By Ryan McPherson
“What is God’s plan when I go to a college campus? I just believe I will only tell truth, I will not compromise, and I’ll love on the lost,” Charlie Kirk once said regarding his work on American colleges.
On September 10, the Founder and CEO of Turning Point USA was assassinated while dialoguing with a student at Utah Valley University during TPUSA’s “The American Comeback Tour.”
Since his untimely death, Kirk’s impact on American culture and politics has proven to be massive. Numerous media outlets, political and cultural figures, domestically and globally, have covered this tragic event and the legacy Kirk has left behind.
Eleven days later, Turning Point USA, in coordination with the White House, organized a memorial service at State Farm Stadium in Glendale. The memorial featured an overwhelming number of attendees seeking to mourn and celebrate Kirk’s life, including the Trump Administration. In addition to in-person attendees, the service had at least 100 million online streams.
The faith-centered memorial commenced with roughly three hours of Christian worship music.
Following the music was Pastor Rob McCoy, personal pastor and long-time friend of Charlie Kirk, addressing his relationship with a man whose “stock has risen through the stratosphere.”
The TPUSA staff who pulled together the memorial with little time for an event of such magnitude were lauded by McCoy.
“Without Charlie Kirk’s presence, they pulled off the largest event in Turning Point history,” he remarked. “Turning Point is alive and well.”
Rebecca Dunn, a long-time supporter of Kirk and funder of TPUSA, relayed how over a decade ago she had grown pessimistic regarding the future of freedom causes in the US. This changed when she met a 20-year-old Charlie Kirk.
“Shortly before I met Charlie, I had become very discouraged about the atmosphere in our country. I even suggested to my husband that maybe we should stop trying, it seemed that the money and time we were giving to freedom causes did not seem to be making a difference,” Dunn said.
“About 12 years ago I met this bright young man filled with optimism about his plan to reach young people,” Dunn said. “That young man of course was Charlie Kirk and his organization was Turning Point USA.”
Charlie had asked Dunn and her husband, Bill, for a donation of $50,000, to which they asked him to raise half of that amount, and they would provide the remaining half. Two days late,r he came back to them with the $25,000 raised, Dunn said.
Mikey McCoy, Chief of Staff for TPUSA, spoke about his close relationship with Kirk as his former assistant. He sees in the legacy of Kirk’s death a manifestation of what the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard once proclaimed in his journals: “The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins.”
Reflecting on the fragility of time, TPUSA Chief Operating Officer Justin Streiff commented on the enormous accomplishments Kirk made in his life.
“Charlie lived only 31 years. Yet, when I reflect on those years, I see more impact, and more courage, and more achievement than most men accomplish in a lifetime,” Streiff said.
“Charlie simply refused to let fear stop him from carrying out God’s will for him in his life,” he continued. “This right here and right now is our Turning Point.”
Dr. Ben Carson praised Kirk’s bravery, declaring his martyrdom will bring forth fruit.
“You cannot be the land of the free, if you’re not the home of the brave,” Carson said. “I want to thank Charlie for his sacrifice because much fruit is going to be realized.”
US Representative Anna Paulina Luna, a former colleague of Kirk’s, said, “There would be no Congresswoman Luna without Charlie Kirk.”
Luna places Kirk among the likes of other assassinated American political figures.
“His name will stand etched in history beside the likes of JFK, who boldly challenged a generation to ask what they could do for their country amid the shadows of the Cold War; and Dr. King, who marched into the jaws of hatred, sacrificing his safety and ultimately his life to bend the arc of history towards justice,” she said.
During his speech, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller focused on Erika Kirk and how the death of her husband aligns with the history of Western Civilization.
“Erika stands on the shoulders of thousands of years of warriors, of women who raised up families, raised up cities, raised up industry, raised up civilization, who pulled us out of the cave of darkness and into the light,” Miller said. “They can’t imagine what they have awakened; they cannot conceive of the army that they have awakened in all of us.”
Tucker Carlson was amazed with the immensity of the memorial, “This is the most unbelievable thing I have ever seen,” he said.
Carlson praised Kirk for his sincere expression of faith throughout his life and career.
In June, the Iced Coffee Hour podcast asked Kirk what he wanted to be remembered for when he died. He responded: “If I die? I want to be remembered for courage for my faith. That would be the most important thing.”
Carlson continued on the same theme.
“The thing about Charlie’s message… he was bringing the Gospel to the country: he was doing the thing which the people in charge hate most: which is calling for them to repent,” Carlson said. “There was no hate in his heart. He would always say, that [a hateful person is] a sad person, that’s a broken person who needs help.”
US Secretary of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard spoke to the legacy of Kirk being “what our Founders envisioned” as an advocate for freedom.
Charlie combined both a detestation of big government along with an emphasis on faith, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth noted.
“Live worthy of Charlie Kirk’s sacrifice,” Hegseth called on the audience. “Charlie will take it from here.”
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. noted the significance of Kirk as a figure who changed the trajectory of history, a pattern which he compared with Jesus Christ.
“Charlie died with his boots, and he died to make sure we didn’t have to undergo those fates that are worse than death,” Kennedy said.
Toward the conclusion of the memorial, Vice President JD Vance said the assassination of Kirk prompted a revival.
“The evil murderer who took Charlie’s life expected us to have a funeral today, and instead my friends we have had a revival in celebration of Charlie Kirk and his lord Jesus Christ,” Vance said. “For every hateful voice celebrating his murder, there are a thousand mourning it and fighting for his legacy every day.”
Erika Kirk approached the podium tearfully as she prepared to speak.
“God’s mercy and God’s love have been revealed to me these past ten days after Charlie’s assasination,” Ms. Kirk said. “ You didn’t see violence, you didn’t see rioting, we didn’t see revolution: instead, we saw what my husband always prayed he would see in this country: we saw revival.”
Ms. Kirk emphasized her husband’s faith and echoed some sentiments stemming from it in relation to his death.
“Break free from the shackles and temptations of this world. Charlie happily carried his cross all the way to the end,” she stated. “While Charlie died far too early, he was also ready to die. He did 100 percent of what he could every day…Charlie died with incomplete work, but not with unfinished business.”
Ms. Kirk then gave encouragement to men in the US and their marriages.
“Be strong in your manhood, love your families and protect them. Please be a leader worth following,” she challenged men. “Your wife is not your servant, your wife is not your employee, your wife is not your slave, she is your helper: you’re not rivals: you’re one flesh working together for the glory of god.”
Further on the same theme, Ms. Kirk noted that her husband devoted himself fervently to helping young men who are hopeless and dissatisfied with life.
“Charlie wanted passionately to reach and save the young boys of the West. The young men who feel like they have no direction, no faith and reason to live.”
Ms. Kirk forgave the assassin of Kirk, a bold act of religiosity, prompting immediate applause from the crowd.
“The answer to hate is not hate, the answer we know from the Gospel is love and always love: love for our enemies and love for those that persecute us,” she explained.
Following Ms. Kirk was US President Donald Trump, greeted by singer Lee Greenwood, who sang “God Bless the USA” before Trump’s speech.
“None of us will ever forget Charlie Kirk–and neither now will history,” Trump declared. “His voice on Earth will echo through the generations. And his name will live forever in the eternal chronicle of America’s greatest patriots.”
Trump mentioned that one of the last things Kirk told him was to save Chicago, Illinois, a city near Kirk’s hometown of Arlington Heights.
“We’re gonna’ save Chicago from horrible crime,” Trump told the audience.
The President then provided a history of Charlie Kirk’s career. It was Charlie, Trump remarked, who helped unite the Make America Great Again political movement. “The gun was pointed at him, but aimed at all of us,” the president said.
“God bless Erika and the children: God bless the United States of America,” Trump said, welcoming Ms. Kirk on stage as he closed his speech.
During her speech, Erika Kirk proclaimed that TPUSA will continue her husband’s mission in changing the lives of American youth.
“The world needs TPUSA. It needs something that will lead people away from Hell in this world and in the next: young people pointed in the direction of truth and beauty.”
