Overview
- A circulated video from late June shows men in military-style gear pretending to shoot a person on a Lexington church altar while children chant “Take him out, blow him up.”
- Pastor Dewayne Walker confirmed the skit was real and said it is part of a long-running 'Commandos for Christ' VBS segment that uses air/paintball-style guns to symbolize 'killing the devil,' and he apologized to those offended.
- The clip spread rapidly across platforms such as TikTok, Reddit and Facebook, drew millions of views in some posts, and copies were later removed or archived by users and sites.
- Parents, faith leaders and groups including the Kentucky chapter of Moms Demand Action called the portrayal disturbing and inappropriate for children, with some critics saying the imagery could be traumatizing or breach trust in children's spaces.
- No public reports of formal investigations or legal actions have been filed so far, and the episode has prompted renewed scrutiny of how churches present violent metaphors to children and how social platforms handle such viral content.