Let He Who Is Without Yeezys Cast the First Stone

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Let He Who Is Without Yeezys Cast the First Stone

Carl Lentz, the pastor who baptized Justin Bieber in a professional basketball player’s bath tub, appeared wearing a pair of Nike Air Fear of God sneakers that were selling online for about $500.Then John Gray, a pastor from South Carolina, was shown in blood-red Air Yeezy 2s, the sneakers made in collaboration with Kanye West, that were going for upward of $5,000.buy Yeezy 700 Outlet with best price

And in another photo, Chad Veach, who preaches in Los Angeles, had a $1,900 Gucci bag and wore $795 pants.
The pastors were among those included on an Instagram account that recently popped up called “PreachersNSneakers,” where men and women of God are shown wearing footwear that could cost more than a month’s rent for many of their followers. Before long, each post was clogged with hundreds of comments.
“Pass the collection plate,” one person wrote, “daddy needs a new pair of shoes.”

As the Instagram page has become popular, quickly amassing well over 100,000 followers since the first post appeared about a month ago, the photos have led to soul-searching over what some see as an undercurrent of materialism that has been getting uncomfortable attention. The exchange has grown beyond simply criticizing the pastors, as many young Christians were nudged to wrestle over how they present themselves to the world and how it squares with the faith’s teachings.

“I don’t think it lines up with who Jesus was,” said Jamie Tworkowski, the founder of To Write Love On Her Arms, a nonprofit that helps people struggling with addiction and depression. “That is a status symbol,” he said of one pastor who was wearing Gucci. “That is vanity.”

The pastors, who have enormous followings through their churches and on social media, have thrived by attracting millennials and others who have turned away from more traditional worship. They have succeeded in part by creating an environment that is less formal and more relatable. These pastors have traded a suit and tie for a leather jacket and cool sneakers in order to create the kind of branding that resonates with younger churchgoers.