One report declared that the reason James MacDonald was removed from leadership was because “nearly six hundred thousand dollars has gone unaccounted for in their operation, combined with an interconnectedness of its church plants and ‘satellite campuses.'” (Source)
The Elephants Debt has the story:
On September 22, 2017, the HBC Elders released an Update stating that James MacDonald was relieved of leadership duty, and he is to remain on staff solely for purposes of teaching/preaching. James MacDonald has been released from the Executive Leadership Team or the XLT (the staff team that runs the day-to-day of the church), and a new team will be assembled. The new XLT will report directly to the Elder Board (EC) and not James MacDonald. As usual, the Elder Update lacks sufficient transparent details to explain this significant decision, but rest assured we are dedicated to writing again on a regular basis to unpack the details.
As you know, on June 14, 2017, James MacDonald claimed to have “resigned” as President of HBF; we posted on this matter which can be found here. From a very reliable source we now can say definitively that this was a forced resignation/termination. This source also confirmed that certain HBF pastors threatened to leave HBF if MacDonald remained as President. As a natural consequence of his termination, HBF demanded an audit of HBF funds, utilizing their own auditors.