Marvin Winans pastors Perfecting Church in Detroit and has been doing for almost 35 years.
His great-grandfather, born in 1875, migrated from Mississippi to Detroit for the sole purpose of starting a church.
“He built it from the ground-up and that would be the church I was born into, my father was born into, … who our existence as far as Winans in this community has everything to do with church.”
Seventy years after his great-grandfather would embark on the journey of church leadership on Mack Ave., Detroit, Perfecting Church would be born in 1989.
“Our whole life as a family has been rooted and grounded in faith, Pentecostalism, in singing about the hope that we have with GOD. So, it was not an option, it was how we were raised.”
Winans grew up with parents who were strict about no secular music being played in the household. He recounts the sounds of music of around him at an early age growing up on Woodingham St.
“The street behind us was Greenlawn, Stevie Wonder lived on that street. The street in front of us was Santa Barbara and Smokey Robinson lived on that street, …when I went to school I would pass by Berry Gordy’s house.”
“So we grew up right in the heart of Motown, when Motown was in Motown. So, for my father to take such a stand, it wasn’t that we couldn’t hear it, but we couldn’t bring it in in the house. Being so musically inclined, you hear those melodies and you can’t get them out of your head.”
Winans and his family lived and breathed church. “If we couldn’t go, we got upset.”
The state of the church in general has changed so much as well as some in society, who choose not to attend church as much as they did years ago.
“Our children today are more inclined to believe the Marvel franchise than they are the bible …they believe in Wakanda Forever and know little about the bible because it is not necessary and neither is it expected for you to go to church on Sunday.”
“When you remove the consciousness of our young people, they have nothing that builds them up in truth or morality.”
Some people in today’s society have a negative view of attending church and some of it is basked in a feeling of being judged by parishioners and church leaders over one particular person’s lifestyle.
“You have sport shows, talk shows, who’s the G.O.A.T?, …and they get to judge and stand by what they believe, but when it comes to church, the church is judgmental?”
“Jesus said, ‘ye shall know the tree by the fruit.’ So, if judging is too hard, then I’m not a judge, I’m just a fruit inspector. So, if I’m looking at an apple, don’t try to tell me that apple is an orange.”
Pastor Winans preaching, teaching, expands outside the walls of the church, including his activism on social issues in the community, even as some of the issues became political issues on the basis of proposed city policies that came before city council approval. He was a vocal critic when he once led the push against strip clubs and marijuana shops in Detroit.
Fast forward to an age where everyone is talking about mental health, we thought we’d get Pastor Winans’ perspective on how church is playing on a role on addressing one’s mental state of being and is church an open and safe space for this particular issue. An issue becoming more open in today’s society to talk about and not just only pray about, particularly in the Black church.
“The bible says, ‘I will keep them in perfect piece who’s mind is stable,” said Pastor Winans. “The mental capacity of the believer should always be filled with hope. I was in the hospital with COVID for 11 days, I had no idea what was going on.”
He said that state of being played somewhat of a mind game on him as he witnessed doctors and nurses putting on extra tiers of clothing and gloves as he then questioned to himself, “What do I have?”
Following his recovery from the hospital, he said to GOD, “I’m not coming back here. I started crying. I said, GOD, you’re my help, you’re my hero.” Winans later discovered a pastor friend whom he had grew up with passed away. The whole ordeal hurt him mentally.
“We were the same in age, he died from COVID. So, I understand how you can even have survivor’s remorse, ‘why me and not them?’ The mental capacity of the believer is helped by what the scripture teaches. Whether it’s COVID or a family situation, I believe the church has the answer for every mental health issue.”
From preaching his Sunday sermons virtually during the pandemic, learning how to pivot and hire a production team for his video and audio needs of the church, to becoming an advocate for political and social issues in the community, he has also spent by most metrics a very long time on the development of his new church home. The construction of Perfecting Church on Woodward Ave. at Seven Mile Rd. in Detroit hasn’t seen a day of full completion in nearly 20 years.
The unfinished site stands as a 35,000 square-foot building on 16 acres of land. The new building would seat 4,200 people.
“We brought about 15.9 acres, but most of it was privately done. So we developed and brought up the community. We had two Michigan banks that said they would lend us the money and it would only take 18 months to build it.”
After some construction equipment was purchased, Winans claims one of the banks pulled out during the time of the 2007-2008 recession.
Steel purchased at the early outset left the church with nearly $10 million owed to the bank. With no money, Winans says for two years the church project sat quiet.
But, over time he and his churchgoers would press forward on the progress of the church’s development.
“Everything that you see on that corner is paid for. We spent $13 to $15 million right on the project. Because during that time no banks would give us a loan.”
Any completion of the church development has been long-awaited, so much so the City of Detroit finally had enough of what some in the community deemed an eyesore and took Perfecting Church to court in a lawsuit.
He finds it not being a fair criticism for city officials and community to criticize how long the church construction has taken.
“The City never came by and said, ‘how can we help?’ It is not a matter of whether or not we’re going to build. It was matter of financing and I don’t believe in putting our church in a financial bind to where we can’t worship freely because we owe this money.”
From the interior, Pastor Winans says the building is two-thirds complete and doesn’t have any overwhelming debt.
Weeks after the lawsuit and after meeting with Winans and church officials for an assessment of construction timeline and commitments, the City recently dropped the lawsuit against the church.
Pastor Winans says the new timeline for construction is 18 months, setting the stage for an August 2024 opening.
And, while one part of his journey appears promising as the new Perfecting Church plans for an opening next year, Marvin L. Winans Academy for Performing Arts is closing this year.
“Whenever there was a shortage in the budget for education, the first things to go were the arts,” Pastor Winans said, as he attributed his time attending the public school system in Detroit as a kid.
Winans recounts being in Japan years ago and meeting a man who had collected every album the Winans’ had ever done. As we the man approached for an autograph, he would tell Winans, “you’re my favorite.”
Winans told the man he would tell his sister and brother, CeCe and BeBe Winans. The man would respond, “you’re my favorite,” not in comparison to his sister and brother but as an artist of all time.
Pastor Winans was so taken aback with that kind compliment, it was in that moment he realized “music has the ability to go beyond religious, ethics, political and educational barriers, and reach people. “I sat there and said if I ever had a school, it would be a performing arts school.”
He says after 25 years it would unfortunately come to a close. He cites not being aware of how political education would become and the exit of thousands of teachers who left the profession in the past two years, he said it impacts who can be certified.
At the conclusion of our interview, Winans would send his students off for one last time, attending the final graduation ceremony at his school. Despite the challenges to education today, he holds his head high for what his academy has done to enrich young minds while cultivating their talent.
“We have seen Black boys that had never picked up a violin — they are now in orchestras; they are now conducting. Students that have been in movies with Clint Eastwood. We have really done what I feel is a superb job.”
Gospel music has been at the heart of the Winans family for so long. He says he’d be meeting with people in Atlanta soon who are eager to bring the Winans family in for a record.
“I have always been writing, so there is some music in our future.”
About Post Author
