In 2019 the PreachersNSneakers Instagram account started calling attention to famous preachers and their designer clothes. Ben Kirby, the no
https://www.npr.org/2021/04/24/989331514/this-sunday-visit-preachersnsneakers-for-fashion-flexing-and-for-profit-faith?sc=18&f=989331514
From the article:
Kirby never meant to become a minor internet celebrity. But a friend nudged him into starting an account with more of that type of content. Nine days later, the PreachersNSneakers Instagram was born. It featured pictures of Pastor Rich Wilkerson Jr. on stage in sweat pants and a pair of Yeezey Foam Rnnrs that were going for $500; Pastor John F. Hannah sporting a $2,580 Gucci Jacket; and Pastor Steven Furtick Jr. wearing a classic pair of Jordans that cost nearly $1,000. The response was intense. Some commenters accused him of enviously attacking hard-working preachers for his own clout. Megachurch outsiders were gleeful as Kirby reinforced their opinions about celebrity preachers. And a few thought it was fun, until the account came for pastors they cared about. "Then it's, 'you used to be funny,''' said Kirby. "That's what they say, 'You used to be helpful. But now you've gone too far.'"
The aspirational approach to preaching is far from new, but it got a huge boost when sight and sound came together on television, says Marla Frederick, professor of Religion and Culture at Emory University and author of a number of books about televangelism. "At that point in time you started to see many more people performing with a kind of wealth," said Frederick. "Especially as the '70s rolled around and you saw the rise of what became the prosperity gospel." Which is the idea that if you performed the right kind of faith, and you spoke it out loud, good things would happen to you.
"So you have preachers who are telling people that you can be healed, you can be healthy, wealthy if you sacrifice, if you tithe, if you sow into this ministry," said Frederick. Of course, it helps to be the proof of your ministry. She points to Reverend Ike, the flamboyant minister who got famous in the 1970s for preaching the prosperity gospel. "He felt like Black people in particular had always been told that to be poor was to be Godly," said Frederick. "And so there was this correlation between poverty and your level of sanctification and righteousness. And he felt like that was a mindset that really needed to be broken."
