In an email to members of HBC-Naples, Thursday, John Secrest, the church pastor, said he disagreed with the decision that the Chicago-based HBC elders made recently with the announcement that MacDonald would be taking an indefinite sabbatical amid scrutiny of the church yet would preach occasionally at HBC-Naples through the winter months.

Secrest explained Thursday that he wrote the elders, asking them to reverse this decision but they refused. The Naples site was originally planted in 2016 as an independent church but partnered with Harvest Chicago in February of 2018, becoming its eighth location. ...