A Kansas City preacher was recorded berating his “broke” flock for not buying him an expensive Movado watch.
Carlton Funderburke, the pastor of Church at the Well in Kansas City, castigated his congregation in a now-viral TikTok video for not being able to afford to give him the expensive watch he asked for while he was passionate about it preached “to honor God’s shepherds”.
In an August 7 speech, Funderburke was quoted as saying:
From the way you have treated me I can see that you are still despised, destitute, broke and broken.
he continued
“I’m not worth your money for McDonald’s.” I’m not worth your Red Lobster money, am I? I’m not worth your knitted St. John’s. You guys just can’t afford it. I’m not worthy of your Louis Vuitton, am I? My Prada isn’t worth yours. Who am I to deserve your Gucci?
Audiences continue to respond passionately to his comments on the video, some even applauding him.
The founder of the Kansas City Church at the Wells is Carlton Funderburke
Funderburke chided his congregation for not understanding what “God says” about how to deal with people spreading His message. He and his wife organized the Kansas City Church.
The video clip was also published in the R/PublicFreakout section of the well-known social media platform Reddit, where it received over 300 comments.
Users were outraged by the tape, with one user going by the name u/FeelingsAreNotFact calling for taxes for churches, saying:
If tax rules didn’t protect these “for-profit churches,” they would be much rarer. I am fully in favor of allowing churches to do good for their members and/or communities without engaging in political preaching. to maintain their tax-exempt status while providing services to their communities. “Congregations” that exist only to provide the pastor/preacher with luxury homes, clothing, automobiles, and travel should pay taxes like everyone else – especially if they are lobbying for political advocacy from the pulpit.
Another user, DontToewsMeBro, described how many churches are working in his comment:
“I stopped when I saw the ATMs in the hallways and realized that their ‘mission work’ was to send a prominent church member to a third world nation to work like a dog for a day or two and not really to achieve something. and the church is paying a media company to film this well known person who is working with people from many other churches who are doing the same (1 person per church to work a day or two & GET THE FILM). It’s crazy, it’s fake, and people are being tricked into emptying their wallets and it’s happening right down the street from you.
Funderburke later apologized to his community in Kansas City in a YouTube video after realizing his mistake, saying:
“The video clip does not accurately reflect my feelings or compassion for God’s people. Despite the context the clip’s content is taken from, it is insufficient to express the pain and suffering my words have caused.
The video was hosted on the Church’s YouTube page. As of Wednesday, August 17, 2022, more than 550,000 people have viewed the video.
