The Charlie Kirk Show - Charlie Kirk, Honored and Remembered by His Friends
Episode Date: September 24, 2025Charlie was the head of many enterprises: TPUSA, Turning Point Action, and this very show. But Charlie didn't have employees — he had friends. On Sunday, those friends lined up one after another... to testify to his endless drive, passionate faith, and invincible courage that made him into an American hero. It's Charlie, remembered by those who knew him best.Support the show: http://www.charliekirk.com/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Ladies well, with my soul, with my soul, it's well, it's well, ladies and gentlemen, please
welcome Pastor Rob McCoy.
Good morning, everybody.
Thank you for coming out to honor Charlie Kirk.
God bless all of you and all of you tuning in online around the world.
I know you're all wondering who is he and why is he here,
and I'm asking myself the same question.
Charlie Kirk called me as president.
pastor. I called him my friend. I was with Charlie about a little over two weeks ago in Korea
as he was supporting the persecuted Christians over there as errating churches and
imprisoning pastors. And he spoke to the youth there that now are chanting on the streets. I am
Charlie Kirk standing for freedom across that country.
In a conversation with Charlie in the green room in Korea,
he said something to me that he'd said a number of times.
He said, he kept calling me as pastor, and I stopped him.
I said, Charlie, since the president's gotten elected,
your stock has risen through the stratosphere, and I don't see much of you.
I mean, he wasn't a very good congregant.
He was on the road 320 days a year.
But he said, Rob, not only are you my pastor, but you're America's pastor.
And I said, Charlie, if we were at a tabling event on a campus where you had the table
said, prove me wrong, I'd win.
And he looked at me with that sheepish grin that he always has.
Doggone it if he wasn't right.
I mean, I wasn't America's pastor two minutes ago, and I won't be after this, but for right now.
he proved me wrong.
In a moment, you're going to hear from the most powerful political people in the free world.
You're going to hear from the who's who.
And they're going to assemble in this place to talk about
what Charlie Kirk did in 31 years on this earth.
He had more lifetimes in 31 years than all of us have in the entirety of our own.
And as I was thinking about that,
to recount all that he's accomplished in 31 years is quite a feat.
I mean, I was just telling the turning point staff as I walked in here,
everyone is worried that the turning point isn't going to be successful
and I looked at each and every one of them
and for those of you who are negative
without Charlie Kirk's presence
they pulled off the largest event in turning point history
let's thank them
turning point is alive and well
All right.
I appreciate that, but you're taking my time here.
Sit down.
I want to do two things,
and then I want to do what I've been called to do.
first of all, I was thinking of Abraham Lincoln when I was reflecting on Erica and their two children
and for Charlie's parents and his sister.
Abraham Lincoln said to Mrs. Bixby when she had lost sons in the Civil War, he wrote these
words, I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine to beguile you.
from the grief of a loss so overwhelming.
We can't bring him back, but we thank you for raising him.
We thank you for loving him.
Erica, for being the strength in his life.
And we pray for this family,
and we ask God's comfort and peace upon you.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Now my response to my response.
responsibility entrusted to be by my friend and his wife, you're going to hear of what Charlie did, but I'm here today to tell you the why in what he did.
The why brought him the courage. The why brought him the wisdom and the strength. The why is the one that Charlie wanted to welcome as the guest of honor.
the guest of honor his resume is long he's the king of glory he's the prince of peace
he's the savior of the world he's the living god he's the god of all mercy and grace
the total embodiment of love the total embodiment of truth and he's here today to call his
children back to him.
From the thin veil of heaven, Charlie declares to all earthly powers and principalities
who will gather here, they have come into the presence of the God of all creation.
Charlie wanted his Savior to be the guest of honor. He wanted all of you to receive this
give from him the why and what he did. Charlie was never afraid because he knew his life was secure
in the hand of God. Jesus left the glory of heaven's throne for the humiliation of an earthly
cross. He was fully tempted, yet was without sin. For those of you who struggle with the word
sin, it's real simple. It's an archer's term.
Where the bullseye is and where the arrow lands, that's called the sin distance, how far you've fallen from perfection.
And there are none righteous, no, not one.
We've all missed the mark, the bullseye.
And we try to get to God by our efforts, but there is no effort that will bring us back into the presence of a righteous God.
You see, the wages of sin is death.
Charlie knew this, and at an early age he entrusted his life to the Savior of the world.
Jesus came to this earth, was tempted in all ways, yet was without sin, was crucified upon a cross.
His blood was poured out because blood must be shed for the remission of sins.
And his death upon that cross was sufficient for all the world's sins, but only efficient for those who, like Charlie, would receive him as their Savior.
Jesus has come to seek and save that which is lost.
And I would say this to all of you.
the Lord loves you
he wants to save you
he wants to give you
a new life
he wants to cover the multitude of your sins
by the blood he shed upon the cross
the Bible says if you believe in your heart
and you confess with your tongue Jesus is Lord
you will be saved to the glory of the father
you see Charlie looked at politics as an on-ramp to Jesus
He knew if he could get all of you rowing in the streams of liberty,
you'd come to its source, and that's the Lord.
In the time I have remaining, I'm going to ask all who profess Christ as their Savior to remain seated.
The Bible says, if you profess me before man, I'll profess you before my Father in heaven.
it requires an act of faith.
You stand.
That's what Charlie did every day on campus with death threats.
He stood because he knew in whom he had trusted.
And he wants to give you the gift of the why and what he did, and that is his Savior Jesus.
While believers are seated, if there's any in this room and across the globe,
that would desire to receive Jesus as their Savior, as Charlie did as a young man,
and now is in the presence of His Savior.
I'm going to ask you to put action to your faith
and I'd ask you to stand right now to receive the Lord.
Don't be ashamed. Stand.
Amen. Amen. Amen.
The Bible says
The Bible says that when one sinner gives their heart to the Lord, the angels in heaven rejoice.
And I got to tell you, there's one up there right now.
Charlie Kirk, he's stoked and he's excited about your commitment to his Savior.
For this remaining moment, if you've given your heart to the Lord and someone that's seated next to you,
I want that person who's a believer to stand and pray with you.
And please, up on the screen,
I want you to take a picture of this QR code.
We are going to give you everything you need to walk this walk with Christ.
Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God, and it's time to get into a Bible-believing church.
And pastors, if you didn't want to give Charlie Kirk the time of day, these folks are going to be showing up at your church, and they're there because of his life.
God bless you, and may the Lord keep you.
Amen.
Please welcome to the stage, Rebecca Dunn.
Charlie Kirk was scheduled to speak at my husband's upcoming.
Instead, I am here speaking at Charlie's Memorial.
It means a lot to share my story.
Almost 12 years ago, I met this bright young man filled with optimism about his plan to reach young people.
I was so impressed that I invited him to come to our home and tell my husband and me,
more about his organization. That young man, of course, was Charlie Kirk, and his organization was
Turning Point USA.
Charlie told us how he wanted to start two chapters in North Florida. When asked how much money it would
take, he told us he thought it would take about $50,000. Not knowing anything about this young man,
except that he sounded impressive, we told him that if he could raise the first half, we would
give him the remaining
$25,000.
Two days
later,
Charlie called to
say that he had
raised the money.
He was
he was not
in his hometown.
He was not even
in his home state.
He was 20 years old, and yet he met our challenge.
I laughed, and I told him, I said, well, Charlie,
I guess we owe you a check.
That was Charlie Kirk's first challenge grant.
After that initial grant, we followed suit,
with multiple challenge grants,
each one larger than the previous,
eventually growing into the millions.
In the early days, Charlie felt like a son to me.
More recently, I was the one looking up to him.
Charlie never disappointed.
He met every challenge with optimistic,
optimism and grit. Today, I feel like Charlie is challenging us. Will we meet his challenge
to fight for freedom, for family, for faith? More importantly, will we do this the way that
Charlie did, with a heart that loves God.
Before you answer that question, I would like to share something else with you.
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 given.
to freedom causes did not seem to be making a difference. Bill asked me to read an article
by Larry Reed. The essence of the article said this, if we truly believed in freedom, we must
never stop trying to preserve it. We had a moral obligation to fight for freedom.
And as long as there is a breath in our bodies, we must fight.
Thank you.
By encountering Charlie, we met a true freedom fighter.
Today, there is no doubt that Charlie Kirk fought for freedom.
with the last breath in his body.
Thank you, Charlie Kirk.
And thank you to everyone who will not stop fighting,
to all who will meet the challenge Charlie gave us.
Thank you.
Please welcome to the stage, Larry Arn.
Good morning. We had the pastor. I'm the school teacher. I have one short story to tell you about Charlie Kirk.
my friend. He became a friend of mine because I interrogated him one time.
19-year-olds are my specialty. I asked him some questions he couldn't answer.
And he was already becoming famous. And I noticed his reaction. He said, what should I do?
And I said, well, you have to suffer. If you want to grow, you have to suffer.
Hard to learn. Into the night. Crack with dawn in the morning. Start with the Bible.
read the classics study the founding of America in those places you will find that there's a
ladder that reaches up toward God and at the bottom of it is the ordinary good things that are
around us everywhere if we can call them by their names they have being and the beings of the
good things are figments of God you will find that article in Aristotle you will find it
in the Bible, you will find it in Madison and Jefferson.
How do I learn that, he said?
I said, do you have to suffer?
You have to study.
You have to think.
I thought I'd never hear from him again.
Within a month, he got hold of my cell phone number,
and he texted me a copy of a certificate of completion
of a Hillsdale College online course.
He would go on to do that 30.
I keep a list in my head of the six or eight young people, and I'm very pleased I get to know many inspiring young people,
who are the best I ever saw.
Charlie is the only one who was never a full-time student at Heldell College who was on that list.
We will miss him dearly.
He can't be replaced.
Do you know, a good thing is a thing that has being.
An assassin is not a thing that has being.
The assassin must give up his humanity to destroy something that has being.
Charlie lives on.
The assassin will die.
My wife who's here with me today and I have set up a scholarship
in the hope that Charlie's children will go to a good college.
I have one in mind.
And this May the 9th, Erica doesn't know this yet,
we are going to give Charlie and Erica the greatest respect
a college can give an honorary degree.
Charlie, you see, has suffered enough.
He's gone to the Lord. He deserves his reward.
Thank you.
faithfulness for us to me.
Please welcome Mikey McCoy, Stacey Sheridan, Tyler Boyer, and Justin Strife.
Hello, everyone.
my name is Mikey McCoy. I had the unique honor, blessing, and privilege of a lifetime to not only
call Charlie a precious friend, mentor, but to travel with him literally everywhere. The first time I met
Charlie was when I was driving him and his then girlfriend, Erica, to the airport after he had
spoken at my father's church. The entire car ride, he was grilling me on Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, American
history. At the end, he said, don't go to college, come work for me instead. At 18, I canceled my
college plans, moved to Arizona. My life was forever changed by Charlie. All of us in this room
have that in common. My first day working at Turning Point, I met an incredible girl who Charlie
was interviewing on his podcast, sharing the story of her family who had survived.
a totalitarian regime whose grandfather was imprisoned in the gulags for 10 years for preaching the gospel.
Elizabeth and I were married a year later. Thank you, Charlie.
When Charlie would speak on college campuses, he'd often wear t-shirts with inspiring taglines like,
here I am. Never surrender. Freedom. But as I've watched back so many clips these past 11 days,
my favorite and so often worn by him was live free. 11 days ago, my friend was martyred for using his
voice to engage in peaceful dialogue. Charlie's assassin thought that he could steal and silence his
voice by putting a bullet in his neck. In the words of Soren Kiergaard, the tyrant dies and his rule
is over. The martyr dies in his rule has just begun.
Charlie was not silenced.
His movement is only beginning.
The voices of millions globally have been awakened,
furthering his cause and mission far beyond anyone's comprehension.
We won't cower in fear.
We will never surrender.
We are resolved to live free from lies and seek out what is true.
We will respectfully, boldly challenge what is accepted by culture in order to seek out what is true and acceptable to God Almighty alone.
To everyone here today, live free.
true freedom is not found in doing whatever we want but pursuing Christ in doing what is right in charlie's words
get married have more children than you can afford build a legacy pass down your values pursue the
eternal seek true joy charlie led by example it's not only seen in the incredible wife erika kirk
his two beautiful children, the legacy he built, his values, his love of God,
in true joy he found in his Savior Jesus Christ,
but in countless people, especially young people like Elizabeth and I,
whose very lives are the fruit of Charlie's example of faithfulness.
Charlie, it was the honor of my life to serve you as you serve Jesus.
And now we will all continue to serve you.
as we continue to serve Jesus.
Thank you so much.
I love you, Charlie.
I can't wait to see you again.
God bless Erica Kirk's CEO and chair of Turning Point USA,
the Kirk family, and God bless America.
Oh my goodness.
Charlie's having some serious heavenly FOMO right now.
Look at this.
You have no idea how much Charlie Kirk wants a bullhorn down here right now.
He always said to me,
if we can just figure out how to bring the Holy Spirit into a Trump rally,
think you've done it.
My name is Tyler Boyer.
I was the CEO of Charing Point USA,
and now the CEO of Turning Point Action.
You may know me from the Charlie Kirk Show
or our weekly podcast Thought Crime
with Charlie, Jack, Blake, and Andrew,
but I'm also the longest tenured employee
at Turning Point.
I met my friend Charlie in 2014.
We connected when Turning Point USA
was just in its infancy,
sharing a vision for what the conservative movement should be.
Charlie was just a kid then.
I was a little older.
We had a lot in common.
I didn't like rhinos.
He didn't like rhinos.
I was the youngest guy at tea party meetings.
He was the youngest guy at tea party meetings.
Charlie didn't go to college.
I went to ASU, so I basically didn't go to college.
You're welcome, Dr. Crow.
We went to work every day on a 24-hour clock.
When Charlie turned 21, he didn't have a home.
Turning Point USA was in his first year raising real money.
He was just a kid to me, but donors would ask him where he lived,
and he took personal offense to the suggestion he still lived in his parents' basement.
Although his parents probably wanted him to be there all the time.
He was a grown 21-year-old man, after all.
He was rarely home in Chicago.
He lived on a plane and zipped back and forth as Turning Point USA became his life.
All his personal mail came to a little detached garage at 2.17 and a half Illinois Street,
whereas Charlie would constantly remind you, like every good startup, Turning Point USA was founded.
So anyways, we worked 24-7.
He would tell every supporter of ours between me and him, we were a team that was never off the clock.
Full coverage.
I would usually stay up until two or three in the morning.
working on the next big turning point USA project and text Charlie reports of what our team that day had accomplished.
It was like this every day, work, report, and wait to see my text messages to Charlie flip from delivered to red as soon as he woke up on the East Coast so we can be firing away feedback thoughts and a flurry of brilliant Charlie Kirk ideas as soon as he opened his eyes.
I'm not kidding you, this was every single day.
And it takes is, all it takes is two dudes to dream up big stuff and talk each other in really insane ideas.
which Charlie and I did often to one another.
We would go back and forth with those ideas,
perfecting them, turning into bigger, more insane and impactful things
and, of course, expensive concepts.
The ideas literally never stopped.
It was around-the-clock problem solution chat
that worked to dream big for the conservative movement.
Come up with new ideas, plan new things, fix all problems.
My job was to turn it into proposals and presentations,
and voila, we would work to execute.
Charlie would take red ice from coast to coast, going all over the country like a crazy man
on any and every possible donor, meeting with every possible donor who would take a meeting
so our ideas and fixes for the conservative movement could help young people once and for all.
I oftentimes would go with him and marvel at the deranged 22-year-old lifestyle of bathing in airport
bathrooms, eating full plates of vegetables and meat at 10 p.m. at night after a long day's work.
He was the best at doing all of them.
our success gave me the job of a lifetime and I'm grateful for it for the rest of my
life I got it I got really good at recruiting the best young talent in the country
to come work for us and it was non-stop we were a hell of a team and that's how
it worked turning point USA was built and the Charlie Kirk vision was delivered
I had the special honor at Charlie and Erica's wedding to give a toast speech
for Charlie the groom it was significantly less pressure than this room an
An incredibly beautiful wedding, but small and an important room of people.
I can admittedly say I didn't think that I would have to give another Charlie Kirk speech this soon.
At his wedding, I told the story of talking Charlie into moving to Arizona.
He was an adamant Chicago boy.
I needed to break that.
Selfishly, I wanted him to love Arizona because I had recently convinced him to move Turning Point USA to Arizona.
It was a hard sell at first, and that was until I hosted the first Trump rally in Trump rally history right here in Arizona in 2015.
I got a call.
I got a call from Ms. Erica Kirk, Ms. Arizona, 2012.
I just want to help, she said.
So naturally, I put her right behind the president at that first rally.
After that, we talked.
It was obvious she was the perfect person for the job.
that Charlie and I had devised in one of our 24-hour planning sessions.
I wanted to hire her.
I only had one problem.
Charlie Kirk wanted to date her.
Long story short, I was very worried he was going to scare her off and screw it up.
And I was going to lose this incredible prospect.
Like all things he put his mind to, Charlie accomplished everything he put his mind to.
They immediately fell in love and I lost an employee.
But now she's my boss.
I'm sure you've heard.
We love Erica Kirk.
Over the years, we built a lot of things,
the largest field operation in the conservative movement
between high school, college, faith, and action.
The first ever ballot-chaste operation that won the election for President Trump.
The largest events in the conservative movement,
most of which have been huge but in convention centers.
In 2021, in the aftermath of COVID, we weren't sure if society was ever going to bounce back and ever get back to normal.
So we began planning what was one of the crazy ideas known as America Fest.
I hope you'll all be there this year.
We decided to move it to Swing State, Arizona, and hope and pray that this would work after the world shut down for so long.
Charlie, like all our 24-7 ideas sessions, texted me and our VP of events, Lauren Tonsich, late at night.
And he showed us and said, this is my video.
It was an image of a full stadium.
A few seconds later, he sent these images of full stadiums of people, hoping for that to be a future turning point event.
Well, Charlie, my friend, I'm happy to report we're standing in your vision.
You did it, buddy.
We love you.
You are sitting in the vision for Charlie Kirk.
God bless.
My name is Justin Strife, and I'm the Chief Operating Officer for Turning Point USA.
Since September 10th, my thoughts keep returning to one thing, and that's time.
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 accomplished in a lifetime.
I've known Charlie for a decade, and I'd like to share a lot of people.
little of what I learned from him. Charlie often said that having courage is one of the easiest
things in the world because all it requires is you to say yes. Courage does not require talent.
It does not require natural ability. Courage requires a personal decision. It's interesting that
people often describe Charlie as completely fearless, but the truth is simpler and much more
profound. Charlie simply refused to let fear stop him from carrying out God's will for him and his
life. His courage was a daily choice, a yes, no matter the cost, and it cost him his life.
This truth forced me to reflect on what we can't control, time. It's fleeting, it's fragile,
and it's sacred. Charlie knew this better than anyone else. He didn't waste time.
He lived every moment with conviction.
He lived as a man of character and truth and courage,
and he taught us not just through words, but through actions.
Charlie was the same person in private as he was in public,
and that's why we trusted him.
That's why we loved him.
That's why we all feel this loss so deeply.
His honesty, his compassion, and his insistence on truth drew people in,
even those who disagreed with him.
Charlie stirred patriotism in us
but more deeply he stirred our hunger
to live united under God
he told us to stop and think
to use common sense
to grow up and pitch in
he asked us to hear the words that God
wrote on our hearts I am the Lord your God
and you shall have no other gods before me
this is not a message of comfort
or safety or peace
it's a message of love
a love of God's will
Charlie's life was anchored by that love
Every day he left his home, the comfort of it, his wife, his children, to face criticism and threats and angry mobs and ultimately death.
He loved God more than he loved safety or applause or even his own life.
That's because the last 31 years weren't his career.
They were his calling.
Charlie's legacy is this.
He showed us how to be better people.
He gave voice to truth and he followed God's will.
He started with nothing more than an idea and a folding table.
And over 13 years with time and courage and faith, he built a movement that changed the world.
Now that Charlie's gone, what happens next?
It's up to us.
Time is fleeting, but the decisions we make here right now are eternal.
So let us honor Charlie by doing what he did.
stand for truth, confront evil, live courageously, and we do it the way that Charlie did
with compassion, but never compromising on truth, demanding the best from ourselves, from each other,
and from our country.
Charlie reminded us that courage requires only a yes, and he said yes every single day.
And now it's our turn.
It's our turn to say yes.
to speak boldly, to speak honestly,
to fight for our families,
to love our country,
to honor God,
and to wisely use the time that we've been given.
And it's to do for the next generation
what Charlie did for us.
Because this, all of this, right here and right now,
is our turning point.
We love you, Charlie, and we won't let you down.
My name is Stacey Sheridan.
Eight years ago, I met Charlie in a crowded ballroom in West Palm Beach at a David Horowitz Freedom Center event.
We spoke briefly, we exchanged cards, and I thought nothing of it.
what ultimately made me want to join Charlie's cause and Charlie's team
because he began a quest to hire me after meeting me.
I was reluctant at first, but it was his naive, audaciousness to change the world
that ultimately sold me.
It was the best decision I've ever made and I've never looked back.
Yes, technically, Charlie was my boss, but it really never felt that way.
Far more than my boss, I felt like he was my little brother.
So the guys that went before me spoke about him as a boss and a leader.
I'm going to speak about him from my heart as a family member.
In 2022, my husband Mike became sick with cancer.
two years later that cancer took his life
throughout those two years
Charlie called me consistently
to ask how he could help us
at one point he had critical
medication and an oxygen machine
sent to my doorstep without my knowledge
I still to this day have no idea
how he made that happen
but that was Charlie
he did the right thing
there was no limit to how far he'd go to help a friend.
He wasn't looking for publicity or credit.
He did it because that's what a leader does.
That's what a friend does.
And that's what a Christian is supposed to do.
Sometimes I would express guilt to Charlie that I couldn't do my job at 100%.
Charlie's response every single time,
was family first.
When Mike ultimately passed away,
Charlie and the entire team
were there for us yet again.
They helped my daughter Grace
through the unbearable tragedy
of losing her father on her ninth birthday.
But Charlie's help didn't stop there.
This January,
I lost my home in the Pacific Palace
AIDS fire.
Charlie's response was very clear and very direct.
This is a sign.
You and Grace belong in Arizona now.
Within a few months, we moved here, and Charlie and Erica welcomed us into their family.
While enduring our various tragedies, my daughter Grace would ask us.
me at least once a day. Why would God do this to us, Mom? My honest and only answer was,
someday we will look at each other and instantly know why all of this had to happen, and it will be
for something far greater than we can ever imagine. In my first conversation with Grace after
Charlie's death, Grace said to me, through tears over the phone, Mom,
This is the answer to my question.
This is our why.
Now we can be there for Erica and Gigi and Mac,
the way they were there for us.
Looking back today, it's so clear to me that Grace was right.
I know for certain that my late.
husband Mike, Charlie, and God. We're guiding us here for this very moment in time. It was always
written. Erica, Grace and I will support you and your babies the way you and Charlie were there for us
in our darkest days. Charlie, we will miss your words of wisdom, your high-pitched laugh. It was kind of
awkward, and the way your voice would always soften when you spoke to Erica and your
children. And I promise, we're going to make TPSA so big that it reaches you in heaven.
Everything Charlie prayed for in his life,
a restoration of faith,
a rebirth of patriotism,
is coming to fruition in his death.
And right now, he is beaming at us from heaven.
The fact that we pulled this off in seven days,
is a miracle that only Charlie Kirk can deliver, by the way.
So, in Charlie's words, let's get to work, everybody.
We have a country to save.
Thank you.
Well, you're about to embark on something that is much bigger than yourself.
So check your ego at the door.
This is not about you, okay?
I don't care about your feelings.
If you're having a bad day, you know, go figure that out yourself.
This is about us.
This is about the country.
And the eyes of the whole nation are again on turning point.
We do the best events in the movement.
In fact, we do the only event.
Are there any other events in the movement?
No, we've kind of put everyone else out of business, right?
So we are the only standard of excellence.
And so we hold ourselves to a hundred.
higher standard. We don't do mediocre around here. We try to raise the level of excellence
because we are constantly trying to push the conservative movement and the country to a place
has ever been before. You guys know this. Turning Point USA is the most important organization
in the country, period. Mind me another organization that's been able to move millions of people
the way that we have that does the events, that does training. Nobody does what we do at Turning Point
USA, but it starts with all unions. We're building something bigger than you, bigger than me. We're
build an experience to help save the country. And if this type of intensity bothers you,
well, then don't go work for Turning Point USA. You can go work for the Department of Labor or
something, okay? Because here we do excellent things, we do big things. We make history here
at Turning Point USA. It's going to be early mornings. It's going to be late nights, but you all
get to know that you're doing something rewarding that is not just, oh, a career and you check the
box, but lives will be changed. How blessed are we that we get to be here celebrating the
and this is our job. It's pretty awesome.
There's the one thing that I hear from speakers throughout all the years.
Your team is so impressive and they're so young.
Why is it everybody? Because for us, we hold ourselves to a higher standard.
This is not just another DC dig. This is about saving Western civilization.
We are the most important organization in the country.
You are part of it. It's something bigger than all of us.
And it will have ramifications across the country.
I'm so thankful for you guys.
You guys have really defied gravity, and let's continue to make history here.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, please welcome.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome.
Andrew Calvett.
Just give us a moment.
Hello.
My name is Andrew Colvette.
I am spokesman for Turning Point USA.
I'm a business partner of Charlie's.
I was the executive producer.
I am the executive producer of the Charlie Kurt Show.
But most of all, I'm a longtime friend of Charlie's.
Charlie and I built the show over eight years, brick by brick.
And I'm so proud of what we accomplished together.
And these wonderful people standing behind me
are the geniuses, the camera ops, the board ops, the producers, the editors, and the social media team
who made the show happen every single day.
You preempted my applause line, so we're going to do it again. They deserve it.
They have performed their duties.
heroically this last week. So please join with me in a big round of applause for them.
It's been. It's been excrucied.
to do this show the last week.
But we knew it's exactly what Charlie would have wanted.
And I want to thank you, the audience.
You've helped us work through our grief and our broken hearts,
live on camera, streaming everywhere.
And I hope that we've been able to help.
you do the same in some small way.
But I will tell you something.
It's remarkable that in the midst of everything else Charlie had going on in his life, fundraising,
traveling, speaking, running to organizations, that he even had time to fit in a daily
radio show and podcast.
But I'll tell you something.
That show became the favorite part of Charlie's day.
daily routine. It was his one constant amid never-ending change. Even when he was on the road,
even when he was overseas, even during Amfest and our conferences, we did the show. But mostly
it worked because Charlie loved you, the audience. He read every single email.
you all sent to him.
That's why he said, every single day,
send us an email at freedom at charliekirk.com.
Send us your thoughts.
If you agree, you disagree,
and we want you to keep sending us those emails.
I have no idea how he did it,
but he really read every single one of them.
And this is a true story.
At the end of every show,
I had a little ritual of my own.
I would go into the sent folder
of Freedom at Charliekirk.com.
And sure enough, every single show,
I would find debates that he was having with his audience
that disagreed on some minor point.
There would be email chains,
six or seven emails long,
all why Charlie Kirk was hosting his own show.
It's truly remarkable.
And you, his audience, the grassroots, the muscular class,
you all were his firewall for freedom.
you were his North Star
when he met fancy elites who tried to take him off course
and try and tell him what regular people really cared about
he knew better because he knew all of you
yes
he knew he had a secret weapon
and it was you
and he never forgot about you because he loved you
and he respected your wisdom.
You see, it's only now that I'm beginning to realize
what was going on all these years that I spent with Charlie.
We called them campus tours.
Now I know they were really tent revivals,
complete with a tent.
Amen.
We called it the Charlie Kirk Show,
but it was really just Charlie Kirk's show,
confronting the lies in the culture
and pointing to the truth
day in and day out
and millions of you tuned in.
You see,
I see it now clearly
that Charlie Kirk was a prophet.
Not the fortune-telling kind
that could predict the future, but the biblical kind.
He confronted evil
and proclaimed the truth
and called us to repent and be saved.
Amen.
And he wasn't mean about it.
He was kind, and he was loving.
And you could hear in his voice that he desperately wanted the best for you and for all of us.
So friends, look around you.
We've been worshiping, we've been singing, we've been joyful.
Our hearts are grieving, but we do not grieve as the world grieves.
Because it says in scripture,
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?
Christ has overcome death.
And Charlie,
We are so grateful for the harvest that your life and legacy is producing all around us.
And you can see it.
The workers.
There's a whole lot more workers than there were before.
And so let me leave you with this.
For all the fans of the Charlie Kirk Show out there, you'll know the line.
We will see you Monday.
Until then, buckle up.
Here we go.
Thank you.
God bless you.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen
Strait
His own love
For my soul
Ladies and gentlemen
Please welcome Benny Johnson
Fight
Who feels the Holy Spirit
Who can feel that revival happening right now?
How does it always work?
What man intends for evil, God intends for good.
Evil thought that there would be a funeral today.
God has created a revival right here in this house right now.
Charlie always had that revival energy, didn't he?
When Charlie first met me, I was a degenerate loser.
I'm still a loser, but I was addicted to alcohol.
I had no wife.
I had no kids.
I had nothing going for me.
After 10 years of work with Charlie Kirk, after his witnessing to my life,
I have become a Christ-centered man.
I am happily married to the woman of my dreams sitting right there
with our youngest son who just turned eight today, eight months,
and he's wearing ducks for Charlie's beloved Oregon ducks today.
That's baby Whitaker in honor of Charlie.
All of you had a Charlie moment in your life, didn't you?
raise your hand if Charlie Kirk centered you a little closer to Christ
did Charlie help you achieve your American dream a little bit more
did Charlie have that effect look at every single hand stand up
say amen if Charlie Kirk had that effect on your life
look at this 100,000 Americans millions watching online
standing up and saying
that is the revival spirit
of Charlie Kirk's life
and that is the power
of martyrdom
because Charlie Kirk is a martyr in the true
Christian tradition
if you take out a tyrant
his power goes away
you cut down a martyr
his power grows
and that's what we see
Time and time again, we're seeing it across this country.
Who's seen the full churches, the full parking lots?
Who knows somebody now who's a Satanist or an agnostic,
who's now looking at Charlie's life in this revival moment in our country and going,
maybe I got it all wrong.
Maybe I do need to Christ center my life.
This is what Charlie always wanted.
This is how he wanted to be remembered.
In the mold of Stephen, the first martyr.
Stephen was killed for speaking the truth about Christ, much like Charlie Kirk.
The martyr Stephen was the same age as Charlie Kirk when he was martyred.
At that time, Christianity was just a few very scared Christians in Jerusalem.
And after Stephen's martyrdom, Christianity spread throughout the known world.
world, the power of martyrdom. This is how God and Christ always advances his kingdom,
and he's doing it right now with Charlie Kirk. It is a wonderful thing to see. We were all
witness to a miracle. Charlie's life was a miracle. We could all see it, those who worked up
close and those who watched from far away. We got to witness a miracle in Charlie's life.
Someone who was there that day when Stephen was martyred was Saul.
Saul was the one who was taking the garments so that Stephen could be killed.
And through Stephen's martyrdom, the Apostle Paul was reached by Christ to go out and write the majority of the New Testament.
There was no one who was irredeemable.
And that is what Charlie would have wanted us to know about his faith in Jesus Christ.
the power of Christ's blood and the power of martyrdom speaks through Charlie.
The Apostle Paul would go on to write the book of Romans.
And I'd just like to close with this.
In Romans 13, the Apostle Paul talks about a godly government instituted by our Lord and Savior.
And what does he describe?
The Apostle Paul describes how God establishes the rulers of the nations.
In the audience right now, there are rulers of our land.
Represented right here is the State Department, the Department of War, the Department of Justice, the chief executive.
God has instituted them.
God has given them power over our nation and our land.
God saved our President Trump from an assassin's bullet for this moment.
And what does the Apostle Paul and Romans say about a godly leadership?
He says that rulers wield the sword for the protection of good men
And for the terror of evil men, may we pray that our rulers here rightfully instituted and given power by our God wield the sword for the terror of evil men in our nation in Charlie's memory.
I want to live in a country where the evil are terrified
and where the good and the faithful and the moral people of our nation can live in peace,
debate in peace, disagree in peace, and start families in peace.
And so we want to thank the administration for being here
and carrying out that godly mission of wielding the sword against evil.
In conclusion, I'd be remiss if I didn't say this to all of the young men in the audience,
and I can see so many young men out there.
Charlie really reached young men and women, but this is the advice that Charlie gave me.
Center your life on Christ, fall in love, get married, have a million kids,
and live out your American dream.
and by doing that we can create millions and millions and millions of Charlie Kirk's
and we can save our land that will be our turning point
God bless you
and God bless Charlie Kirk
he's looking down on us smiling from heaven
God bless you thank you
Please welcome to the stage, Dr. Ben Carson.
Thank you.
It's wonderful to see so many people out here for such
a sad but also a wonderful purpose.
You know, we at American Cornerstone Institute grieve with everyone
as we think about the loss of our friend and partner, Charlie Kirk.
But did you hear a political figure last week
saying that Charlie Kirk was ignorant
because he didn't have a college degree?
I've seen him run circles around people with college degrees.
I wonder if that political figure realizes that most of learning in life comes outside of the classroom.
And I am delighted to see the young people of our land merging with the older people like me
and moving in the same direction and understanding that our nation was founded
up on the kind of principles that allowed us to rise from nothing to the pinnacle of the world
in record time. That was no accident. That was because of what we believed, including our
Judeo-Christian beliefs, that our rights come from our creator and not from government.
Now, for many decades, there have been people who are trying to fundamentally change who we are.
And there was a man by the name of Cleon Scowson, who wrote a book called The Naked Communists in the 50s.
and he exposed the things that were being done by the Marxists to gain control of our country.
Such things as gaining control of the public education system and the teacher unions
so that you could infiltrate and indoctrinate our young people.
It was a radical leftist who said,
give me your children to teach for four years, and the seed that I sow will never be uprooted.
That's why that's what's going on.
They also had a goal of gaining control of the media and Hollywood so they could change the culture in America,
making sexual perversion normal, natural, and healthy.
And speaking of that, pushing God out of our society and changing the gospel to the
the social gospel. Have you noticed that a lot of preachers don't want to talk about what's in the
Bible if it's countered to the social gospel? Well, I challenge the ministers out there to talk about
what the Bible says and not what the leftists say. And get on board. Get on board.
of the revival that is coming.
We are not going to be able to stop it.
You see evidence of it right here in the stadium.
We're all going to be a part of it.
I love the fact that Erica is going to take over,
and we're going to grow the turning point to a very significant level.
And I want us all to remember,
you cannot be the land of the free if you're not the home of the brave.
You've got to stand up for what you believe in.
And in closing, I want to read a passage from John 1224, remembering that Charlie was shot at 1224 p.m.
Verily, verily, I stand to you. This is Christ speaking.
except a corn of wheat fall onto the ground and die it abideth alone but if it die it bringeth forth
much fruit and i want to thank charlie for his sacrifice because much fruit is going to be realized
thank you
Please give a greatfulness, please give a warm welcome to Congresswoman.
I just want to start out by saying there would be no Congresswoman Luna without Charlie Kirk.
I still remember the phone call that changed my life.
Hey, Anna, it's Charlie.
I'd like to offer you a job as TPPUSA's National Hispanic Outreach Director.
Charlie believed with every fiber of his being that the youth of this nation would save it.
his fierce patriotism, his inyielding boldness, his prophetic foresight, these were the sparks
that lit the path for me on the eve of my departure to medical school to decide a change course
and join TPSA where I could help Charlie battle the socialist indoctrination on college campuses.
The year I spent at TPSA traveling with Charlie is where I honed my voice in the crucible of politics
and ultimately forged the path that led me to Congress.
I saw Charlie grow from a young man with conferences of a few hundred people
to one of the most powerful men in the world,
walking alongside presidents and titans.
I saw him grow a beautiful family,
all the while remaining a humble leader
who quietly raised up others to forward the movement.
Today, we honor a patriot
whose love of this nation burns as brightly
as the founding fathers during the birth of our republic.
Like George Washington, who sacrificed his peaceful life at Mount Vernon to lead a militia
and a small army against the mightiest empire on earth, risking everything, his fortune, his family,
his very life, to secure liberty for generations unborn, Charlie poured out his youth, his energy,
and his unshakable resolve to awaken America's youth from the slumber of complacency
and to mobilize millions this past election cycle to reclaim the principles of truth and self-governance
that define our exceptional nation.
His name will stand etched in the history besides 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. These giants, Washington forging a new nation
from revolution, JFK inspiring the innovation and resolve, and MLK redeeming it through moral
courage, change the outcome of eras just as Charlie altered the trajectory of our modern
fight against cultural decay and ideological tyranny.
He didn't just speak of patriotism.
He lived it, giving everything to ignite a movement that turned the tide for conservatism,
empowering young voices to challenge a status quo and to secure a brighter feature for America.
And as I stand here today, looking at thousands of young people in this crowd,
I realize that Charlie's vision is ablaze in every single one of you,
the generation that he entrusted to restore.
the soul of this nation. So I ask you, will you live boldly as Charlie did? Will you rise to the
challenge as Charlie did? Will you speak truth without fear as Charlie did? And will you pray with
unwavering faith as Charlie did? If one man can awaken a generation and save a nation,
imagine what 10,000 can do. And we are all Charlie Kirk now, and his legacy has just
just begun.
God bless all of you and these great United States of America.
Thank you.
Please welcome with my soul, with my soul.
Please welcome to the stage, Jack Posobic.
Charlie Kirk.
Charlie Kirk.
Charlie Kirk.
Charlie Kirk was my friend.
Charlie was my brother.
And Charlie was my
commanding officer. And we will never, ever let the left, the media, or the Democrats
forget the name of Charlie Kirk.
The Bible, we'll get there. Hold on. We'll get there.
The Bible tells us that on his last day, Moses climbed to the top of the mountain,
and he looked across the River Jordan, and he saw the promised land.
He led the people there, but he did not cross himself, for he was taken, and he died on that mountain,
and he was brought to God's kingdom.
On his last day, Charlie Kirk was on the top of a mountain.
And Charlie Kirk led us there.
And Charlie Kirk has brought us to the promised land.
Charlie's death was not just a murder.
The true word for what Charlie did.
is sacrifice.
You see, the difference between murder and sacrifice
is that sacrifice is a gift.
Sacrifice is that last, full measure of devotion
for God, for country, and for his people, and for his family.
Charlie Kirk died for all of you.
and Charlie Kirk's gift of his sacrifice means
that Charlie Kirk will live forever
not just for all of us
not just for his family and Erica and for his children
but for all future generations of Americans
And the question of our time
will Western civilization endure
or will it fracture into, like so many predict?
Will I say to you
that a century from now, when they write
of the two or three pivotal moments
that led
to the saving of Western civilization
they will write
that the sacrifice of Charles
James Kirk was the turning point
and the ugly.
And the ugly
that was been revealed by Charlie's murder, will be and is already being overcome by the beauty
of the outpouring of love and prayer around the world, seas of a thousand candles that have
been litten from coast to coast for Charlie's sacrifice for all of us. We will overcome their evil.
And Charlie's, and Charlie's sacrifice has given us all, and I see it in your eyes, I see it in the eyes of every man, woman, and child who has come to me since this unspeakable evil happened.
We have it now.
Charlie gave it to us.
he gave us that last bit of courage, that last bit of fight, that last bit of grit and resolve
to say no more.
We are done.
We are done with all of it, and we will now stand and fight, because if you took Charlie Kirk
off that line, then every single one of us will rise up, and we will replace that line,
and we will be there and we will remind them what they did for Charlie, what they did to Charlie,
and we will never, ever let them forget the name Charlie Kirk.
Our civilization will endure.
The United States of America will endure.
For Charlie, we will continue the mission.
For Charlie, we will end the evil.
disease that split us and took Charlie from us, and for Charlie, Turning Point USA, will
last forever.
And we will come to find, we will come to find that in the final moment that Western civilization
was saved through Charlie's sacrifice in the only way possible.
by returning the people to Almighty God.
For greater love hath no man than this
than he who lay down his life for his friends.
Are you ready to continue the mission?
Are you ready to fight back?
And are you ready to put on the full armor?
of God and face the evil in high places and the spiritual warfare before us that put on
the full armor of God. Do it now. Now is the time. This is the place. This is the turning
point for Charlie.
God bless to all of you.
God bless to everyone, to Charlie's family, to all the families.
And Charlie, until we meet again, brother.
Please welcome to the stage, Frank Turek.
what happened after that shot rang out on September 10th. I was standing 25 feet from my beloved
friend just off his right. Why was I there? About five years ago, Charlie asked me if I would mentor
him in the evidence for Christianity because that's one of the things I do. Now, it's going to be
difficult to mentor someone smarter than you. However, the only thing that surpassed Charlie's
intellect was his humility. And so the few things I knew that he didn't, he wanted me to share
with him. When that shot rang out, I took a step toward him, but his security team was on him
immediately. And so, Charlie, being like a son to me, I ran toward the security team and we ran to
the SUV together. No father would stand back and go, no, you just take my son. Take them. I'll meet you at
the hospital. I got into the back of the SUV. And let me tell you something. His team was amazing.
When this full investigation is done, I think you're going to see that his team did everything they were supposed to do.
In the car, Justin was driving.
Dan was in the front with the GPS.
Rick was to my left.
He had Charlie's head, and Brian was at Charlie's feet.
And Charlie's so big we couldn't even shut the door.
He's so tall.
And I'm perched over the back seat, and while they're administering all sorts of first aid, apparently my skill, my job was to yell.
I was doing a lot of yelling, and I want you to know that we did everything we could to save Charlie, but Charlie was already gone.
his face was looking at mine but he wasn't looking at me
he was looking past me right into eternity
and if it's any comfort at all
I learned later that Charlie felt no pain
he died instantly
but we had to try and bring him back
we couldn't we couldn't save him
now I want you to know that Charlie right now is in heaven
not because he was a great husband and father,
not because he saved millions of kids out of darkness on college campuses,
not because he changed minds and chased votes to save the country,
not because he sacrificed himself for his savior.
Charlie Kirk is in heaven because his savior sacrificed himself for Charlie Kirk.
Now look, there's only two things you can get in the afterlife.
You can get justice or you can get grace.
Ladies and gentlemen, does anyone in here, does anybody out there watching around the world
want justice from an infinitely just being?
I don't want justice, I want grace.
Well, the only way to get grace for an infinitely just being
is for him to punish an innocent substitute in our place.
Where can he find an innocent substitute among us?
He can't.
We're all fallen.
So what does this infinitely just and infinitely loving God do?
He adds humanity to his deity.
He comes to earth.
He allows the creatures.
that rebelled against him to torture and kill him
so he could place their punishment upon himself
and then by trusting in him,
every one of us can be forgiven
and then given his righteousness.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the greatest story ever told,
and it happens to be true.
There's evidence for this, and Charlie knew it.
Watch his videos.
Charlie knew that life wasn't just about money, it wasn't just about sex, it wasn't just about power, it wasn't just about prestige.
He knew that the purpose of life is to know Jesus and to make him known, to make heaven crowded.
Charlie's eyes were fixed on eternity.
Where have your eyes been fixed?
What have you been doing with your lives?
What have you been doing?
What are you going to do now?
You know, in every evil, God brings forth some ripples of good.
In this case, he's bringing a tsunami of good.
Look around.
You're seeing it.
And if you think a martyrdom is going to be.
going to stop this movement.
Well, we all know Charlie was inspirational, but Erica Kirk is a force of nature.
You're going to see her later today.
In fact, I know what's going on in the spiritual realm right now.
Every morning Erica gets up, the devil shrieks.
Oh, no! She's awake again!
And ladies and gentlemen, let's honor Jesus.
Let's honor Charlie.
Let's honor Erica so that when we wake up every morning,
the devil shrieks, oh, no, they're awake again.
They're born again.
Thank you.
Thank you.