Ben Kirby - PreachersNSneakers: Authenticity in an Age of For-Profit Faith and (Wannabe) Celebrities

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I must have received fifty or so texts and calls the day PreachersNSneakers first posted on Instagram. People that know me knew it would bring to light questions wed been asking in private for a while. I believe the conversation it began is essential, and few at the time were willing to get it started. The book PreachersNSneakers is a reminder that its always easier to seem than it is to be. Its not just dunking on people. At the core, Ben is keeping people accountable by asking questions that are easier to ignore than confront, and Im here for all of it.

Abner Ramirez Recording artist, JOHNNYSWIM

PreachersNSneakers started the difficult conversations around generosity, indulgence, responsibility, and accountability, and it will impact the Christian church for generations to come. Ben Kirbys book is forcing us to have a conversation about some of the aspects of the social mediadriven Christian lifestyle that we are not as proud of, while creating a new narrative that is giving us the hope to create a future culture where we introduce accountability into our spending habits as Christians while understanding that the culture around us has changed. PreachersNSneakers is a book that will help reshape the church during this critical moment for the next generation.

Erica Greve Founder and CEO of Unlikely Heroes

The lifestyle described in this book was the house of cards I once lived inand loved. Whatever your religious affiliation, this is a must-read. The author asks tough questions about those who behave more like greedy celebrities than Gods servants.

Costi W. Hinn Pastor and author of God, Greed, and the (Prosperity) Gospel

My dude BK has written a book that will be sure to drive meaningful discussion about money and fame in the church today. This book is funny and is for everyone, not just church folk.

Justin Holiday NBA champion

As a secular fashion and Sam Harris fan, I was excited to open a @PreachersNSneakers book that simultaneously showcased tons of cool sneakers and made fun of materialistic, hypocritical Christian leaders. Instead, what I got was an engaging, sincere, self-aware, non-preachy, down-to-earth but deep philosophical discussion about contemporary American Christianity that everyone, regardless of political affiliation, would benefit from knowing. Yuck.

Ronny Chieng Stand-up comic, actor, correspondent on The Daily Show

I came for the jokes, but I was truly impressed with the depth of honest insight and challenging questions. Haters gon hate... but this book is fantastic!

Chris McClarney Recording artist

PreachersNSneakers has managed to do the nearly impossible: be funny and important. Normally one cancels out the other, but Ben, through his content online and in this book, continues to pull it off. I truly believe if there is one thing that can heal us individually and unite us corporately, its making fun of celebrity pastors.

Dustin Nickerson Stand-up comic

Copyright 2021 Benjamin Kirby

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by W Publishing, an imprint of Thomas Nelson.

Author is represented by The Christopher Ferebee Agency, www.christopherferebee.com.

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked CSB are taken from the Christian Standard Bible, Copyright 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible and CSB are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Any internet addresses, phone numbers, or company or product information printed in this book are offered as a resource and are not intended in any way to be or to imply an endorsement by Thomas Nelson, nor does Thomas Nelson vouch for the existence, content, or services of these sites, phone numbers, companies, or products beyond the life of this book.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021902320

ISBN 978-0-7852-3883-6 (SC)

ISBN 978-0-7852-3890-4 (eBook)

ISBN 978-0-7852-3891-1 (audiobook)

Epub Edition February 2021 9780785238904

Printed in the United States of America

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To my wife, Stacy

I love you with the passion of a thousand

angry Christians bickering on Instagram

H i. Its me, Joel McHale. You might remember me from such canceled TV shows as The Soup, Community (canceled twice!), The Great Indoors, The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale (wait, this list is getting depressingly long). Okay, so if youd like the rest, please email me (joelmchale@netscape.com) and I can send you the first terabyte drive of my canceled work. My apologiesthis foreword has already gone off the rails, which, coincidentally, is the name of my new show, Gone Off the Rails with Joel McHale. Its about trains. And there I go again.

Ben is going to be mad that so much of this foreword has been taken up with me talking about myself and not talking about his great book youre about to read. (I mean, what do you expect, Ben? I live in Hollywood, where we add self-centeredness to our drinking water along with fluoride and antidepressants.) All right, here we go... the foreword...

Look, Im not sure what Im going to be able to write here thatll make you want to read this book even more. I mean, you already bought the book, right? Its not like youre at a bookstore right now (Barnes & Noble is not a bookstore anymoreit sells mostly Funko Pop!s and cool phone chargers), scrutinizing forewords as a test to see if youll read the rest of a book written by a completely different person. And its not as if Amazon displays the foreword as a sample of the writing. (Oh, it might? Well, then I hope this isnt the cause of lost sales!) Heres what Ill say: read the Jack Reacher thrillers. Those novels are tremendous. Once youve gotten through those, you should definitely read PreachersNSneakers.

When I was first introduced to the PreachersNSneakers Instagram account, I laughed for ten minutes (even more than I did while watching that video of the cat using a door knocker). The account was so funny and insightful. It reminded me of my early days on The Soup (see, its always about me; I basically just said I was funny and insightful). Ben has made the spectacle of these megachurch preacherswho follow the teachings of Jesus, who said to give up your possessionswearing $3,000 kicks... fun. Ben made it fun, and some of the most fun came from the online reactions of the preachers responding to the posts they were featured in. We got to read classic excuses like They were given to me and I used my book sales money. I especially liked the book sales excuse. Thats like Saint Francis of Assisi buying a yacht with the profits from all of his bird feeder statues.