(RNS) — Deluged by online debate, gospel singer and pastor Marvin Sapp defended his fundraising style on a radio talk show Monday (March 31), 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 (March 31) 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 …