was eligible for a mental health diversion. An MHD is a program in California where residents suffering from mental health disorders and facing criminal charges may complete treatment to avoid jail time. If a mental health diversion is denied, MacDonald faces up to seven years in prison.
During a recent hearing, MacDonald’s attorney highlighted the testimony of two doctors who said he was diagnosed with PTSD in 2020 and 2023. They claim the PTSD he suffered from resulted from being written about and trolled by Julie Roys of the Roys Report, which then caused him to supposedly assault the other motorist in self-defense. According to testimony from clinical psychologist Dr Anderson, the doctor who diagnosed him:
“Once the woman in the car in front of him got out of the car and moved towards him in an angry and agitated state, the years of traumatic memories of being vilified by Julie Roys rushed back to him and triggered a flight or fight response. Feeling powerless and misunderstood and essentially trapped in his truck, he got out of the vehicle to fight back against his accuser.”
His diversion hearing is set for October 9, 2025.
Despite this, MacDonald has recently denied assaulting her altogether and has denied that he was the cause of her injuries, calling her a “serial maligner” in a since-deleted X post.
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any so-called “pastor” who uses the term “omg” is to be avoided at all costs.
James MacDonald needs to go away and repent of all of his wickedness. He knows what those things are. He is a liar and hungry for attention and money. He has fallen hard and must repent while he still can.
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McDonald asserting his theological prowess over Voddie Baucham is like a Denny’s line cook criticizing Wolfgang Puck.