Deluged by online debate, gospel singer and pastor Marvin Sapp defended his fundraising style on a radio talk show Monday, after a nine-month-old recording of his call to raise $40,000 for a Pentecostal organization went viral.
“Ushers, close the doors. Close the doors,” Sapp is heard saying in the video, which was made at a conference of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc., meeting in Baltimore in July 2024, where he sought $20 donations. “There’s 1,000 of you tonight and those that are watching,” he continued, pointing at the camera. “It’s a 1,000 that’s watching online. This is a small seed. If I get a 1,000 online to give this, if I get a 1,000 in the sanctuary to give this, that’s 40,000 dollars tonight.”
Sapp, a Grammy nominee and Stellar Awards winner for his song “Never Would Have Made It,” appeared on fellow gospel music star Erica Campbell’s “Get Up Mornings” radio talk show on Monday to counter the short clip that prompted discussions on giving culture in the Black church and inspired TikTok trends.
“People said that I literally locked my people into my church until they gave me $40,000 and that’s not true,” he told Campbell. “It didn’t happen at my church, number one. We didn’t lock any doors, because you can’t lock doors in the convention center — that’s number two. And the $40,000 that I was trying to raise, which I don’t know if I raised it or not, went directly to the organization to take care of the expense of that conference.”
The Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc. issued a statement on Facebook on Saturday, saying leaders of the denomination asked Sapp to seek a “free-will offering” to help pay for expenses of its International Summer Convention, and other P.A.W. expenses.
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“Months later, a short clip from our convention has now gone viral and unduly misrepresented not only Bishop Marvin Sapp, but the P.A.W., and churches worldwide,” the denomination said. “Closing doors during giving is an internal security protocol that was, unfortunately, taken out of context. No doors were locked, and no one was held in the room against their will. We do not force or coerce anyone into supporting the operations of our organization, and we never will. We apologize to those who may have been offended by the manner of receiving donations.”
In a Wednesday statement on Facebook, Sapp, the senior pastor of Chosen Vessel Cathedral in Fort Worth, Texas, said his instruction to the ushers was “not manipulation” but “stewardship.”
“To those unfamiliar with the church context or who may not regularly attend worship gatherings this has been misinterpreted as holding people hostage as well as offensive,” he said. “That was never my intent.”
In his conversation with Campbell, Sapp said he has been receiving death threats, his “church staff is frazzled” and his children feared for his safety.
“Daddy, you’re the last parent we got,” Sapp, whose wife MaLinda died of cancer in 2012, said his children told him. “The reality is, I’m a widower, and I’m trying to calm down my church. I’m trying to calm down my children, trying to calm down people that love me.”
On Thursday, the Shade Room, a celebrity news platform popular with Black audiences, posted an Instagram compilation of reactions of users shocked by Sapp’s clip.
“Marvin Sapp is clearly HUSTLING his congregation for 40k — and using God’s name to do it. He’s calling for the doors to be locked? That’s not faith, that’s a shakedown and a false prophet …,” read one X post included in the Instagram publication. “That’s been happening in the Black church. I remember visiting pastors doing that same thing when I was younger and attending church regularly,” read another.
The Rev. Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, a scholar who teaches at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace, said, based on a description of the clip, it could distort the understanding of the African American churches she studies.
“I recognize that the richness of this small apostolic denomination is so great and complex that it should not be dragged by one tiny social media clip,” said Gilkes, professor emerita of African American studies and sociology at Colby College. “That clip basically distorts the history and complexity of Pentecostal Assemblies of the World and people need to let it rest.”
The clip became a popular comedic meme, including a video captioned “POV: you finally tried out your friend’s church.” On X users imagined ushers and attendees trying to leave the church while Sapp made his announcement.
Pastors in many churches across the country referred to the moment during Sunday’s service.
At the Freedom Temple Ministry in Rock Hill, South Carolina, Bishop Herbert C. Crump joked he wouldn’t close the doors for offerings: “I don’t want to go viral like my friend. We’re not going to close no door, shut no doors. I ain’t even talking about doors. Anything, we’re going to open doors,” he said, prompting laughter in the congregation.
At The Dallas Project, a Seventh-day Adventist congregation in Texas, elder James Johnson mentioned Sapp’s viral clip as he took the stage to bless offerings. “This is the part of the service where we ask ushers to close the doors. I’m just kidding, I’m just kidding. We don’t do that here, we don’t do that here. God wants a cheerful giver.”
At the end of his radio interview, Sapp admitted finding some of the memes amusing, pronouncing “hilarious” a photo of him on X decorated with the Capital One logo and the tagline from the bank’s credit card commercials: “What’s in your wallet?”
Adelle Banks and Fiona Andre are national correspondents at Religion News Service.
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16 Responses
It seems the only message Christians are receiving from the TV “ministries” and large churches is “Send/Give me your money”! This needs to be stopped.
The word “shakedown” best fits when it comes to stunts like this.
Don’t Timeshare Presentations lock the marks in and won’t let them leave until they’ve signed the Timeshare Contract?
At the very least, “Ushers, Close the Doors” was a poor choice of words that could easily get (and got) mininsterpreted.
“People said that I literally locked my people into my church until they gave me $40,000 and that’s not true,” he told Campbell. “It didn’t happen at my church, number one. We didn’t lock any doors, because you can’t lock doors in the convention center — that’s number two. And the $40,000 that I was trying to raise, which I don’t know if I raised it or not, went directly to the organization to take care of the expense of that conference.”
Did they know they were free to go? Did they know the doors weren’t locked? You an false imprison if the people are under the belief they are not free to go, regardless of the reason.
It is funny how people of means are always asking others to cover money they could donate themselves per;
https://gazettedirect.com/marvin-sapp-net-worth-2025/
https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/singers/marvin-sapp-net-worth/
Here comes the DARVO:
“Daddy, you’re the last parent we got,” Sapp, whose wife MaLinda died of cancer in 2012, said his children told him. “The reality is, I’m a widower, and I’m trying to calm down my church. I’m trying to calm down my children, trying to calm down people that love me.”
Right, you are the victim, not the people in attendance.
This “man of God” is sleaze personified, and it’s beyond a travesty that he wasn’t duly investigated for the extremely suspicious death of Teleka Patrick (look her up). But, all too often the “Black church” (meaning the institution of it, not all African-American pastors of course) gets a pass because we can’t offend anyone.
“But, all too often the “Black church” (meaning the institution of it, not all African-American pastors of course) gets a pass because we can’t offend anyone.”
I disagree. The Black church is often criticized for everything from its support of Democratic candidates to being too involved in matters of racial and social justice. As I’ve indicated before (having attended both white evangelical and Black churches), a lot of criticism is rooted in a difference in opinion about the purpose of the church: the Black church has culturally and historically been a central point of racial and social justice movements (e.g., the Civil Rights Movement) and sees such activism as part of its purpose and one’s walk with Christ. White evangelical churches focus more on individual evangelism, taking the stance of “if more souls are saved, then matters of racial and social justice will be naturally be resolved.”
I wish both sides could see their positions are not opposite but rather complementary: they tackle core issues from opposite ends, which is needed.
and Marvin Sapp is taking heat from all sides on this – and did face a lot of questions and criticism from the Black church on his involvment and poor handling the Teleka Patrick situation. When it comes to the latter, the mainstream media and white evangelical church never picked it up.
Marin Heiskell,
The last time I looked ~78% of the White church (what should be more accurately termed the “mainstream” or “multiracial church”) voted GOP. ~95% of the Black church votes Democratic. Do you believe that’s 100% led by Scriptural principle alone, without even a touch of political influence, ethnic tribal nationalism, or clout-seeking at play?
I see TONS of excoriation of the mainstream church for going GOP most of the time–*not even once* has the Black church been called to account for its own version of “Christian nationalism” outside of the most fringe-right circles with zero public imprint, even when its preachers overtly preach for Democrats from the pulpit (a violation of the Johnson Act) or during Kamala Harris’ “Souls To The Polls” campaign.
Sapp is taking heat from all sides for this offering incident *now*–a decade after the tragic loss of Teleka Patrick. *At minimum*, it seems as though they had an affair, with his subsequent disowning and gaslighting of her playing no small role in her mental spiral and eventual death. At worst… who knows what he is guilty of. (In large part the media/mainstream/”White” church never scrutinized this out of conditioning to fear the bogeyman of racism accusations, even though Patrick (RIP) was also Black.)
There’s statute of limitations for murder… that’s all I’m saying.
*Oops meant “NO” statute of limitations for murder… lol… typical me
” mainstream media and white evangelical church never picked it up.”
https://www.christianpost.com/news/body-of-missing-dr-teleka-patrick-who-was-obsessed-with-gospel-star-marvin-sapp-may-have-been-found-floating-in-river.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/body-of-missing-michigan-doctor-found-in-indianas-lake-charles/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/09/doctor-body-found/7502533/
https://www.cnn.com/2014/04/09/us/michigan-missing-doctor/index.html
https://abcnews.go.com/US/footage-give-clues-michigan-doctors-disappearance/story?id=21345443
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/porter-county-indiana-lake-charles-body-found/1976753/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2600791/Coroner-Body-Indiana-IS-missing-Michigan-doctor-accused-stalking-gospel-singer.html
Andrew Thomas,
Nah, doesn’t count for the purposes of this conversation. All of that coverage you cite, at the time, of the disappearance (and eventual body recovery) of Ms. Patrick was “she’s mentally unstable, she hallucinated this love interest with a famous pastor, OMG what happened to her???” rather than a legitimately impartial, unbiased attempt to figure out what really happened. (Do know that I have studied this case quite a bit, well prior to the current fracas this shyster “reverend” has gotten himself into.)
Nobody was interested in a critical look at “Pastor” Sapp… he said she was this unhinged groupie, and that was the end of that–how dare anyone impugn the character of a Hallowed Anointed Preacher of God (registered trademark)? Here’s a YouTube channel that attempts to put together what might have really happened from news clips and releases at the time: https://www.youtube.com/@beehivesolvedcases8518/videos .
RIP Teleka Patrick, you are gone but not forgotten, may God avenge your blood.
The claim was ” mainstream media and white evangelical church never picked it up.” Not the quality of the reporting.
In no way, shape or form is this guy a qualified pastor. His god is mammon. No true born again and regenerated human being for real could fail to see through that guy. And his “congregation” must be completely Biblically illiterate, too. How can any rational person that studies the Bible come away from it and then go to a church like his? It boggles the mind and begs belief.
One can’t help wonder if some in attendance at the time didn’t call this blatant manipulation and hypocrisy out or at least express their dismay by standing up and leaving? 🤔
If not, it could be said that this church doesn’t just need a genuine pastor, but also a faithful missionary.
Really a nothing burger. So much is easily misconstrued when clipped out of the entire context of the event and what they were seeking to accomplish. But its easy to pontificate and judge the motives of Pastor Sapp. Who are we to judge another man’s servant?
I agree. While at face value it seems too over the top for me and I would never take such an approach, I do understand what you are saying. Unfortunately, finding all the facts before assessing is not high on many people’s priority list… I will say that I might try the whole “It costs to sit up here…I need everyone up here who’s seated with us to sow a seed of $100” next Sunday and see what our worship team does. LOL
Goodness me. Wearing a gold bracket on his arm and gold necklace around his neck and demanding money. One can only wonder how much his watch ⌚️ may have cost. 🤔
Some might say that what applies for women, as expressed by Peter, in principle, is also relevant for men. 1Peter 3:3-5
Others might even suggest that if you model material contentment and do the hard yards in pastoral care through home and hospital visitation to the sick and elderly, plus provide sound biblical preaching & faithful stewardship of church finances and assets. Then through the general offerings and other ethical means the money may naturally come.
If not, in relation to Gods sovereignty and providence, accept that reality or simply get a second job. 🤔