GettyApparently it pays to pray. God is smiling on the pastor of a South Carolina church, and has sent him a congregation willing to fund his $1.8million home.
Well, if this isn’t living how God would like, I don’t know what is. Pastor John Gray, who leads the Relentless Church in Greenville, South Carolina, bought his wife Aventer a Lamborghini for an anniversary present.
The couple live in a 7,247 square foot home in Simpsonville, South Carolina, which was paid for by the church where Pastor John works.
However, after the gifting of the supercar was posted to social media, Gray has decided to defend his spending publicly and deny any claims he’s a ‘pulpit pimp’.
He purchased a $200,000 Lamborghini Urus for Aventer to celebrate their eighth anniversary vow renewal in the eyes of God, presumably.
In a since-deleted Instagram video Pastor Gray made an impassioned defence:
Pastor buys his wife, you know, this expensive car. First of all, it wasn’t a pastor that bought the car. It was a husband that bought the car. Get that in your spirit.
Gray said the money for the car came from his show, The Book of John Gray, which airs on the Oprah Winfrey Network, as well as revenue from a book deal.
He said he put down the deposit for the car in February and hasn’t paid off the whole car yet.
Gray also went live on Facebook to further his rebuttal, saying:
I want to make it clear, not a nickel, not a penny, from this church, Relentless Church, went towards the gift that I made my wife.
That matters, that’s the only thing that matters, cuz I know like you know, there are some pulpit pimps out here who take church money and do the wrong thing.
Aventer also weighed in on the car controversy, taking to social media in another- now-deleted post in all caps to express her support:
MY HUBBY IS A HARD-WORKER, HE WORKED HIS WHOLE LIFE AND HE SAVED TO BLESS HIS WIFE!
I don’t see anyone screaming about how basketball players drive what they do while you paying $$ to see them play in arenas and on fields. We don’t live for people! We live for God!
Their home, which supposedly serves as a church parsonage, is said to be about 10 miles away from the mega-church, and is located in a gated subdivision, reports Greenville News.
The chief financial officer of Relentless Church, Travis Hayes, told the Greenville News a purchase of this kind ‘is not anything new’.
Hayes added:
This is a practice that is done with every denomination in the nation. That’s what this is. This is an asset that belongs to the church.
Gray would have to leave the home if he were to quit his job as a pastor at the church, Hayes confirmed, adding the church board decided to buy the home to entice someone of Gray’s ‘caliber’ to move to Greenville to lead the church.
The Relentless Church is said to have about 15,000 members with as many as 200,000 people watching its online sermons.
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A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.