Preachers and their $5,000 sneakers: Why one man started an Instagram account showing churches’ weal

[Matt5]

Preachers and their $5,000 sneakers: Why one man started an Instagram account showing churches’ wealth

"On his feed, Kirby has showcased Seattle pastor Judah Smith’s $3,600 Gucci jacket, Dallas pastor T.D. Jakes’s $1,250 Louboutin fanny pack and Miami pastor Guillermo Maldonado’s $2,541 Ricci crocodile belt. And he considers Paula White, former president Donald Trump’s most trusted pastoral adviser who is often photographed in designer items, a PreachersNSneakers “content goldmine,” posting a photo of her wearing $785 Stella McCartney sneakers."

Flaunting your wealth is not a good idea in general. I think eventually it will bring trouble.

 

[disciple Clint]

Preachers and their $5,000 sneakers: Why one man started an Instagram account showing churches’ wealth

"On his feed, Kirby has showcased Seattle pastor Judah Smith’s $3,600 Gucci jacket, Dallas pastor T.D. Jakes’s $1,250 Louboutin fanny pack and Miami pastor Guillermo Maldonado’s $2,541 Ricci crocodile belt. And he considers Paula White, former president Donald Trump’s most trusted pastoral adviser who is often photographed in designer items, a PreachersNSneakers “content goldmine,” posting a photo of her wearing $785 Stella McCartney sneakers."

Flaunting your wealth is not a good idea in general. I think eventually it will bring trouble.

That is nothing compared to the wealth many high profile ministers have accumulated, it seems wrong to have a building (church), school, mansion, private jet, private yacht, etc all in your name, owned as your private property and all paid for by your congregation.

 

[paul1149]

A lot of their wealth is from book sales, appearances, etc, not directly from their church. And they might be using the wealth for good reasons, like setting up a TV station or more traditional forms of ministry. Still, it's quite unseemly to flaunt wealth like this. I would have a hard time trusting someone, or a church system, that did.

 

[Albion]

A lot of their wealth is from book sales, appearances, etc, not directly from their church.

Exactly. Most of those who are held up as bad examples are self-made preachers who are answerable to no denominational authority. But aside from that, there are opportunistic ministers just as there are such people in the medical and educational and legal professions. We should not judge the thousands of pastors by the extravagances of some. Most ministers are not wealthy or wasteful.

 

[GOD Shines Forth!]

Preachers and their $5,000 sneakers: Why one man started an Instagram account showing churches’ wealth

"On his feed, Kirby has showcased Seattle pastor Judah Smith’s $3,600 Gucci jacket, Dallas pastor T.D. Jakes’s $1,250 Louboutin fanny pack and Miami pastor Guillermo Maldonado’s $2,541 Ricci crocodile belt. And he considers Paula White, former president Donald Trump’s most trusted pastoral adviser who is often photographed in designer items, a PreachersNSneakers “content goldmine,” posting a photo of her wearing $785 Stella McCartney sneakers."

Flaunting your wealth is not a good idea in general. I think eventually it will bring trouble.

Someone has to showcase luxury goods (which provide a lot of jobs).

I just prefer that they be Supermodels.

 

[paul1149]

Exactly. Most of those who are held up as bad examples are self-made preachers who are answerable to no denominational authority. But aside from that, there are opportunistic ministers just as there are such people in the medical and educational and legal professions. We should not judge the thousands of pastors by the extravagances of some. Most ministers are not wealthy or wasteful.

Yes. Even quite a few Catholic prelates that I've read about live high on the hog, though I think they generally find more sublime ways to express it than via sneakers, and I've also seen some who quite enjoy their media celebrity status. This is not just an Evangelical problem.

 

[cow451]

A lot of their wealth is from book sales, appearances, etc, not directly from their church. And they might be using the wealth for good reasons, like setting up a TV station or more traditional forms of ministry. Still, it's quite unseemly to flaunt wealth like this. I would have a hard time trusting someone, or a church system, that did.

Explain how a Gucci jacket is Christ-like. Or did he have designer sandals?

 

[cow451]

Yes. Even quite a few Catholic prelates that I've read about live high on the hog, though I think they generally find more sublime ways to express it than via sneakers, and I've also seen some who quite enjoy their media celebrity status. This is not just an Evangelical problem.

But evangelicals have responsibility for cleaning their own houses.

 

[Kenny'sID]

Flaunting your wealth is not a good idea in general. I think eventually it will bring trouble.

In this case flaunting it can be a good thing, because it tells us exactly what they are about, that is, if we are not blinded and can't see it like most of their congregations cannot/will not.

They had better enjoy it now, because a day of reckoning is coming soon, and IMO, they will be found wanting.

 

[Albion]

Yes. Even quite a few Catholic prelates that I've read about live high on the hog, though I think they generally find more sublime ways to express it than via sneakers, and I've also seen some who quite enjoy their media celebrity status. This is not just an Evangelical problem.

Right. Catholic priests are salaried, of course, so some of them indulge some hobby with their disposable income, but that doesn't mean that they are not generous contributors to the work of the Church or that they overspend on luxuries, etc.

Sometimes, however, people see that hobby and assume that the guy is a show-off spendthrift or something like that. In addition, they have the mistaken idea that a parish priest is supposed to live like a monk.

As you said, when it comes to thousands of dollars spent on a pair of shoes by some evangelist, though, that's a different ball game.

 

[Ringo84]

I don't think pastors have to necessarily live lives of abject poverty, but there are a lot of snake-oil salesmen (not necessarily this person) who have gotten rich from fleecing people with the message that they can buy their way into heaven by giving their ministry money.

Again: not accusing this pastor of that, but it seems really wrong for a preacher to be this wealthy.
Ringo

 

[tall73]

"On his feed, Kirby has showcased Seattle pastor Judah Smith’s $3,600 Gucci jacket, Dallas pastor T.D. Jakes’s $1,250 Louboutin fanny pack and Miami pastor Guillermo Maldonado’s $2,541 Ricci crocodile belt. .

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Ouch, T.D. Jakes' heart is on his fanny!

 

[BNR32FAN]

Preachers and their $5,000 sneakers: Why one man started an Instagram account showing churches’ wealth

"On his feed, Kirby has showcased Seattle pastor Judah Smith’s $3,600 Gucci jacket, Dallas pastor T.D. Jakes’s $1,250 Louboutin fanny pack and Miami pastor Guillermo Maldonado’s $2,541 Ricci crocodile belt. And he considers Paula White, former president Donald Trump’s most trusted pastoral adviser who is often photographed in designer items, a PreachersNSneakers “content goldmine,” posting a photo of her wearing $785 Stella McCartney sneakers."

Flaunting your wealth is not a good idea in general. I think eventually it will bring trouble.

Haters be hatin. Before we go judging our brothers & sisters we should ask the question how much have these people given to those in need? If we can’t answer that question then we really don’t have any right to question how much they spend on themselves.