AMERICAN PROTESTANTS
A Missouri pastor has apologized after berating his congregation for being 'poor, broke, busted' and not getting him a luxury watch


Cheryl Teh
Fri, August 19, 202


A Missouri pastor has apologized for calling his congregation too "broke" to buy him a watch.

"I'm not worth your Red Lobster money?" Carlton Funderburke was heard saying in a sermon.

Funderburke also demanded a Movado watch, saying he'd been waiting to receive it for months.

In an August 7 sermon, pastor Carlton Funderburke was heard ranting about his congregation not "honoring" him. Funderburke is a senior pastor at the Church at the Well in Kansas City.

"This is how I know you're still poor, broke, busted, and disgusted, because of how you've been honoring me. I'm not worth your McDonald's money? I'm not worth your Red Lobster money?" Funderburke said.

"I ain't worth y'all Louis Vuitton? I ain't worth your Prada? I'm not worth your Gucci?" he was heard saying in the video. The identity of the person who recorded the video is unclear, but it was uploaded to TikTok by the Kansas City Defender, a local media company.

@kansascitydefender
Kansas City Pastor GOES OFF on congregation calling them "poor, broke busted and disgusted" because they didn't give him enough money to buy a new watch he's been wanting. It's pastors like these that give the church a bad name smh an also why a lot of our generation left the church. What y'all think? 🤔♬ original sound - kcdefender

In the video, some members of the congregation can be seen rising to their feet and appearing to approach him angrily. Funderburke can be seen brushing them off.

He went on to say that he had been waiting for months to receive a Movado watch. Movado watches can retail for anywhere between a couple of hundred dollars to upwards of a thousand dollars.

"And y'all know I asked for one last year. Here it is all the way in August and I still ain't got it," Funderburke added. "Y'all ain't said nothing. Let me kick down the door and talk to my cheap sons and daughters."

This week, the pastor released an apology video.

"Though there is context behind the content of the clip, no context will suffice to explain the hurt and anguish caused by my words. I've spoken to those I am accountable to and have received their correction and instruction," he said.

"I have also privately apologized to our church, who has extended their love and support to me," Funderburke added in his apology video.

While it's not common for preachers to ask for personal gifts from their congregations, the idea of the "prosperity gospel" has gained steam in America. Disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker, one of the most prominent names associated with the movement, was convicted in 1989 of 24 counts of fraud and conspiracy for defrauding his followers out of $158 million

. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison and fined $500,000, but was paroled in 1994 after serving just over five years. Lamor Whitehead, a New York-based bishop known for flashy designer clothes and luxury cars, was accused last year of cheating a congregant out of $90,000 — her life savings. Whitehead denied wrongdoing in an interview with the New York Daily News.

Representatives at the Church at the Well did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.