{"id":215517,"date":"2026-07-01T01:20:44","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T01:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/kentucky-pastor-defends-viral-video-showing-mock-firing-squad-in-front-of-children-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T01:20:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T01:20:44","slug":"kentucky-pastor-defends-viral-video-showing-mock-firing-squad-in-front-of-children-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/kentucky-pastor-defends-viral-video-showing-mock-firing-squad-in-front-of-children-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Kentucky pastor defends viral video showing mock firing squad in front of children – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The pastor at a Baptist church in Kentucky decried the spread of \u201cmisinformation\u201d after his house of worship drew criticism over a viral video showing staff members leading a mock firing squad in front of a group of children.
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The video, posted on Reddit<\/a>, shows men in military-style costumes marching down the center aisle at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church in Lexington and pretending to open fire on a person in a black outfit on the steps to the altar. The children seated nearby can be heard chanting: \u201cTake him out. Blow him up.\u201d
The costumed men then carry the person in black outside, and an explosion sound can be heard.
Pastor Dewayne Walker addressed the \u201cfirestorm\u201d over the video clip in a Facebook post Monday. He said he was \u201cbefuddled\u201d by the outrage.
\u201cThe misinformation out there is sad, and I guess it\u2019s a part of what this generation has become,\u201d Walker said in part.
He said the viral video showed an event that was \u201cnothing more than a small part of our vacation Bible school,\u201d adding that the church has held similar rituals for more than 30 years.
\u201cWe have characters every year that represent good and right and God, and we have characters that represent evil and wrong and that which should be avoided,\u201d Walker said, describing the \u201cskits\u201d as an attempt to make church \u201cfun.\u201d
\u201cEvery year, for 32 years, we\u2019ve had this evil against good [ritual] in our vacation Bible school. The last several years, we\u2019ve had the commandos for Christ,\u201d Walker said, adding in part: \u201cThe clip you saw was simply killing the Devil.\u201d
\u201cYou may think we went over the top,\u201d Walker added. \u201cYou may think it was a little bit extreme, and maybe you\u2019re right, but don\u2019t you believe that the devil is really using extreme measures in this generation.\u201d
Mt. Olivet Baptist Church did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
The viral video drew criticism in part from the Kentucky chapter of Moms Demand Action, an organization focused on preventing gun violence. In a statement, a volunteer for the group characterized the clip as \u201cunbelievably disturbing.\u201d
\u201cVacation Bible School and our churches should be safe spaces for children. Subjecting kids to a full-scale simulated tactical raid and firing squad is just an appalling abuse of that space, and a major breach of trust that can\u2019t go unaddressed,\u201d said Kathi Crowe, a Lexington resident and retired teacher.
\u201cAny lesson for children about good and evil has to start with adults modeling safety and grace,\u201d Crowe added. \u201cOur leaders must do more to protect our kids and educate the community on the steps they can take to prevent this kind of violence from actually happening.\u201d
The viral video likewise led to an outpouring of criticism on Reddit, with one user describing the skit as \u201cdepraved.\u201d
\u201cThere\u2019s not enough context in the world to make this okay,\u201d another Reddit user wrote.
Daniel Arkin is a senior reporter at NBC News.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeThe pastor at a Baptist church in Kentucky decried the spread of \u201cmisinformation\u201d after his house of worship drew criticism over a viral video showing staff members leading a mock firing squad in front of a group of children.Limited time: Save 25% on NBC News subscriptionGet exclusive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":215518,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-215517","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}