Bishop Marvin Winans of Perfecting Church in Detroit claims that Media mogul Tyler Perry reportedly donated $100,000 after a fundraising video from the congregation went viral and sparked backlash.
“When the devil went crazy, folks started calling up from other states, saying, ‘I got to give on this,'” Winans told his church on Sunday in a video clip that has since gone viral and picked up by Rolling Out. “We have received, one person called, and he said, ‘tell my name!’ He said ‘because I know God is in this. Tyler Perry sent $100,000.”
“Why don’t you give God praise because what the devil meant for evil, God turned it around.”
The alleged gift comes amid controversy that began during Perfecting Church’s annual “Day of Giving” service on Oct. 19, when Winans asked members to contribute “$1,000 plus one.”
The phrasing led to confusion among congregants, with some assuming he meant $1,001, while others thought he was requesting two separate $1,000 offerings.
During the service, longtime member Roberta McCoy and her son came forward with a $1,235 gift, saying she was giving “in faith” toward the church’s building project. Winans corrected her publicly, saying, “That’s only $1,200,” and pressed further when McCoy said she planned to “work on the other 800.” Winans replied, “That ain’t what I asked you to do.”
The exchange drew laughs and applause in the sanctuary, but once clips circulated online, critics accused the Grammy-winning pastor of embarrassing the congregant over her donation.
In interviews following the incident, both Winans and McCoy said the moment had been misunderstood. Winans said that he had been calling donors “by increments” to keep the service organized and that McCoy had come forward out of order. He also said he personally apologized to her afterward.
“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.
“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, who has been a member of the church since 2013, confirmed to WXYZ-TV Detroit that Winans personally apologized to her.
“He absolutely did not rebuke me,” McCoy said. “There was a correction, because pastor gave instruction on the lines to get into.”
Winans, who founded Perfecting Church in 1989, said the “Day of Giving” was part of an ongoing effort to raise funds for a new worship facility on Seven Mile and Woodward Avenue, a project that has been in development since 2002.
Perry, a professing Christian who started his media empire marketing plays in the black church, often shares how his faith informs his work. Last year, Tyler Perry Studios and Christian producer DeVon Franklin announced they’d partnered with Netflix to produce faith-based films under a multi-year, multi-picture, first-look deal.
“I just want people to know that no matter how dark, no matter how bad, no matter how dismal the scene or situation you’re in, there’s still hope,” Perry told CP in a 2020 interview. “I say that even from my own life, realizing that I was in some of the darkest times in my life and didn’t even know if I was going to make it. But as long as it held my faith and held on to hope and prayer and God and believing, it all came together.”
Both Perry and Winans have garnered controversy in recent years. Winans made headlines in 2018 when a former housekeeper sued him and his church, alleging they fired her for refusing to pay tithes.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division, the suit was dismissed with prejudice in 2021, with both sides agreeing to pay their own costs.
In August, Perry was sued for $260 million by Derek Dixon, an actor who accused the mogul of sexually assaulting him while working on his TV shows. Dixon accused Perry of using his influence in the entertainment industry to create a “coercive, sexually exploitative dynamic” while he was acting on “The Oval and Ruthless.”
