A Man Created An Instagram About Church Leaders In Expensive Designer Shoes. It's Sending People Down An Existential Morality Spiral. “I started questioning myself, ‘What is OK as far as optics...as far as pastors wearing hype or designer clothing?’” the Instagram PreachersNSneakers’ creator told BuzzFeed News. Posted on April 5, 2019, at 4:41 p.m. ET A 29-year-old man named Tyler started an Instagram account two weeks ago that spawned from a joke he shared with friends. The account PreachersNSneakers has now become a place of both celebration and controversy over pastor influencers and their expensive shoes. The Instagram account features pastors and other church leaders who have large followings on social media, screenshots of the shoes they wear, and the shoes’ price tags. The account has drawn all kinds of comments and discussions, and of this writing has more than 20,000 followers. “Registered Flex Offenders,” some joke, while others are interpreting the account’s message very seriously. “This account is like the 21st century version of Martin Luther nailing his theses to the church door,” one person commented. The creator, Tyler (ha ha), told BuzzFeed News the commentary he’s inspiring was intentional. However, he said it’s become “pretty intense” pretty quickly, and unexpected. “All 20,000 engaged followers feel some type of way” about his posts, he said. Tyler — who wants to remain fairly anonymous and who described his whereabouts as “the southwest” region — told BuzzFeed News the idea for the account was born out of boredom one day. It was also a perfect marriage of two of his passions: Christianity and the sneakerhead collecting-and-selling lifestyle. “It started out as me being interested in sneakers and being involved with church culture ... so those two things made for good comedic content,” he said. “This whole thing spun out of me sitting on my couch one Sunday. I was looking for this one song on YouTube and saw the lead singer in this worship band was wearing Yeezy 750s.” Tyler, who also works full time in the tech industry, knew the Yeezy 750 Boost sneakers were “super rare” and retailed for upward of $1,800. “I was like ‘Dude, this is crazy,’” he said. It sent him down a rabbit hole of finding other popular pastors and youth group leaders he knew, whom he was already following on Instagram, and photos of them in various designer gear. Instagram: @undefined After he shared one post of a church influencer’s photo next to the value of the shoes they were wearing, his friends found it both hilarious and fascinating. They encouraged him to start a separate social media account so he could continue to explore this juxtaposition. And so he did. Tyler said he intended the account to be “open to interpretation.” “I’m a Christian and [have] been so for a long time and feel really strongly about the leaders of the church and how high of a calling they have,” he said. “I started questioning myself, ‘What is OK as far as optics...as far as pastors wearing hype or designer clothing?’ I don’t have an answer.” However, he believes it is important that followers of the Christian faith in America “have a discussion about what is appropriate.” “I’m just saying the people in church should at least be asking the question,” he said. Some of these theological-based questions can include asking, “Is the money I’m giving the church going to the salary, or spending on sneaks?” Tyler said. As his account quickly grows, pastors are starting to catch on and notice they’re being called out. One of them, Chad Veach, a lead pastor of the Zoe Church in Los Angeles (and who has over a quarter of a million followers on Instagram), commented on a PreachersNSneakers post that featured him, and tried to defend himself. instagram.com “You wanna know what’s crazy? I legit did not pay for one thing i’m wearing,” he wrote on a PreachersNSneakers post that featured him wearing $795 pants and a Gucci backpack that retails for nearly $2,000. Pastor Veach claimed he did not pay for almost all of the apparel shown in the photo. He then thanked Tyler for “the shout out” and added, “You’re a blessing.” Tyler told BuzzFeed News he did not intend this to be “a bash account” against trendy pastors. “I still feel bad for making that platform available or contributing,” he said of trolls who’ve taken to harassing these Christian leaders. “People are talking about heavy stuff, which I don’t necessarily like.” He stressed that he does not “have a big theological agenda,” adding, “You guys do with this what you guys may,” to his avid followers. And some of his followers are very upset with what they’re discovering. “Wanna know what’s crazy? Feeling the need to defend your outrageously priced outfit while being an ambassador of Christ,” someone commented after Veach spoke out. (The pastor has since deleted his comment and changed his Instagram handle.) “There’s a lot of money in the God business,” another wrote. Instagram: @undefined Others, in contrast, are simply having fun with his account. “Tithe to drip ratio ,” one user joked about a post featuring a pastor in black and orange Jordan 1 Retro sneakers. Tyler said no matter how people are interpreting the account, he’s “proud” to see people, especially in the Christian community, engaged. “I don’t want people to show up and fuel their argument to not want to be apart of their church or their Christian faith because of these [pastors]. I’m still figuring out how to make that balance but I think it’s a fair question to ask the people leading their faiths,” he said. BuzzFeed News has reached out to the pastors featured in the @PreachersNSneakers Instagram posts.
The concept of the millionaire minister is mind boggling to me. I get their justification but its f&&&ed up IMO.
People hate whenever possible. These guys have book deals, sponsorships, collect ads from social media and people expect them to just give all their money back to the church and work for free. Evangelicals aren't Catholic priests or monks. They have no obligation to have a vow of poverty.
They use their evanglizing as a self serving wealth generating tool. Ministry shouldn’t be about making people millionaires. That’s disgusting to me. I think ministers/pastors/people of god should live modestly as Christ did. Obviously plenty of people are ok with their ministers driving Lambos and living in mansions. I’m sure Christ would have approved.
I'm catholic growing up one of our priest always had a sports car. He also came from a well off family. When I see a person on the corner looking for a handout the first thing I do is look at the shoes.
Actually I thought all Christians are against ostentatious wealth. How much good can the !money for one of these outfits do to for some of there parishioners? All of these book deals sponsorship and add should be going back to the ministry after providing for a nice life for them and their families. What exactly is the Christian message in being a hype beast?
Christ never advocated living modestly. He did however criticize those who did not respect the temple of God. Most of Christ's teachings talk about how God can bless his people with money, power and success. Goes to show that people just talk about whatever they want. Ya'll should read about Abraham and David before talking about how "God doesn't want his people to have wealth"
"And again I say to you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."
...well, in defense of the fairly newly minted premise of profitable pastorships... ...there's a story in the Christian bible that tells of Jesus sending his disciples out to find a new young donkey, that had never been ridden or borne any burden, for him to ride in his symbolic entrance into the city of Jerusalem on the week of his public execution... ...I guess that could be seen as the ancient Palestinian equivalent of "driving a Lambo"... ...or that Jesus really wanted that "new-donkey-smell" when he was making that ride into town... ...and if Jesus happened to be "black"...well... ...I gotta tell you... ...riding a tricked-out donkey (with 20-inch spinners on its hooves) would have gotten him executed as quick as anything...
Pastor at my church drives an old Camry, wears boat shoes and old leather loafers most of the time (though has been eyeing my Allbirds Woolrunners) and lives in a pretty a pretty humble, affordable house (about three blocks from me).
At one church, we had a young guy, the son of a minister (from a different church), who was an intern in the youth ministry. He drove a nice Mustang, cool sneaks, cool clothes. He wasn't paid much, if he was paid anything, so it was family wealth that bought those things. But he bought a ton of credibility with the teenagers with his fashion. He made being Christian cool and made this youth ministry popular. If you can advance your mission by spending a thousand bucks on some sneakers, shouldn't you? Funny, I didn't read it that way. I'd say riding a stallion would have been the Lambo equivalent. A donkey would be more like a new Ford -- the everyman's beast of burden.
...you know Jesus was one of the homies. Kept it real. ...He flossed in what he flossed...stuntin' is stuntin'...you feel me?
Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing. 9 I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, 10 but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. 1 Peter 3:3-4 ESV / 431 helpful votes Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. 1 John 2:16 ESV / 113 helpful votes For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world
When I was a sophomore in HS, I remember ol' Ed Young buying his youngest son a pimped out Lexus coupe when he turned 18. I'm sure God/Jesus told them it was ok, since they "talk" and all.
If you need to buy a 1000 dollar sneakers to advance your mission I have to 1st question what your mission is and 2nd say you are doing it wrong. Is the message you want of your ministry to be popularity?
Why is that? Isn't that just about always the way it is done in every religion from the dawn of mankind?
Honestly, you could question why mega churches look so nice instead of looking like a Sam's warehouse. I know they use the god's body justification, but the members are also part of the body so maybe looking nice is also glorifying god.
Our mega church is the cafeteria at the local elementary school. But we are building nice looking church building across the street (OK, it kinda looks like a warehouse, but only because one of the buildings will double as a basketball gym).
