PREACHERS WEARING SNEAKERS
"I started questioning myself, ‘What is OK as far as optics...as far as pastors wearing hype or designer clothing?'"
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...READ MORE
