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VBS Murder Skit: When a Church Teaches Children Violence

VBS Murder Skit: When a Church Teaches Children Violence

Last updated on: July 1, 2026 at 11:25 am by Leah D. Schade

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VBS Murder Skit: When a Church Teaches Children Violence 2026-07-01T11:25:42-04:00 Leah D. Schade

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A pastoral critique of Mt. Olivet Baptist Church’s VBS devil-murder skit and why teaching children violence in church is spiritually and emotionally harmful.

Mt. Olivet Baptist Church VBS Devil-Murder Skit

Mt. Olivet Baptist Church VBS Devil-Murder Skit, June 2026, Lexington, Ky. Still from video on Twitter/X

A video has gone viral showing young children at a Vacation Bible School watching men with guns appear to shoot a man in the church sanctuary.

I came across the video while scrolling through X/Twitter and was horrified. Why would a church subject children to such a scene? In a nation where gun violence terrorizes schools, churches, and public spaces, why would a church turn their sanctuary into a stage for simulated murder?

Yes, the video is real.

I checked to see if the video was authentic or AI-generated. According Snopes, the video is real.

In fact, it happened at a church in Lexington, Ky., where I live. As an ordained Lutheran minister, what I saw shook me to my core.

Pastor Dewayne Walker led Mt. Olivet Baptist Church’s 32nd annual VBS with the theme “S’More About Jesus” in June 2026. The event included a violent skit in which men in military uniforms pretended to open fire on a person sprawled on the chancel steps. As gun fire sound effects played, the person shook on the ground, appearing to be riddled with bullets.

The pastor then led the adults and children in a raucous chant: “Take him out! Blow him up!”

“Killing the devil”

The children appeared to enjoy the skit. They seemed to understand that the scene was make-believe. The pastor later explained in a video statement that the skit was about “killing the devil,” and the video was spreading without proper context.

But as a pastor who has directed many Vacation Bible Schools, and as a parent who sent my own children to these summer programs, I must condemn this.

No explanation or rationale can justify exposing children to a realistic enactment of murder, especially in a church.

“Causing these little ones to sin”

This is not what Jesus had in mind when he urged his disciples to “let the children come to me” (Matthew 19:14). Rather, this is an example of what Jesus condemned in Matthew 18:6: “causing one of these little ones who believe in me to sin.”

The pastor and this congregation have risked causing these little ones to sin by teaching them that violence is the proper response for sin. That guns in churches are acceptable. And that God and Jesus approve of murder as a remedy for sin.

The pastor’s explanation

Pastor Dewayne Walker, Mt. Olivet Baptist Church

Still from video of Pastor Dewayne Walker, Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, June 29, 2026. https://www.facebook.com/reel/895358056938398

The infuriating irony is that the pastor earnestly believes he did something good. In his video statement, he said:

The last several years we’ve had the “Commandos for Christ” that has the “gospel gun.” It’s the answer for the devil. The gospel and the word of God. It’s the answer. The clip you saw was simply killing the devil. And I’ll be honest with you, if I could kill the devil every day and raise him up and kill him again, I’d do it. He’s the one we hate. We are not allowed by God to hate anybody else. Not even our enemies. And that’s all that clip was.

“Commandos for Christ”? The “gospel gun”? What is this Christian nationalist insanity?

Aside from theological heresy, his explanation could possibly make sense to adults already fluent in religious metaphor. But it does not make sense for children still learning how to distinguish symbol from reality.

A dangerous teaching for children

The problem with Walker’s logic is that it ignores children’s mental and emotional development. He may believe he was teaching children to reject “the devil,” but elementary-age children are still developing the capacity for abstract and metaphorical thought.

When adults stage a shooting and tell kids to chant “Take him out! Blow him up!” they are not conveying a nuanced theological metaphor about resisting temptation.

No, the lesson is concrete: violence is exciting, violence belongs in church, and violence is an acceptable way to defeat what we call evil.

When this church dramatizes sin as a target to be gunned down, they teach a dangerous distortion of the gospel. They and their pastor are forming children to imagine Christian faith as combat, domination, and elimination rather than repentance, healing, mercy, and transformation.

But didn’t the kids have fun?

Here’s the thing. What looks like enjoyment may mask trauma. Even if no child appeared frightened in the video, that does not mean no harm was done.

The pastor claimed: “We’re painting a real picture to kids visibly what’s going on invisibly.” But this skit may have inflicted invisible trauma that becomes visible only in time.

Children often process disturbing experiences later. They show up in dreams, play, anxiety, or questions they cannot yet articulate. In a country where children practice active-shooter drills at school and hear about mass shootings in classrooms, churches, and public spaces, adults should be doing everything possible to make sacred space feel safe. Instead, this church turned the sanctuary into a theater of gun violence and encouraged children to participate in it.

This being the case, what this church and pastor have done is abusive. They have inflicted spiritual and emotional abuse in the name of the church and in the name of God.

Failing to teach the gospel of Jesus

Here’s the message of the gospel that Pastor Walker failed to convey to these children. Jesus did not teach his followers to defeat evil by imitating evil. He refused the sword and rebuked violence. He forgave those who crucified him and overcame sin through self-giving love. Teaching children that the devil is defeated by staged gunfire replaces the cross with a weapon and discipleship with violence.

Recommendations for parents

I urge parents whose children attended this VBS to talk with them about what they experienced. If a child shows signs of stress, seek a licensed child therapist, pediatrician, school counselor, or trauma-informed pastoral counselor. Warning signs may include nightmares, fear of church or school, repeated play about shooting or killing, new anxiety around loud noises, regression, physical complaints, aggression, or withdrawal. They may also indicate troubling theological confusion about God and violence.

And if a child talks about wanting to hurt themselves or someone else, or shows interest in using a weapon, adults should seek immediate professional help.

We can’t expect these children to “get over it.” Adults have a responsibility to repair the harm, restore trust, and help children relearn that church is meant to be a place of safety, mercy, and peace.

A call to repentance and accountability

In his video statement, the pastor offered a non-apology for the incident: “Friends, if it offended you, I’m sorry that it did. That was not the intention.”

Sir, the problem is not just that you offended people. The problem is that you inflicted spiritual as well as emotional and mental harm on those children.

You have misrepresented Christ to these little ones, and Jesus is very clear that he would not approve of what you have done (read Matt. 18:6 in its entirety).

This is the time for true repentance. Turn away from the violence you staged and from the transgression of leading children into sin. I urge you to step down from pastoral leadership.

I also urge the congregation to end the tenure of this pastor. He has shown that he cannot be trusted with the gospel of Jesus. And he certainly cannot be trusted with the souls and spirits of vulnerable children.

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The Rev. Dr. Leah D. Schade is a seminary professor, ordained minister, and co-founder of the Clergy Emergency League. Her opinions are her own.

Leah is the author of Preaching and Social Issues: Tools and Tactics for Empowering Your Prophetic Voice (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024), Preaching in the Purple Zone: Ministry in the Red-Blue Divide (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019) and Creation-Crisis Preaching: Ecology, Theology, and the Pulpit (Chalice Press, 2015). She is the co-editor of Rooted and Rising: Voices of Courage in a Time of Climate Crisis (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019). Her book, Introduction to Preaching: Scripture, Theology, and Sermon Preparation, was co-authored with Jerry L. Sumney and Emily Askew (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023).

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