Bishop Marvin Winans, founder and senior pastor of Perfecting Church in Detroit, has responded to backlash he received after a clip went viral of him correcting one of his congregants for giving $1,235 instead of $2,000 on the church’s Giving Day.
Both Winans and the congregant, Roberta McCoy, have addressed the backlash, explaining that McCoy had simply gotten into line at the wrong time. Winans had asked congregants giving smaller donations to wait till later to do so.
“He absolutely did not ‘rebuke’ me,” McCoy told WYXZ Channel 7. “Now there’s a difference, there was a correction. Because let me clearly state that pastor gave instruction on the lines to get into.”
“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 said to WYXZ. “And we had someone that had given out of [order] before, and I corrected it, and I told everybody to listen and come when you’re called, and that’s all that was.”
According to WYXZ, McCoy said that Winans apologized to her and that she intends to continue giving to the church.
Marvin Winans Takes Heat for Giving Day Response
Bishop Marvin Winans is a pastor, a gospel singer, and a member of the famous musical Winans family. On Sunday, Oct. 19, he led Giving Day at his church.
In the video of the church’s 3:00 p.m. service, Winans said, “Today I was moved because I recognize that some of us never thought that we would stand up and give with glee and joy as if it was a dollar and it’d [instead] be a thousand.”
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It seemed that a main goal of Winans’ for the services was for congregants to give $1,000 “plus one,” that is, a total of $2,000. He did, however, accept many donations smaller (and many larger) than that from people without giving them any correction.
“I’m going to ask those that are here today that are prepared to give their sacrificial seed of giving of $1,000 plus one,” he said. “If you’re here, join me in the center aisle now. Let’s give God praise as they [come] with their $1,000 plus one.”
Bishop Marvin Winans has responded to backlash he received after a clip went viral of him correcting one of his congregants for giving $1,235 instead of $2,000 on the church’s Giving Day. Click to PostThose who were tithing their money formed a line in the aisle and approached Winans one at a time as he stood behind the pulpit. The pastor had each congregant read a statement saying they were “giving in faith and standing in unity with the vision of Perfecting Church,” that they were “sowing this seed of” whatever their tithe amount was, and they would “receive the blessing to come to all that participated.”
