PreachersNSneakers

Authenticity in an Age of For-Profit Faith and (Wannabe) Celebrities

Benjamin Kirby

• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9780785238904
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Founder of the phenomenon social media account PreachersNSneakers tackles how faith, capitalism, consumerism, and (wannabe) celebrity have collided and asks both believers and nonbelievers alike: how much is too much?

What started as a joke account on Instagram has turned into a movement. Through this provocative project, the founder of PreachersNSneakers is helping thousands of Jesus followers wrestle with the inevitable dilemmas created by our Western culture obsessed with image and entertainment.

In PreachersNSneakers: Authenticity in an Age of For-Profit Faith and (Wannabe) Celebrities, Ben Kirby approaches many of the difficult questions plaguing countless Christians' minds, presenting experiences and input from both sides of difficult questions, such as:

• Should pastors grow wealthy off of religion, and can their churches ever be too large?
• Do we really believe that divine blessings are monetary, or is that just religious wallpaper to hide our own greed?
• Is there space in Christendom for celebrities like Kanye and Bieber to exist without distorting the good news?
• What about this: Is it wrong for someone—even wrong for author Ben Kirby—to call out faith leaders online and leverage "cancel culture" to affect change?

PreachersNSneakers will navigate these challenging questions and many more with humor, wit, candor, and a few never-before-published hijinks. Each chapter will explore the various sides of the debate, holding space for us to make up our own minds. This book is not about finding the perfect, "right" way to do something, but instead learning how to articulate what we believe, why we believe it, and what to do when we want to stand up against cultural norms.

This book will doubtlessly become a staple for church small groups, college ministries, and book clubs, emboldening struggling believers who want to live a more genuine faith. After all, the Lord works in mysterious colorways.

Chapter Five

A NOTE ABOUT $1,000 SNEAKERS

How Can a Pair of Kicks Be Worth So Much?

There is probably a whole list of reasons why you may be reading this book. You may love the church or hate it, love the featured pastors or think they’re wrongfully profiting off of tithes. You may have picked up this book because you love anything to do with the sneaker game, or you may just be here because you want to see what all the fuss is about and know nothing of these pricey kicks. This chapter is mainly for the last group.

The only reason I know anything about sneakers or streetwear is because of my friends Justin and Shekinah Holiday. I have known both of them since we were in elementary school back in North Louisiana, where I used to cross Justin over and hit my step-back three right in his face when we played basketball. At least, that’s how I choose to remember it. Shekinah and I also ran in the same circles at church and attended the same used-couch youth groups. We even participated in a six o’clock Friday morning Bible study that we stuck with throughout high school (shout-out to John O’Leary and the Fab Five).

Fast-forward a few years: Justin and Shekinah eventually got married. Between Justin and me, one of us became an NBA champion, and the other is running an anonymous Instagram account from his home in North Dallas. I’ll let you figure out who’s who. Anyway, back in 2015 and about fifty pounds ago, I was on a Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force, Crisis Response (SPMAGTF-CR) deployment to Romania with Marine Wing Support Squadron 272 (MWSS-272) out of Marine Corps Air Station New River (MCAS New River) in North Carolina; the Marine Corps loves them some confusing acronyms. I was a young Marine logistics officer (’rah) tasked with leading a bunch of Marines and Sailors to support some grunts (infantry dudes) in Constanta, Romania. This was my first deployment, as well as my first time as the head guy, so I quite literally had no idea what I was doing (some things never change).

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The only reason I know anything about sneakers or streetwear is because of my friends Justin and Shekinah Holiday.

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Before the deployment, I married my angel-woman of a wife, Stacy. Six months after we said, “I do,” I was on a plane to a remote part of eastern Europe, leaving my new wife behind, both of us feeling a great deal of despair at the thought of being separated for seven and a half months. (This will make sense soon; just stick with me here.) While I was on deployment, trying to keep my Marines from breaking things and ending up in a Romanian prison, Justin was picked up by the Golden State Warriors for the 2014–15 season as a backup shooting guard. This was after a long stint playing pro ball in Europe for essentially pennies. With his new NBA contract, he also got a product-only endorsement deal with Nike, along with a bunch of credit that he could use at the Nike players-only online store.

While many players get cash plus apparel deals, Justin was happy just to be able to get a few pairs of Nike PG 2s while playing with the likes of Steph Curry and Draymond Green. Up to this point, I didn’t know or care about sneakers at all; I preferred to wear my ten-year-old Chacos from college for going out and my Brooks Beast shoes for running, since my feet are flatter than a Nutella crepe.

Well, about halfway into my deployment, Justin and Shekinah dialed me up on FaceTime (we weren’t exactly “roughing it” compared to my brothers over in Afghanistan) and said they wanted to get me some Nike swag for my birthday, probably because they pitied my situation, being away from Stacy for so long. I assumed they were going to get me a few shirts or maybe one pair of outlet kicks or something. But they let me literally scroll through the entire Nike store online and pick out whatever I wanted, in any color and in any quantity—a Nike blank check. I couldn’t believe what I was experiencing. To Justin, it didn’t cost him anything, as he had more credit to the store than he could ever use himself. But to me, this was one of the richest, most generous experiences I had ever had. They also offered to get some stuff for Stacy and ship it to her in the States. All in all, I think I might have picked out thirty-five pairs of shoes, ten hoodies, and other miscellaneous Dri-FIT items.

I got pairs of Jordan 1s, Air Max 1s, Air Max 97s, Nike SBs, Kobe lows, Jordan 13s, and many others, half of which I could never pull off as a white dude with a goofy military haircut. I basically picked out what I thought looked cool because I had no idea what I was looking at. This was the most generosity I had ever experienced outside of my parents repairing my ’08 Honda Civic back to back to back in college when I blew out a head gasket three different times. Justin and Shekinah shipped all the gear to the States so it would be waiting for me when I got back from deployment.

When I returned from Romania, after Stacy and I got—ahem—reacquainted, I finally saw the towering piles of sneaker boxes and apparel bags and felt like a Cajun at a crawfish boil; I couldn’t get enough. For some reason, the combination of the different styles, colorways (retail term for color variations), and collaborations of the sneakers instantly made me interested in learning about them and getting more. I have an obsessive personality as it is, so Stacy was not surprised when I dove into researching this new subculture. I’m not saying it’s healthy; it’s just what happened.

Getting thirty-five new pairs of shoes is obviously overkill, and I could never wear that many, so I gave some of the kicks and hoodies to my buddies who wore the same size. Still, I was stacked for life, assuming I didn’t horizontally outgrow the pieces of apparel (spoiler alert: I did). Like all my other hobbies, I immediately took to the internet to research more about my newfound interest. After thoroughly exploring sneaker Twitter and Instagram and watching every episode of Complex’s Sneaker Shopping with Joe La Puma, I realized there was a whole world of sneakerheads who were into sneakers for buying, selling, and trading. Once I saw some of the profits I could make on certain sneakers, I was all in. So, as of this writing, I have only been interested in sneakers for about five years, but I learned a lot in a relatively short amount of time and count myself as an above-average fan of the sneaker world.

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For some reason, the combination of the different styles, colorways, and collaborations of the sneakers instantly made me interested in learning about them and getting more.

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Like many others, you may be flabbergasted at the sticker price or street value of some of these sneakers or designer pieces. I don’t think it’s strange for you to question why a pair of sneakers could be worth more than your Mercedes G-Class wagon payment or how a hoodie with a red rectangle in the middle of it could cost you more than a trip to London. The world freaked out in April 2019 when I posted a pic of Pastor John Gray donning the extremely coveted Nike Air Yeezy 2 Red Octobers, selling at the time in resale markets for more than $5,600.¹ And people struggled to comprehend my July 2019 post of Pastor Troy Gramling wearing the sought-after Supreme x Louis Vuitton box logo T-shirt, valued at more than $1,500 at the time.² It’s a white tee with a logo on it. The average person may at least raise an eyebrow to the whole concept and wonder how we got here.

I honestly didn’t know about the high-fashion designer world until I started PnS. That’s partly why PreachersNSneakers created such a stir, because unsuspecting followers of these leaders of the faith were getting a first look at what this stuff was actually worth and were forced to wrestle with how they felt about it and why they felt that way. I imagine a lot of you just thought that these guys were trying to look “hip,” and you never gave much thought to the price tag. “How could a pair of sneakers be worth so much?” you may ask now. Well, I’m about to tell you about one of my favorite hobbies. Be careful: you might just get hooked too.

The retail sneaker market worldwide was valued at more than $58 billion in 2018.³ That’s retail only. Sneakerheads have created an entirely different footwear economy: resale. The resale market is projected to be more than $6 billion globally by 2025.⁴ The thing about sneakers is that some pairs are more limited in quantity, harder to find, or limited regionally, which drives up the demand and, concurrently, the amount owners are willing to accept to part with the sought-after kicks.

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The retail sneaker market worldwide was more than $58 billion in 2018. That’s retail only. Sneakerheads have created an entirely different footwear economy: resale.

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On average, most new pairs of sneakers come out as a general release in “full family sizing.” Basically, the company creates thousands of pairs in every size so that whoever wants to buy the sneakers can (in theory). There are other sneakers, however, that are more revered and sought after, of which the manufacturer will only make a limited number. Michael Jordan’s original set of Player Exclusive “PE” shoes will get rereleased in different color combinations (colorways) that will often generate a different amount of hype depending on how rare or attractive that specific shoe is. Pair a new colorway with a collaboration with a current artist, brand, or athlete, and that drives up the anticipation and demand for the kicks even more. Some examples are Pharrell Williams’s collaboration with Adidas and Supreme’s with Nike. And, of course, Kanye West and Adidas created the billion-dollar Yeezy brand. The esteemed rapper Travis Scott has recently released numerous pairs of Nikes with his own specific designs that have instantly sold out online and in stores, causing the price to spike in the resale market.

Because you had to get lucky or stand in line for days to be able to purchase these limited sneaks, true sneaker fanatics and “hypebeasts” (basically people who want to be seen wearing the most coveted fashion/streetwear pieces) are willing to pay a premium to buy and wear them. Travis has even made certain pairs only available to friends and family (F&F), which skyrockets their market value.

On a recent trip to New York to interview Pastor David Nasser, I stopped into one of the most well-known sneaker boutiques in the world, Stadium Goods. Their whole business is to buy, consign, and sell limited-edition sneakers at a premium to those looking for the most exclusive kicks in the game. They’re also somewhat of a free museum of sneakers that most people would never be able to see in their everyday lives. While I was there, they had one pair of purple F&F Jordan 4s that were designed by Travis Scott—super-rare. Their list price was $27,500. They also had a pair of the sought-after Eminem x Carhartt x Air Jordan 4s going for $20,000. Eventually I got to see, arguably, the grail of all grails: the Nike Air Mags, modeled after the famous self-lacing kicks Marty McFly wore in the film Back to the Future Part II. Their price? Fifty. Thousand. Dollars. For a pair of shoes!

Not only is the resale market itself blowing up, but the events surrounding sneakers are massive as well. Sneaker Con, for example, is a colossal gathering of fellow sneaker fanatics that happens in major cities across the world. Celebrities, sneaker brands, and fans all come together and interact for a couple of days to buy, trade, and flex the most hyped-up kicks. Often these events, where literally millions of dollars change hands, attract more than ten thousand people.⁵ There are even celebrities within the sneaker resale culture—because why not? These include guys like Jaysse Lopez (Two Js Kicks), who once was homeless and now runs an almost $25 million sneaker resale shop in Vegas called Urban Necessities.⁶ He’s famous for a lot of things, but on YouTube, he has scores of videos of walking around Sneaker Con events and spending hundreds of thousands in cash on sneakers for him, his wife, and his store. Then there are other more content-focused players in the sneaker world who are celebrities in their own right. Guys like Jacques Slade, Seth Fowler, and my personal favorite, Brad Hall. These guys make a living off of literally unboxing and reviewing sneakers on YouTube.

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I got to see, arguably, the grail of all grails: the Nike Air Mags, modeled after the famous self-lacing kicks Marty McFly wore in the film Back to the Future Part II. Their price? Fifty. Thousand. Dollars. For a pair of shoes!

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For the Normal McNormalsons, outside of Sneaker Con and similar events, like ComplexCon, those in search of limited sneaks use platforms like StockX, GOAT, and eBay to buy/sell their prized possessions. StockX and GOAT are essentially stock markets of things where buyers set a bid price and sellers set an ask. You can either pay the price of someone’s ask or set a bid if you’re only willing to buy at a certain price. Once there is a match between buyer and seller, the seller sends the unworn kicks and box to a verification facility, and the buyer sends funds to escrow. Once the kicks are verified as authentic and sent to the buyer, the transaction is complete—all for a transaction fee. At scale, this quite literally creates a stock market–type environment for footwear, designer clothing, and other collectibles. eBay is still a heavily used option, but the purchase is riskier because you don’t get to verify the kicks before buying. To date, StockX is where I have sourced most of my market data for the shoes the pastors wear.

Some of the most popular shoes featured on PreachersNSneakers are the Off-White collaboration with Jordan Brand. Off-White is a brand founded by the Illinois-born designer Virgil Abloh, who has an immense following...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword by Joel McHale
• 01: That Time I Blew Up the Internet: How Can a Simple Joke Start a Movement?
• 02: Harley Moments: Is It Okay to Get Rich Off of God?
• 03: Kanye, Kim, and Carl: What Do We Do with Christian Celebrities?
• 04: Bad and Boujee? More Like God and Gucci!: Does God Bless with Bling?
• 05: A Note About $1,000 Sneakers: How Can a Pair of Kicks Be Worth So Much?
• 06: Registered Flex Offenders: Are Your Lifestyle Posts a Sin?
• 07: Woke Worshipers and Politicking Pastors: Should Faith Leaders Use Platforms for Political Influence?
• 08: Pursue Your Promised Purpose, Particularly Proving Your Predestination: Can Self-Help and the Gospel Coexist?
• 09: Six Flags over Jesus: Where Does Production Value Stop and Vanity Start?
• 10: Church Merch: What Happens When a Harmless Brand Becomes Our Golden Calf?
• 11: Callout Culture, Christian Twitter, and Clowning Pastors: When Can Christians Question Public Figures from Afar?
• 12: Wow! You Read Till the End: What Do We Do Now?
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• About the Author