The Charlie Kirk Show - From the Archive: Why Pastors Cannot Be Silent — Charlie's 2024 Pastor's Summit Speech

Episode Date: July 19, 2026

Charlie believed that one of the greatest tragedies in our culture was the failure of the church to get involved with the critical issues affecting American and the refusal of pastors to be more vocal in saving Western civilization. In a fiery speech from the 2024 Pastor's Summit, Charlie calls out silent churches and argues for stronger pastors. Watch every episode ad-free on members.charliekirk.com!    Get new merch at charliekirkstore.com!Support the show: http://www.charliekirk.com/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My name is Charlie Kirk. I run the largest pro-American student organization in the country fighting for the future of our republic. My call is to fight evil and to proclaim truth. If the most important thing for you is just feeling good, you're going to end up miserable. But if the most important thing is doing good, you will end up purposeful. College is a scam, everybody. You've got to stop sending your kids to college. You should get married as young as possible and have as many kids as possible. Go start a turning point USA college chapter. Go start a turning point you would say high school chapter.

Go find out how your church can get involved. Sign up and become an activist. I gave my life to the Lord in fifth grade. Most important decision I ever made in my life and I encourage you to do the same. Here I am. Lord, use me. Buckle up, everybody. Here we go.

Noble Gold Investments is the official gold sponsor of the Charlie Kirk Show, a company that specializes in gold IRAs and physical delivery of precious metals. Learn how you could protect your wealth with noble gold investments at noblegoldinvestments.com. That is noblegoldinvestments.com. I have to do my best not to lose my voice. I lost my voice two weeks ago. Not fun. It is a hazard of kind of being in this business right now. I don't even want to talk politics right now. We all know that. Instead, I want to talk about something that is bothering me regarding the church not caring about being involved in the public square. You see, I'm crisscross in the country right now. We are.

are in the arena. Yesterday we were at University of Georgia where we had, they said, okay, we had, they say the largest outdoor event in University of Georgia political history yesterday. Three thousand students came out in support of what we were doing. Arizona State University, University of Arizona, we're seeing it on the ground every single day and it's so exciting. And these are young people that are passionate about wanting to take back their country. They know the stakes. They know that they are the first generation since George Washington to have it worse off than their parents.

And there's an urgency. There's an urgency when I meet with the grassroots groups. We had people lining up, by the way, for this rally that we have afterwards, starting at like 5 a.m. The urgency in the country, we are surging when it comes to early voting. We're seeing it across the country. But there is a missing ingredient right now, and I think you all know it, and that's why you are here. according to George Barna, where's Lance Wall now? Is Lance around here somewhere? Lance and I have a running joke about George Barna, and so does Eric Mattaxas. It's like,

it's a little bit fatalistic, but I love George Barna. And George Barna is the gold standard of Christian research. And he believes, and his research shows that Christian voters are poised to participate 13 points less in this election versus 2020. And to be fair, I think that might be a little bit exaggerated. I think we could all agree that there are pastors that should be speaking out more that are not speaking out right now, that there are pastors that should be engaging. Now, this is what bothers me. A couple things. People say, but Charlie, the candidate that I'm told to support is not as pro-life as I would like him to be. I totally hear that and I receive that. In fact, I could tell you that I'm 100% pro-life and we have to keep on fighting for that in every single domain. But you must also

be clear that that candidate also gave you the greatest pro-life victory in American history, the reversal of Roe versus Wade. And secondly, and I think this is critically important though, which is why do you expect your politician to be pro-life

if your pastor is not pro-life? And you see, we are holding our politicians to a standard that we don't even hold the local church to. And before we start to judge or start to say to the world, hey, you guys should be as pro-life as we are. Why is it that a vast majority of

churches did not mention the reversal of Roe versus Wade when it happened, let alone celebrate it, let alone thank God for the miracle that we can save unborn lives in this country? And it gets down to a fundamental, and I've talked to Jensen about this for quite some time, it gets down with a fundamental misunderstanding of what the church is. And the church has become a, a place where pastors think that you enter to be affirmed. And if you dive down to pastors that do not want to speak out on these issues, they have a misunderstanding of their role. They'll say something like this.

Charlie, I don't want to offend, bother, I don't want to have acrimony. And I say, wait, hold on a second. You are their spiritual doctor. You're the person that is supposed to point out flaws in how the world is living and correct them, not affirm them. They have a misunderstanding of what church actually is. You do not go to church to be told that your sinful lifestyle is wonderful and that in Jesus' name you can continue to commit adultery and keep on lying.

You go to church to be reminded and taught that you need to be led to the cross, that you fall short of the glory of God. There's a God who loves you, and thanks to Jesus Christ, we're able to have eternal life. Something that's on everyone's mind right now is the, housing market. Whether you're looking to buy your first home, purchase your dream home, wondering if your current mortgage is still the best fit for you, or you're considering using your equity to pay off other high interest debt with double-digit rates, the wait-and-see

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AAA, AAA, 1172. That's AAA, AAA, 1,172. Get your plan in motion. Go to Andrewandot.com. You see it. The problem is we're afraid the incentive structure the way it's been built. And we all know this is that there is this, there is this sense for wanting to be a for widespread approval, for widespread acceptance and recognition. And we know what the church actually should be because we lived through a country for some of you did i never lived to that country where the church used to be this and the church needs to be the unapologetic counselor to the king the moral conscious of the nation no different than esther mordecai neemiah jeremiah or daniel we are the institution that needs to call right from wrong we are the institution that should be excitedly active to get into politics

to show the world what christian values and what a christian worldview looks like we are we should be the community that should be praying for our leaders by name, as it says in First Timothy, but probably most critically and importantly, we should want to shape the country closer to a worldview that Jesus wants, not one that Jezebel wants. Now, and I'll allow you to fill in who is who in the current scenario. Yeah, you said it. But let's be honest, the lack of urgency, and this is actually greater than the political outcome, and here is my concern, is that the fact that the church doesn't care as much as it should,

and you all care, obviously, and you deserve credit and recognition, but you're in the vast minority, and you know you're in the minority. You know that you are not the majority of churches in this country, is that the American church is becoming an obsolete cultural institution. It is becoming a place where politicians say, well, why do I have to go speak to pastors anymore? I could do it without them. why do I need to go to the kind of the church gatherings where all of a sudden the church says well you know we don't want to be involved just you know separation of church and state which by the way it's not in the constitution I'm so sick of hearing this all the time okay it's just it's just bad history bad theology and it gets back to a temperament and a couple things that I encourage all of you to continue to do for those of you that are speaking out boldly and I have a pretty high definition of what bold is Eric metaxis knows this and what lance is you might you might think you're a bold pastor let me ask you this are you doing a four to six week sermon series on how to vote, who to vote for. Not this like wishy-washy.

You know, I saw this one sermon. It was unbelievable. And this guy comes up, he says, you know, the Bible says this, but follow your heart. I said, well, follow your heart. You should resign as a pastor if you're telling people to follow your heart. We get like 200 words into the Bible where it says that out of the heart is wicked and you should, I mean, follow your heart if you're trying to lead your congregation on how to vote. And some pastors will say, but Charlie, you know, everyone has different political opinions. Okay, so in the hypothetical that everyone in your congregation had different opinions on whether or not you should cheat on your wife, would you correct your congregation?

If in your congregation people had different opinions on whether or not they should do heroin, would you correct your congregation? If people had different opinions and whether or not pornography was okay and permissible in the church, would you correct them? If people in the church had different opinions and whether or not it was okay to be slothful and lustful and in drunken stupor, would you correct them? Of course they would. But why is it that the vote, which is a reflection of those morals, we get all skittish? Because we have been fed a lie from the pit of hell to keep the church in the corner while the country we love collapses. That is why, everybody.

And the temperament has to change. And so what that looks like from now until, you know, the next two weeks is you must go through verse by verse what does it mean to vote biblically and this is not exactly hard everybody okay we have one candidate who loves everything that god hates and you have you have right there you have a you have a you have a political party that at their convention again this is not political it's just factual they had a political party with abortion vans outside of their their convention that alone should animate the church. They turned Easter into the transgender day of awareness, not to mention the pro-life clinics that we love,

the pregnancy crisis centers, will be raided and will be eventually outlawed under that current regime. This is the month we celebrate our independence as a country, and real Americans know that there is no liberty or pursuit of happiness without life. Preborn celebrates life every single day by providing ultrasound,

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You're the type of pastor that was silent during slavery. You're the type of pastor that was silent during the Holocaust. I know your type. I've read about you. You're the type of pastor that you would always say, oh, I would have spoke out during the time a slavery? No, actually, you didn't. Let me prove it to you. There are more slaves in America today than there ever were in the antebellum South, and their child sex slaves on the southern border, and the church's indifference is a moral sin against God when it comes to this top.

And there are so many powerful voices here in this room. And I can go through objection after objection of why people do not speak out, but it really comes down to, it's not even when you drill it down of right versus wrong, it comes down to, I want to still be loved by a very vocal minority of our church, and I want to continue to have big budgets and big buildings and call it success. You see, I encourage all of you guys to preach your church down to a manageable size. Blessed subtraction, everybody, who's with me? Which is, if you are not preaching a hot gospel where someone who is not filled with the spirit screams, by the way, I could tell you,

when I go to college campuses, I'm, you know, I get a lot of that. You have to, where people aren't leaving and they're sending you emails, how dare you say that abortion is a sin? Then, honestly, you're conforming too much to the niceties and the needs and wants of an entire culture that is so broken. And I want to close with this

and then take one or two questions. And what bothers me more, and I'll repeat the point, but I'll say it differently, is why is it that those of us that love Jesus and love God and know what God wants for our life? Why is it that the vast majority of the church seems indifferent about a country that I believe was divinely ordained to exist? a country that has made the world a better place for all people, a country that was founded by Christians, a country where the gospel has exploded thanks to its existence, the ingratitude that has filled the average American Christian, and the objections will go one, two, three.

Number one, it will start with this. Charlie, none of this matters because Jesus is coming next Thursday, so I don't care what happens. Now, again, I'm not going to get into an eschatological debate here. We have swinging from the chandelier Pentecostals, as you saw earlier. We have shofar blowing amazing people. And Five Point Calvinists, you guys are all welcome here, okay? I don't care if you're pre-trib or post-trib.

I have the temperament of Pan-Trib. It's all going to pan out in the end. Not exactly something I'm that interested in. If I offended you, honestly, you know, go find a vocation. Because, like, that's, anyway, I get angry emails from pastors. How dare you? I'm like, okay, that's not my thing. You know, my thing is, my thing is to make sure that all of your churches are

redeemed not essential again, and that Jesus is Lord, and that we can say that the government coming in. So the point is this, though, is that if the excuse to not get engaged or get involved, is that the rapture is imminent and Jesus is coming, of which I posit you very well might be true, I'm not on the planning committee, I'll be on the welcoming committee, is that what do you want to be caught doing when Jesus returns? Being a coward running to the hills or contesting for God's truth and righteousness when it gets very difficult and there is a high price and a high price.

cost to pay. What do you want to be caught doing? The second objection goes something like this, amongst people that are very, very good and well-intended. Charlie, nothing we do actually matters because God's plan is greater than our plan when it comes to this. If that is correct, then none of your action when it comes to morality actually matters. I'm a believer that God cares about everything that we do. I believe that God wants us to act righteously to make disciples of all nations and to fight evil. Hi folks, Andrew Colvett here. I'd like to tell you about my friends over at Y Refi.

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And remember, YREFI doesn't care what your credit score is. Just go to whyrefi.com and tell them your friend Andrews sent you. One of the lesser appreciated scriptures in the command form of Hebrew is in Psalm 9710. Let those of you who love the Lord hate evil. In fact, you must hate evil. And there's a lot of evil happening in the world right now. We talk about loving your neighbor as yourself. We talk about loving God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.

Rarely we talk about God's command to all of us to hate evil. We should hate the evil of abortion. Hate the evil of gender mutilation on the transgender agenda. Hate what's happening on the border. However, woe to those of you who call good evil and evil good. The prophet Isaiah knew exactly what was happening. And guess what? If the church won't call evil, evil and good, good, don't expect the world to do it.

If we do not do it, that is where you get widespread moral confusion. And finally, people will say, but Charlie, I'm choosing from a lesser of two evils. I'm sure all of you guys have dealt with this objection for quite some time until Jesus comes again. You're always going to be dealing from a lesser of two evils. But when you select and when you promote a certain candidate, it is important to remember. It is not a candidate. It is a team of 5,000 people that will fill your government. Do you want 5,000 people that fit a worldview like Dylan Mulvaney and Anthony Fauci, Tony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, Jen Saki,

Karin-John-Pierre, and that man who thinks he's a woman that runs the rear admiral of the Navy? Or do you want a 5,000-person team like Franklin Graham, Elon Musk, Bobby Kennedy, and many of the pastors in this room like Lance Walnau, who will then if there were to be a certain victory, many of these pastors here would have unprecedented access, influence over the nation for righteous and good causes and purposes. I will close with this and we'll take two questions. I am afraid that there is a pomposity at times

and there is a self-righteousness by a small minority of our brothers that are very well intended where they say I will not engage in this and I will not get involved in this election because X, Y, Z candidate is too much of a sinner for me and I will be perfectly honest with you guys. I find that to be the worst of the spirit of religion, as it says in the New Testament,

when the moral stakes have never been so clear. And let us just remind ourselves, you are talking about someone who moved the embassy to Jerusalem, recognized Golan Heights, brought peace to the Middle East, secure the southern border, pro-life laws, and so on and so forth, got shot under fire and continues to fight. I think it's very clear, and it will only be made possible if the faithful, if the remnant rises and speaks out for God's purposes in this country. Let's take one or two questions, guys. Thank you so much. Do we have one or two questions, anybody? You know, Zechro, God told Zekele to look for one man who would be an intercessor.

and if he could find one man who'd be an intercessor, he would hold judgment. He looked across the nation. He couldn't find one intercessor. So how do you see the role of intercessor prayer on what we're facing? Yeah, I mean, it is significant, and I encourage those of you that are, by the way, we have a whole intercessory prayer team that's constantly praying for us at turning point and for me. Because, I mean, every day we get death threats, you know, people fall in our family.

They just arrested a guy yesterday trying to kill all of us. Yeah, I mean, obviously. By the way, if you're not getting active death threats, you guys are not speaking out enough. I know that sounds like a joke, but if your church is not actively being vandalized, followed in the streets, bomb threats, you know, anthrax threats, maybe you got to turn up the volume a little bit. So, yeah. Charlie, good to see you, and thank you so much for all you do. We're praying for you and your family and your protection. We're all hoping and praying for God to show mercy and give us Donald Trump.

but could you give us some advice if things don't go our way, how we can stay involved, and we need to be involved now. Give us some really tips on being involved locally so you have a national presence so that we can help with the local presence. What things can you challenge us about being involved as ministers locally? Yeah, again, this is not my idea, but I can just go to other pastors that have done a great job of this and some of this in the room. Churches are really good at getting local action done.

if you form a group, you know what the mission is. So why is it that we have marriage ministries, singles ministries, youth group ministries, we have prison ministry, ministry, we have every type of ministry imaginable. Why do we not have a salt and light local influence ministry to influence your city council, your school board, and your state and local leaders? Good conversation is about respect. It's how we create a space where people are able to share their ideas and be heard. Charlie knew that, turning point still knows that.

And TikTok has always strived to build the kind of place that thrives on respectful connection where curiosity fuels connection and we can share what's on our minds and learn from each other. When ideas meet respect, good things happen. On TikTok, you can find a mechanic explaining the why behind a problem. Most of us wouldn't even know how to name. Or a father sharing a lifetime of knowledge with his viewers, viewers who listen, discuss, and then they respond. TikTok turns connection into community through small acts of understanding. You can feel it in the comments and the thank you from a stranger halfway across the world.

TikTok is a place where respect opens the door for discussion and discussion helps us build something real. It's very simple. And I know a lot of you guys are doing that, but it's not enough just to speak from the pulpit. You need infrastructure. You need infrastructure. You need to have a full-time person on your staff. Jack Kibbs has this, who is literally the salt and light ministry coordinator. then you have a place, you have a time, and you have a person where their task is to run people for a school board.

Their task is to get involved locally. There are all these different things. So then all of a sudden it's less of an abstraction and more of a reality. Thank you. Okay. Last question here because I want to stay on time. I pastor in Athens, Georgia. Thank you for coming yesterday.

It was awesome. I've always wanted to ask you this question. What's one question you've been asked when you go on college campuses? It's made you rethink a position or alter a position. Rethink a position. That's an interesting. I'd have to think about that. Yeah, I mean, off the top of my head, I mean, look, to be honest, sometimes the question, I mean, I'm there for three hours and I've done 25 of these just this semester, which is 75 hours of speaking in addition to radio podcasting.

And God is blessing our social media right now beyond anything we could have imagined, super viral and we're very thankful for that. I will say that sometimes hearing first person stories, not rethink a position, but rethink a position. think how we present a position, I will say, how average college kids view Christians has been very illuminating to me, and how college kids, how drowning they are in the current culture and how they are looking for a lifeline. And I will say this, which is interesting, and I'll close on this thought. I have learned that they're actually not looking to be pandered to. They're looking for direct truth that resonates with them. And this is the total misunderstanding of what your youth pastors will tell you. By the way, if you guys want to lose a church, hire a bad youth pastor. It's like a

contagion within a church. I'll tell you. I've seen it happen many times. They go to these cemeteries, I mean, seminaries, and then they come to your church. They're filled with all this woke stuff. They'll build a little army of fellow young pastors, and they'll take over the, they'll build like a woke insurgent movement within the institutions. I've seen it happen so many times. And by the way, on the vice versa, good youth pastors can make your church just flourish and can grow beyond anything. So why does that matter? The idea of youth pastors will say is, well, these kids are living in places of homosexuality, transgenderism, you know, basically unlimited amounts of premarital sex.

You've got to be careful you talk about these topics. I don't find that to be true, actually. I think that precisely, crisply delivered truth to a broken culture is a lifeline for a generation that is suffering and that is drowning in the sea of sin. They don't need to be affirmed. They're affirmed every single day. And you could look at some of the videos we do. I will go as to far as to say, yes, I will love the individual.

Someone will say, I am gay. I'll say, well, actually, you're acting gay, but being gay is not an identity of which I accept. And if you guys as a pastor are not willing to say that, I hope you guys will go through some prayer. Because as soon as we admit or acknowledge that homosexuality is an identity, we've lost the entire debate. We acknowledge that it can be a proclivity. it can be an impulse, and it is certainly an action, but it is not an identity. The only identity that we as Christians care about

is saved and unsaved. Those are the only two identities that matter to God. Thank you guys so much. See you guys soon. Thank you. For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to charliekirk.com.