Through Jeroslyn JoVonn
October 23, 2025
Pastor Marvin Winans responds to the viral moment surrounding a church member’s $1,200 donation, which sparked widespread reactions.
Bishop Marvin Winans and a member of Detroit’s Perfecting Church discuss their interaction in a viral video that sparked widespread reaction.
Winans has come under fire after a clip from Perfecting Church’s “Day of Giving” emerged in which he reprimanded a woman who donated less than the $2,000 he requested from the congregation. However, according to Winans and Roberta McCoy – the woman who donated $1,235 – the donations were intended to help complete the church’s new sanctuary and support community programs.
Winans asked those who donated $2,000 or more to come forward first, followed by others in descending order of donation amounts, down to just $1.62. McCoy’s donation fell below the $2,000 threshold, and she reportedly ended up in the wrong line to hand over her contribution to the pastor.
“He did not reprimand me at all. Now there is a difference. There was a correction, because let me say clearly that the pastor gave instructions about the lines I should enter,” McCoy told WXYZ.
Winans says his actions during the event were intended to maintain order and prevent elderly members from having to stand for long periods of time.
“I called because the whole church was giving, and it was our giving day, and the whole church came, and we didn’t want people standing, the moms and everything, so I called them one step at a time,” Winans said. “And we had someone who had caved before, and I corrected it, and I told everyone to listen and come when you called, and that was it.”
In the now-viral clip, Bishop Winans interrupts McCoy as she offers her $1,235 donation, noting that he had asked for $2,000, not the amount she contributed.
“That’s only $1,200,” Winans said. “You all don’t listen to what I say.
“When you have a thousand plus thousand,” he began to say as McCoy argued that she was “going to work” to get the remaining $800.
“That’s not what I asked you to do,” Winans said as the congregation murmured.
McCoy said Bishop Winans personally apologized to her after the incident. She has been a member of Perfecting Church since 2013 and says that while the exchange has been misinterpreted, she has been a consistent donor over the years and plans to continue her support.
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