A megachurch leader and gossip singer is under fire for using some very aggressive tactics to get his congregation to cough up $40,000 in donations.
Marvin Sapp, 58, has come under fire after a video resurfaced of him directing ushers to ‘close the doors’ at an unknown church and demanding attendees donate $40,000.
‘Ushers, close the doors. Close the doors. Close the doors,’ he said, each time more forcefully, reportedly holding 1,000 churchgoers inside.
‘We all gone [sic] leave together. Y’all ain’t going no place but the restaurant,’ he said, emitting a laugh from the crowd. ‘This is a small seed… This is easy, saints.’
The pastor wanted the congregation – which included an additional 1,000 virtual visitors – to each give $20, which would amount to $40,000 between 2,000 donors.
Sapp went onto say that $20 used to buy movie tickets, a popcorn, and a shared drink on a date with his late wife.
‘I wasn’t cheap, that’s swag,’ he joked to the crowd’s laughter. ‘I was looking into her eyes, she was looking into mine.’
The father-of-three went on to ask for the people standing behind him to donate $100 each because it ‘costs to stand up here.’
And in case any of the members thought they could get out of the donation, Sapp had other plans as he told all of the in-person attendees to make their way to the alter so he could ‘see’ the donation – whether it be a $20 bill or virtual donation.
‘I need to see a thousand people moving,’ he said as he hunched over a lectern. ‘I want to see the folk, y’all start moving.’
Soft organ music began to play in the background as the Never Would Have Made It singer took out a money clip of his own and counted out $100.
Although no noise from the crowd could be heard, the gossip singer shushed the audience and told them: ‘Giving is worship.’
He repeated the sentiment several times as he closely watched patrons filling the donation baskets.
‘This ain’t a time to talk,’ he ordered before reminding them several times that each person needs to fork over $20.
‘This is an easy miracle,’ he said.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Sapp for comment.
Many of Sapp’s followers were not happy with his forced donation routine.
‘I’m so sick of these punk a** pastors just doing some of the stupidest s**t, it’s crazy!’ one woman said in a video. ‘And then you wonder why people don’t go to church, that reason right there.
‘That has nothing to do with Jesus, that’s simply greed. What is wrong with y’all?’
‘Marvin Sapp is clearly HUSTLING his congregation for 40k – and using God’s name to do it,’ one person wrote on X.
‘He’s calling for the doors to be locked? That’s not faith, that’s a shakedown and a false prophet. Someone had a bill to pay, and it wasn’t to the church.’
Another joked that if they were one of the online attendees, they would have simply closed their laptop and not made a donation.
A third wrote: ‘Marvin Sapp would be getting Marvin SLAPPED if he held me hostage for money when he could go in the studio and make my annual salary in a couple months. That ain’t the work of the Lord.’
A fourth wrote: ‘Church red flag: if they talk about sowing a seed, leave immediately and never look back. Seed has nothing to do with money in the scriptures. Marvin Sapp’s net worth is $4million and he’s panhandling. This is a heretic and a hustler.’
Sapp later responded to the backlash on Facebook, citing Chapter 29 of the first book of Chronicles, which shows King David giving gold and silver to build the temple and calling for other followers to willingly do the same.
Sapp said David was ‘challenging the people to give.’
‘The Bible says they gave gold, silver, bronze, iron, and precious stones. Specific amounts were recorded not because God needed their money, but because the people needed to show their commitment to the vision and because stewardship demands accountability,’ Sapp wrote.
‘So when someone challenges people to give a specific amount, it is not unbiblical. It is not manipulation. It is in order. It is consistent with Scripture.’
In the Bible passage, Christ’s followers were not asked to give a specific amount, but asked to willingly give.
Sapp also addressed the hostage comments, explaining that he asked the ushers to close the door because ‘when finances are being received in any worship gathering, it is one of the most vulnerable and exposed times for both the finance and security teams.’
‘Movement during this sacred exchange can be distracting and, at times, even risky,’ he wrote.
He did not address why he asked churchgoers to come up to the front to show their donations in front of him.
‘So yes, you saw a moment. But I invite you to understand the movement behind it,’ he wrote.