After Oxygen’s new reality series “Preachers of LA” made its controversial debut last week, find ampoule Bishop Clarence McClendon is apparently having second thoughts about his participation already.

McClendon posted an online video message explaining that what the show has become is not what he originally signed up for.

“First of all, and when I was approached with it, they said it wasn’t a reality show, they said it was a docu-series. Again, I was not involved in the genesis of the project. I’ve had a number of things come to me like this, a number of people come to me with certain opportunities and I’ve turned them down,” he explained.

The veteran preacher says that he knew the producers of the show, L. Plummer Media in association with Relevé Entertainment, beforehand and had faith that their own relationship with God would dictate how they handled the show’s development.

“I believed the people, the producers involved were Christian people, people that I know, people full of the holy spirit who really wanted to do something significant as it relates to Hollywood. That’s the production level. The network level they make decisions and sometimes things get lost in the translation. Initially I believed and trusted that we would be able to accomplish something with this relative to some things that the Lord had said to me,” he continued.

Preaching is something McClendon has done since he was 15-years-old and he claims that he was never looking to gain stardom from it.

“I’m primarily a private person. I certainly am not after fame. I’m more known than I actually want to be,” he offered. McClendon added that he’s a “bridge builder and a peacemaker,” and that “sometimes when you build bridges, you get walked on.”

McClendon was involved in a heated exchange with recording artist and former pastor Deitrick Haddon about whether preachers should have entourages and request honorariums. The argument led to McClendon getting up and walking out of the house where the gathering of the various pastors was taking place.

“When the situation got heated, I recognized that I was getting into what the Bible calls ‘an ignorant and foolish dispute.’ What I recognize now is that I was set up to be put in crossfire. I am not going to allow people to abuse that or malign that for the sake of television,” said McClendon.

“It tells the man of God to avoid…ignorant and foolish disputes because they lead to strife,” McClendon explained of the Bible verse 2 Timothy 2:23. “I have spent 15, 16 years traveling the globe and I’ve cultivated a ministry of integrity around the world.”

The preacher maintains that he was setup in that debate scene with Haddon because he “wasn’t supposed to be there” in the first place.

After landing at the airport, McClendon says the producers sent a car out to him to bring him to a ”man cave” where all of the ministers were shooting. He got to the house with his son, assistant, and the driver that he says the producers assigned to him; which he feels painted the picture that he only rolls with an entourage. This was part of Haddon’s argument about how pastors conduct themselves and business these days.

Haddon insisted that “the word” or Gospel should be delivered without cost. McClendon countered that he doesn’t have a “set honorarium” that he charges but of the 200 to 300 requests he gets per year, his team makes the final decision.

“We’ve never denied anyone access to this ministry because they couldn’t afford my team,” he affirmed.

AlwaysAList.com reports that despite Haddon’s push for the Gospel bearing no fee, his booking agent, Faith Management, shared that his current rate is $15,000 to $25,000.

Nonetheless, McClendon requests viewers watch “Preachers of LA” and “make up your own mind.”

He closed: “Pray for me and pray for all of us involved that God would be glorified.”
“PRAY!!”