Perfecting Church parishioner Roberta McCoy walked back her support of Pastor Marvin Winans after initially defending his actions.
Last month, McCoy sat down with a local news station to defend Pastor Winans after he rebuked her for donating $1,235 instead of the $2,000 he asked for.
McCoy explained that Pastor Winans did not rebuke her, he simply corrected her for getting in the wrong donation line.
“He absolutely did not rebuke me,” McCoy insisted. “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 added: “There was a correction, not a rebuke.”
PASTOR MARVIN WINANS AND CHURCH MEMBER ROBERTA MCCOY SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT ABOUT VIRAL VIDEO WHERE SOME BELIEVED HE “REBUKED” HER OVER $1200 OFFERING
Video ? Source: @wxyzdetroit #thewineup #viralvideo #popculture #HotTopics #marvinwinans #perfectingchurch #wxyzdetroit pic.twitter.com/SWr6fRBvhe
— The_WineUp (@The_WineUp) October 28, 2025
Bishop Marvin Winans goes viral after criticizing a woman and her son in front of the entire church for donating $1,200 instead of $2,000 during a fundraiser ?
— My Mixtapez (@mymixtapez) October 20, 2025
Many Americans expressed support and compassion for McCoy – until she defended Pastor Winans.
However, McCoy walked back her defense of the mega-church pastor. In an emotional post on Facebook, McCoy said she was ordered to apologize to Pastor Winans for making him look bad.
McCoy said she has become “invisible” in the Detroit church community. She said they used her for “damage control” purposes. Then they turned their backs on her.
“It’s like I’m turning invisible now. I’m no longer useful to them. I served their purpose. I was only damage control. They wanted to protect the name. Protect the brand. Their calls of “concern” stopped when the media “storm” stopped. I see that with wide open eyes now. They turned on me. They blame me!!!”
Additionally, McCoy says the mega-church pews were half empty after the controversy went viral last month.
“Did you see the empty seats on Sunday at 10:45 [a.m.]?” she wrote.
“People are appalled and tired of being mistreated in churches. Do you know what would bring people back to church in great numbers? I think seeing the human side of a pastor. I think if they saw a Pastor who was not prideful, but who was humble, like Jesus, and just said he was sorry for the offense. I think that would bring a lot of people back to churches all over the world.”
