10 things we learned on our visit to the Branch Davidian compound

1) The Holy Land is way out in the middle of nowhere. It’s 12 miles and 8 dirt roads from the freeway, to be exact.

2) The Branch Davidians have a new church and still meet weekly. There’s a whole new building on the site (though much smaller than before). 

3) David Koresh is still a pillar of the faith. Specifically, he’s the Seventh (and presumably final?) Shepherd.  

4) They receive moral support from various militia groups. Or would you call it monumental support?

5) Remnants from the old compound still exist. You’d never know a government siege happened here, as some of the debris has been put to (unknown) new uses. 

6) Koresh now gets half blame for the disaster. The other half, as you might guess, goes to the government. 

7) They want you to know they had nothing to do with the Oklahoma City bombing. And to be fair, they didn’t.  

8) They still have Sunday potluck dinners. The kitchen looks like it could serve 100 people, easy.  

9) Donations are welcome. As with all churches, they’re in the middle of a building campaign.  

10) Koresh is coming back someday. Not sure when. All we know is that it wasn’t today. (As if time is even a real thing.)

3 thoughts

  1. They are a separate group, headed up by Charles Pace, a long time opponent of David Koresh. The original Branch Davidian group fractured in 1984 into several different factions.

    1. Thanks for the clarification, David. It was kind of eerie to see the compound as it stands now. I just watched the ‘Oklahoma City’ documentary on Netflix that covers a lot about the Waco siege and how it contributed to the McVeigh bombing there.

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