A Pittsburgh pastor has come under fire after pictures emerged of a $230,000 Bentley in his driveway.
Jarell Taylor snapped a picture of the expensive car, owned by Dr. William H. Curtis, the pastor of the Mount Ararat Baptist Church in Pittsburgh, PA. Taylor criticized the pastor for having a car that is worth about twice as much as most of the people in the community he serves makes in one year, according to the the Christian Post.
“If your pastor [is] driving a Bentley truck, he’s sucking your community dry with hope and tithes,” Taylor wrote in his post.
The wrong message sent to a community
It certainly isn’t a good look for the pastor, who has not responded to the story. Even if he isn’t using the tithes from the church to line his pockets, the choice to drive such an expensive car, may not send the best message to his congregation and neighbors.
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“I don’t know how owning a Bentley that’s worth $230,000 contributes in any way to the furtherance of the Kingdom and also how that could be justified,” said Samuel Cruz, an associate professor of Religion & Society at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City, to the Christian Post.
“To own a car that expensive you have to be among the top 10 percent of income earners or even higher of these United States of America, and I can’t consider how preaching could lead someone to so much wealth.”
He’s more than just a pastor
While no one currently in the church seems to have a concern, former Mount Ararat Baptist Church parishioner and GQ.com columnist, Damon Young, noted that Curtis, who has served as pastor of the church since 1997, has other sources of income. Still, he agrees that the “optics” do not look good.
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“I have to admit that my instinctual reaction to this was to wince,” he wrote last week. “I’m aware that between speaking engagements, teaching positions and books, this pastor has other income streams besides the church.”