Pastor to the stars John Gray III is reacting to Marvin Sapp‘s viral Church donation request — telling ushers to close the doors until the congregation coughs up $40,000 — and he says culture and context are key.

John tells TMZ … Marvin is a good friend of his and he’s seen a lot worse donation requests in other churches.

Pastor Gray says he understands why folks who weren’t at the service are upset with the way Marvin went about raising money — asking everyone in the crowd for $20 — and he tells us why culture and context are being left out of the conversation in sole favor of optics.

Tons of celebs follow Pastor Gray … Kourtney Kardashian, Ivanka Trump, Chris Pratt, Russell Wilson and Patrick Schwarzenegger just to name a few … and he tells us his church does reverse offerings where they put baskets of cash out and tell worshipers to take what they need to pay bills.

Sexyy Red has a new pair of shoes … and they’re an expensive gift from a country singer she recently worked with.

TMZ obtained video of Sexyy Red being gifted a pair of $5,000 Christian Louboutin cowgirl boots … courtesy of Caldwell.

Sexyy Red pulls up to their music video shoot for their collab, “Beer and Baddies,” and Caldwell is waiting with the shoes in a gift box … and he tells her he can be her “rich country baby daddy.”

The Louboutin boots were well received … just look at her reaction when he whips them out.

Sexyy Red and Caldwell are shooting the music video in Columbia, South Carolina … and we’re told they are close and have been hanging out and working on new music and different projects together.

Linda Hogan is ready for all-out war with Brooke after her daughter’s shocking allegations of abuse … ’cause their one-time rift has turned into an all-out feud that may get litigious fast!

Here’s the deal … the mother-daughter “Hogan Knows Best” duo are in a bitter public back-and-forth over their falling out years ago, which came to a head on Friday when legal threats were leveled.

Linda — Hulk’s ex-wife — tells TMZ … she’s ready to take Brooke to court if her smear campaign continues … namely her daughter accusing her of physical abuse when she was a child.

As you know … Linda called her family a mess earlier this week, claiming Brooke doesn’t talk to anyone in the fam after a massive falling out with Hulk nearly a decade ago.

Linda tells us that at this point, “the love is gone” … and all she can figure is that Brooke is conflating normal parental discipline to “abuse” so she can damage her mother’s reputation.

From what Linda tells us … Hulk practically let the kids get away with murder when they were little ’cause he couldn’t stand not to be liked by everyone — which meant she had to be the “bad cop” and make sure the kids weren’t spoiled rich brats.

She zings that Brooke turned out to be one anyway.

But, Linda says don’t get it twisted — punishment for misbehavior was not abuse … she tells us she “maybe” spanked Brooke once “when she was 7 years old,” and the rest was along lines of straighten up and fly right.

Still, Linda says she’s lost count how many times through the years she’s tried to reach out and make amends with Brooke – although she has nothing to be that sorry about – but to no avail.

She suspects Brooke is trying to run from her past for the new family’s sake … ’cause Linda thinks her daughter is embarrassed and ashamed of how she used to behave during her hardcore party girl phase.

A source close to Brooke tells us … she’s not talked to Linda in years and has her number blocked — and there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell they’ll ever speak again. Brooke also denies she ever got physical with Linda and is saying that the claim she broke her collarbone is a lie.