Preacher with Joel Osteen’s Lakewood church, Pastor John Gray defends Lamborghini gift to his wife

Preacher with Joel Osteen’s Lakewood church who worked with Donald Trump now under fire for giving his wife a $200,000 Lamborghini as an anniversary gift

  • John Gray, currently pastor of Relentless Church in Greenville, South Carolina, was seen on video giving the pricey gift to his wife
  • Aventer Gray, his wife of eight years, received a Lamborghini Urus
  • The Grays received a social media backlash for the extravagant spending of a megachurch preacher
  • Both Grays took to social media to strongly defend the purchase, clarifying that no church funds were used 

A South Carolina pastor who still preaches occasionally at Joel Osteen’s famed Lakewood Church became emotional defending his extravagant purchase of a $200,000 Lamborghini Urus for his wife’s wedding anniversary gift.

John Gray of Relentless Church in Greenville, South Carolina, received a social media backlash after a video of him presenting his wife, Aventer Gray, with the keys to the luxury vehicle was posted online, according to Greenville News.

‘Pastor buys his wife, you know, this expensive car,’ The pastor said in an impassioned Instagram video now taken down. ‘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.’

Many of his parishioners past and present also backed up the preacher’s luxurious gift-giving spirit for his eighth anniversary.

‘Being married, if my husband gave me one, I would think that he loves me more than he loves money,’ Carolina Lugo of Lakewood Church told KHOU.

The recipient of the splashy gift, Aventer Gray, also took to social media to defend her husband. 

‘MY HUBBY IS A HARD-WORKER, HE WORKED HIS WHOLE LIFE AND HE SAVED TO BLESS HIS WIFE!’ she emphatically wrote. 

‘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,’ she continued venting on Instagram. ‘We don’t live for people! We live for God!’ 

Pastor John Gray (left) leading his wife (right) to the wedding anniversary gift with the hefty pricetag

She was overjoyed when she saw her pricey gift

She was overjoyed when she saw her pricey gift

A photo of a Lamborghini Urus, the sport utility vehicle make and model that John Gray procured for his wife 

A photo of a Lamborghini Urus, the sport utility vehicle make and model that John Gray procured for his wife 

John Gray, left, and wife Aventer Gray, right, seen at the premiere of the HBO film, 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lack'

John Gray, left, and wife Aventer Gray, right, seen at the premiere of the HBO film, ‘The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lack’

The embattled clergyman also states that he did not use any church money in the purchase of the Lamborghini. 

‘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,’ he stated in a Facebook Live video. ‘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.’

Gray says the money for the gift came from his show, ‘The Book of John Gray,’ on the Oprah Winfrey Network, revenue from a book deal and a great deal of scrimping and saving over months. 

John Gray and Aventer, posing with Victoria Osteen and Joel Osteen

John Gray and Aventer, posing with Victoria Osteen and Joel Osteen

John Gray and President Donald Trump at a prison reform event held in August

John Gray and President Donald Trump at a prison reform event held in August

The defensive posture in consistent with comments he made to the Greenville News a year ago where he defended pastors who drive nice cars, saying that fancy automobiles was one of his indulgences.

John Gray has some notoriety outside of his recent gift controversy. Following his time as the first black associate pastor with Joel Osteen’s Houston-based ministry, he also made headlines describing President Donald Trump as the ‘most pro-black’ president’ at a prison reform event earlier this summer. 

 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk