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‘Ain’t No Party Like the Holy Ghost Party’: After Bankruptcy in the 90s, MC Hammer Started Over in Church

After going broke in 1996, MC Hammer reconnected with his faith and became an ordained minister with a Sunday evening service.

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You know MC Hammer, but do you know Pastor Hammer? In the late 90s, “Stop: Hammer Time” transformed from a call to hit the dance floor into a call to prayer. That’s because, after filing for bankruptcy in 1996, MC Hammer reconnected with his Christian faith and became an ordained minister.

In the mid-90s, the media often reported that MC Hammer was “down and out,” claiming he was severely in debt after squandering his $33 million net worth. Although Hammer, born Stanley Burrell, later refuted the claims that he had hit rock bottom, he still found himself roughly $13 million in debt. In 1997, he sold his Fremont mansion for a little more than half its estimated value of $9.4 million after filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy the year before.

During that time, he often expressed that his priorities had been backwards. His focus on business instead of God and family first, as he put it, led to debt and bankruptcy. While appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show and VH1’s Behind the Music, he admitted to squandering about $20 million. He said this proved that “money is nothing if it doesn’t bring peace and if priorities are wrong.”

MC Hammer Reconnected With His Faith After Several Wake-Up Calls

The experience of going broke after being at the height of mainstream popularity served as a wake-up call. Hammer and his family moved to a small ranch-style home in Tracy, California. By October 1997, Hammer had reconnected with his faith.

MC Hammer had been raised Pentecostal, and met his wife, Stephanie, at a church revival in the 80s. But faced with the temptation of fame, he didn’t keep up with his faith as he had before. So, after bankruptcy, alongside shocking events like the death of his friend Tupac Shakur in 1996, Hammer became an ordained minister.

Around the end of the 20th century, Hammer began preaching at the Jubilee Christian Center in San Jose, California. Alongside Jubilee’s existing pastor, Hammer started a Sunday evening service. He wasn’t paid for his preaching, doing so on a voluntary basis. But he was such a charismatic addition to the church that Christians from all over California came to see him.

“Whether the bankruptcy played any role in my refocusing, that’s great. Hallelujah, I hope it did!” Hammer told the LA Times in 2000. “But the most important part of what occurred to me was love, missing the love of God in the way that I had known it.”

Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images

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