In an interview with PreachingToday.com, James MacDonald says: “I try not to spend any time in my message preparation thinking about what people want to hear or what questions the culture is asking. I just don’t spend any time on that at all. I have believed now for 21+ years that if you try with all of your heart to say some things that God wants said—God has some things He wants said; that’s why He wrote a Book—God would get some people over here to hear it.
“Twenty-one years later, with a little more than 13,000 people in weekly attendance, that’s happening. It’s been a steady journey. It hasn’t been explosive growth. It hasn’t been a ton of transfer growth from other churches. Like all churches, we’ve seen some of that, but mainly it’s just been a ton of people coming to know Christ.
“The most common thing people would say about the teaching of Christ, after they had listened to Him, was that He teaches as One who has authority. Of course, His teachings are filled with Old Testament quotes, and He is the Word of God, so every Word that proceeds from His mouth is the Word of God. That’s certainly not true about any of us, least of all me.
“The disciples on the road to Emmaus said, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us as He walked on the road with us and expounded to us from Scripture all the things concerning Himself?’ So Jesus was a Bible preacher. He had great authority because He didn’t apologize for God’s Word. He didn’t back down from anything that God’s Word said.”