PreachersNSneakers

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

By: Ben Kirby, Joel McHale - foreword

Narrated by: Benjamin Kirby, Judah Smith, Joel McHale

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.

• Includes an audiobook-exclusive conversation with Judah Smith

©2021 PreachersNSneakers (P)2021 Thomas Nelson

Honest appraisal of modern Christianity

Ben does a great job highlighting the struggles of modern Christianity.

As someone who hasn't been in a church more than a handful of times since going to college (grew up in the Bible belt like Ben did), I am not a modern Christian.

To be honest, I am positive Jesus and the disciples wouldn't be considered good modern Christians either, maybe Paul would be...

The straightforward and (somewhat) brash approach of calling out American Christians is beautifully accomplished and executed in this book.

If you want the hard truth (or want another reason not to attend church), this book gives you a lot of points to contemplate and topics to quote.

Insightful

Very good listen and was very easy to follow but so much depth and meat in all the topics presented!

Solid Introduction on a Difficult Topic

While I may not agree with every single conclusion the author makes, I will absolutely be buying this book in bulk and giving it to the students in my college ministry who want to know more about the complex and nuanced topic of wealth, culture, and Christianity. Great read!

If you are _ this book is for you.

As Ben puts it if you are a variety of different people who maybe grew up in Christian culture, from secular culture looking at Christian culture, to the person who grew up in secular culture but is now a Christian, this book is for you. Ben lays out the world of high fashion/sneaker head world and how it has now intersected celebrity pastors. But he also points out that greed, materialism, and questionable lifestyles of vocational pastors is not new to the church. This book helped facilate thought provoking questions for myself about what "Master" do I serve (God or Money). Do some of the things I own/desire to own cloud my view of the gospel and my eternal reward in heaven? How do I live in a world of things but faithfully only serve God? How has God blessed me with money/things, and how is he asking me to use those for his good and not my own?

Overall, this book will not only give you some good laughs, but it will make you think, and hopefully convict you to rethink some of the ways you are living or want to live.

Not about having answers, but about asking questions

If you want a starting point to be able to ask hard questions about the Church, wealth, and it’s relationship with material things, this book is for you. This book is for everyone actually. Ben, thanks for not having the answers, but being willing to ask the questions.

Awesome

Very clear perspective and will make you evaluate things in ministry. Will recommend to many pastors I know.

Relatable

loved the book, and loved the interview with Judah Smith. I thought I was the only one that felt that way about this preachers, especially since I grew up in the church all my life. this book is a breath of fresh air.

Let’s talk about it

Ben spends the entire book discussing what this world can’t seem to come to grips with; having a discussion about tough issues, primarily fame and monetary status of prominent pastors. In today’s world, you either have one an opinion or the other, there’s no room for discussion or flexibility on any subject. That’s why I love this book, it’s not a book that promotes growth by giving you three steps to the right answer, it is a book that promotes growth through thoughtful discussion, asking questions that we all should ask of ourselves to have true accountability. Ben was very well spoken, excellent listen as he uses modern language that could really reach anyone while not compromising the gospel. Side note: the interview with Judah Smith at the end alone is worth the audible purchase.

Thanks For Sharing, Ben

a well thought-out reflection on the phenomenon that took place on the internet. Ben does a great job sharing his side of the story and asks questions every one of us should think about especially in the world of social media.

Tough questions. But amazing questions.

Thank you for taking the time to write this book! I binge listened to the entire thing while doing chores and deep cleaning my kids bedroom. As a pastor‘s wife and someone who is active on social media, I just really appreciate the thoughts you share and the questions you asked. We should never be afraid to ask hard questions of ourselves or the body of Christ. And I loved the added bonus of your conversation with Judith Smith at the end. Lots of respect for him. And cheers for all the homeschooled millennial’s making waves and doing hard things.