Pastor Speaks Out After Humiliating Mom Over Church Donation (Video)

A Detroit church is going viral after a tense moment between Bishop Marvin Winans and a longtime church member played out live during a Sunday service — all captured on the church’s livestream.

In the clip, shared from Perfecting Church’s service, a woman named Roberta McCoy stepped up to the front of the congregation with her young son to make her donation.
“I, Roberta McCoy, give in faith and stand in unity with Perfecting Church, sowing this seed of $1,000 plus $235,” she announced proudly to Bishop Winans and the congregation.

But what was meant to be a heartfelt moment quickly took a turn.

Bishop Winans responded, “That’s only $1,200. Y’all not listening to what I’m saying. If you have a thousand plus a thousand.”

McCoy told him she would “work on the other $800,” referring to the rest of the money he’d requested church members raise. But Winans replied, “That ain’t what I asked you to do,” as the congregation reacted with cheers and applause.

The exchange instantly went viral, drawing criticism online from viewers who accused the bishop of humiliating a loyal member of his church. Some commenters even called his actions “disgusting” and “un-Christlike,” saying he had “rebuked” McCoy in front of everyone.

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However, both Winans and McCoy have since spoken out — and they insist the viral clip was taken out of context.

According to McCoy, who has been a member of Perfecting Church since 2013, Bishop Winans was not rebuking her at all. She says he was simply correcting her for coming up at the wrong time during a fundraising event.

“He absolutely did not rebuke me,” McCoy told local media, adding that Winans personally apologized after the service. “I love my church, and I’m going to keep giving.”

The service in question was part of a larger fundraiser to complete the church’s new sanctuary. Winans had reportedly asked members to each donate $1,000 of their own money and raise another $1,000. He was calling donors to the front in order of contribution amounts — from the largest to the smallest — and McCoy came up early.

Even so, viewers on Reddit and social media weren’t convinced. One person wrote, “This is exactly what sparked the Reformation — church leaders shaming people about money. Faith shouldn’t be a business.” Another added, “He owes her and that child a public apology.”

Despite the backlash, McCoy continues to defend her pastor. “He’s a man of God,” she said. “People are making it something it wasn’t.”

Perfecting Church has faced scrutiny before. In 2023, the city of Detroit sued the church over its unfinished construction project, calling it a “public nuisance” before later dropping the case after reaching an agreement.

And in 2018, a former church employee claimed she was pressured to give a portion of her income as tithes and to buy gifts for supervisors — allegations the church never publicly addressed.

Bishop Winans, 65, is also a member of the Grammy-winning gospel group The Winans, famous for shaping contemporary gospel in the 1980s and 1990s.

As for McCoy, she says she’s putting the controversy behind her. “This was just a misunderstanding,” she said. “My bishop and I are good.”