A Detroit pastor opened himself to controversy after the internet took it as him being less than thankful for a church member donating $1,200 to the church. However, that’s not the whole truth. Instead, like can often be the case, the internet got it wrong.
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Let’s examine what actually happened.
The incident was captured on camera. Perfecting Church’s Bishop Marvin Winans had a viral interaction with a woman about her donation. She attempted to give the donation in front of the church during the October 19 Day of Giving event.
The event saw the congregation trying to raise money for the church’s new cathedral.
“I, Roberta McCoy, give in faith, and stand in unity with the vision of Perfecting Church with sowing this seed of $1,000, plus $235 in receiving the blessings to come to all that participate,” McCoy said.
He called out the worshipper in front of the congregation. “Now that is only $1,200,” Winans said. “Y’all not listening to what I’m saying. If you have a thousand plus a thousand.”
McCoy promised that she would get the church the other $800. But the pastor replied, “That ain’t what I asked you to do.”
Pastor Clarifies Things
Many interpreted this as Winans being upset about the amount of money. But that’s not actually the case. The video went viral, and McCoy and Winans both spoke with ABC7 Detroit about the exchange. Both suggested that the internet is blowing up something more than it actually was. Instead, here’s what actually happened.
Winans wasn’t ungrateful for the amount. The pastor was actually pointing out that McCoy got in the wrong line. Before the video, he had asked the congregation to line up based on how much they were donating to make things easier.
“I was calling because the whole church was giving, and it was our day of giving, and the whole church was coming, and we didn’t want people standing, the mothers and all that, so I was calling them by increments,” Winans told the outlet.
“And we had someone that had given out of order, and I corrected it, and I told everybody to listen and come when you call, and that’s all that was.”
McCoy also confirmed this to be true.
“He absolutely did not rebuke me. Now there’s a difference. There was a correction because let me clearly state that Pastor gave instruction on the lines to get into,” she said.
She quickly wanted to clear the pastor’s name over the mix-up after he became a target online.