In Italy at the dawn of the 13th Century, a man named Giovanni di Pietro Bernardone, son of a wealthy silk merchant, renounced his inheritance and embraced the life of a beggar. Scorned by friends and family, he announced to them that he intended to wed a “fairer bride than any of you have ever seen.” When asked who this bride was, he replied, “Lady Poverty.”



Eight hundred years later and those wealthy friends and family have long since faded into obscurity. But Giovanni di Pietro Bernardone, or, as he’s better known, Saint Francis of Assisi, is one of the most iconic figures in Christian history. And while the number of ecclesiastical officials who’ve embraced poverty quite like Francis did three-quarters of a millennia ago remains a minority, the tension between wealth and Christian ministry is as intense as ever. And that tension sits right at the heart of a new Instagram account called PreachersNSneakers .

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Launched less than a month ago, the account features posts of Christian mega church pastors— Carl Lentz of Hillsong, Steven Furtick of Elevation Church, Chad Veach of Zoe Church, and Levi Lusko of FreshLife to name a few—wearing high-end, hype-worthy sneakers and designer clothing, along with screenshots of the retail and/or resale price of said sneakers and designer clothing. Based on the array of three and four-figure swag on display, it’s safe to say that Saint Francis’s devotion to Lady Poverty is not on the menu for this particular group of Christian ministers.

Which begs the question: is it right for someone who a.) draws at least partial salary from tithing (i.e. monetary donations to the church), b.) ostensibly ministers to people who can’t afford high-end swag, and c.) practices a religion whose founder was famously poor, to wear a $900 pair of Shattered Backboard Jordans while on the pulpit? Based on the 110K followers that PreachersNSneakers has amassed in the first four weeks of its existence, it seems like a question plenty of people would like to hear answered.

The "Shattered Backboard" Air Jordan 1 resells for upwards of $900. Photo Illustration by Mike Kim

“There are pastors out there wearing some serious heat,” says the creator of PreachersNSneakers, who spoke to Esquire.com on condition of anonymity. “I started looking at more of these mega church pastors and realized they were wearing really recognizable shoes. So I started this account, and very quickly it turned into this big discussion.” Though PreachersNSneakers shares similarities with other Instagram accounts riding the wave of watchdog culture —‘grams like Diet Prada , Estee Laundry , and HauteLeMode —PNS (as we’ll call him from here on out) had no awareness of any of them before going live. He was just a sneakerhead who happened to recognize exorbitantly priced shoes on the feet of a few pastors and thought people might be interested.

“I don’t have a well thought out strategy for changing the world,” says PSN, who started the account more as a joke among his friends than anything. “But I’m at least happy that it’s causing a stir.” The idea for the whole thing came about almost by accident. PSN had been searching for a worship song on Youtube when he stumbled upon a video of Elevation Church’s praise band (Elevation is a mega church based in Matthews, North Carolina), and the lead singer was wearing Yeezy 750s. “I’d been into sneakers for a number of years and knew that those were pretty expensive. I thought it interesting that someone leading a worship band could afford that shoe.” So he posted a shot of them on his personal Instagram account and jokingly asked, “How much are y’all getting paid at Elevation?”

PSN then dug a little deeper and found a photo of Steven Furtick, the head pastor at Elevation, wearing the orange, black, and white “Shattered Backboard” Jordans on stage. Those sneakers generally sell on the resale market for something in the neighborhood of $900. So he posted that too, along with a brief quip. And that’s when a friend suggested he was on to something, and that he should post them on their own account.

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Initially PreachersNSneakers received only a trickle of new followers—mostly friends and friends of friends. But when PSN posted a shot of Chad Veach, the pastor of Los Angeles’ Zoe Church (and a friend of Justin Bieber’s) carrying a $1,980 Gucci backpack and wearing $795 Rhude trackpants, things escalated quickly. Unlike the rest of the pastors featured, Veach actually responded with a comment that has since been deleted (he also changed his handle from @chadcveach to @chadveach in the aftermath):

“Wanna know what’s crazy? I legit did not pay for one thing i am wearing [sic]. Is that wild to you? that’s wild to me… Thanks for the shoutout tho. You’re a blessing.”

With Veach’s 236k followers, it was enough to kick start a wildfire that put PreachersNSneakers right at the center of a debate on the morality of pastors wearing ultra expensive designer gear. “I’ve been getting a lot of concerned posts from people who work in ministry,” says PSN, who identifies as an evangelical Christian. “And they’re saying it’s detrimental for people who already have negative views about Christianity, that it’s fueling their fire.”

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But he sees the account as more constructive than divisive. “I’m getting literally thousands of DMs each day from people about how important this account is.” Some of those DMs, according to PSN, even come from people who work at the very mega churches that employ these swagged-out pastors. “They’re saying, ‘Hey, I’ve had opinions on this for a long time, but I’ve never been able to communicate it. I didn’t want to poke the bear, but thanks for bringing it up.’”

And while PSN says his goal is to avoid passing judgement—he says he wants to help the conversation flourish, rather than dictate how people should live—the sheer scope of the reaction seems to suggest there’s something big here. Something that doesn’t fall neatly across religious lines. After all, many in the Christian community are troubled by what they’re seeing. Jonathan Merritt, a religious columnist for The Atlantic, and the author of Learning to Speak God From Scratch: Why Sacred Words Are Vanishing—And How We Can Revive Them views it as a bigger moral issue. Though he doesn’t find anything inherently immoral about designer clothes, and he doesn’t think that hardworking pastors should be forced to live in poverty, he does find it far fetched that a pastor needs an $1,800 Gucci backpack to relate to his community, even if that community includes celebrities, influencers, and fashionistas, like Veach’s does at Zoe Church, or at Carl Lentz’s Hillsong, whose attendees include Christ Pratt, Kevin Durant, and Vanessa Hudgens.

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“PreachersNSneakers is resonating with so many people of faith not just because it’s hysterical satire,” says Merritt, “but because it’s raising important ethical questions.” He thinks it’s time to start having honest conversations about whether it’s morally acceptable for a pastor to wear expensive luxury goods when so many people are struggling. “Many religious leaders preach the message of an impoverished Jewish refugee while living lavish lifestyles funded by donations from people earning minimum wage, and struggling to pay rent.” Like the founder of PreachersNSneakers, Merritt doesn’t see this account as sewing division in the church. Quite the opposite, in fact. “If a minister stands on stage and asks a crowd for donations, that minister should be okay with those potential patrons knowing that he wears $1,000 Off-White sneakers.”

Both Merritt and PSN feel also that it’s a valid concern even if the pastor received the items for free, as Veach allegedly did. Or if they have paid for them with money earned from successful books and speaking tours. The problem, says PSN, is one of perception. And the perception is that a group of pastors are displaying levels of ostentation that many in their congregation can’t even dream of.

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“I’m not saying what they can or can’t spend their money on,” says PSN. “But they should at least be aware of the optics of how they’re presenting themselves.” He goes on to say that the reason this account has drawn in so many admirers is that, “They see their pastor wearing a pair of Off-White Prestos, and they’re like, ‘What? I can’t even afford rent this month.’ Or they’re like, ‘I’m a single mom with three kids and my pastor is wearing $1,000 Saint Laurent boots.’”



Granted, it’s a story that’s nearly as old as Christianity itself. In Matthew 19:21, a wealthy young man asks Jesus how he can have eternal life. Jesus tells him to sell all of his possessions and give the money to the poor. “When the man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.” (Matt. 19:22). Three hundred years later, when the Roman Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity throughout the Roman empire, the religion became something of a trend among the wealthy elite, and many of the poorer adherents of Christ’s message were uncomfortable with the sudden influx of ostentation around them. And that a story has continued pretty much unabated for 1,700 years.

The Nike x Off-White Air Presto in white resells for around $600. Photo Illustration by Mike Kim

So now that it’s the 21st century, when fashion has become either a primary mode of self expression or a primary means for ostentatious self-absorption (depending upon your viewpoint), where does that leave a man of the cloth who happens to like a grail-worthy pair of sneaks? PreachersNSneakers doesn’t claim to know the answer, but he thinks it’s a question worth asking.



“I’m not necessarily saying they’re doing something wrong,” he says. “But the baffling thing to me is that these guys have these huge platforms, and no one has asked this question of them before.” And as PSN points out, even if these pastors are spending money that doesn’t come directly from tithes, they’re still indirectly connected to those tithes. “I’m giving them a home base to support their speaking and book tours,” he says. “And if I’m tithing to a church, I’d be irritated if they stepped out in a fresh pair of Yeezys. I’m having to save and invest and give to the point of it being uncomfortable to the church, and it seem like they’re living a pretty comfy lifestyle that’s somehow connected with my giving.”



Scott Christian Scott Christian is a style writer based in Los Angeles.

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