Charlie Kirk at The Pastor's Summit in Nashville, TN 2023 Day 1

[00:04] I am told this is the largest gathering

[00:06] of its kind ever which is amazing so

[00:10] largest Pastor Summit and I asked the

[00:12] question I mean there might be larger

[00:13] pastors Summit than this but

[00:15] this many Pastors in one room from so

[00:18] many different denominations and you're

[00:20] still all playing so nicely together

[00:21] that's pretty amazing so

[00:23] I I agree with Rob uh with what was said

[00:26] earlier there's there's a lot of uh

[00:28] denominational diversity and I think

[00:31] that's beautiful and wonderful we

[00:33] believe Jesus is the center of it all

[00:36] we believe in the inerrancy of scripture

[00:38] and we want to spread Jesus to as many

[00:41] people as possible it's the most

[00:42] important thing that we're going to talk

[00:43] about these next couple of days the

[00:46] second most important thing is to make

[00:47] sure we can do that first thing

[00:49] to make sure that the church is never

[00:51] labeled non-essential again to make sure

[00:52] that strip clubs and marijuana

[00:54] dispensaries and liquor stores

[00:56] don't remain open when the church is

[00:58] closed

[00:59] I want to thank you for taking the most

[01:01] valuable thing time to be here I hope

[01:04] that these this two days we have planned

[01:06] blesses you it's going to be a lot of

[01:08] programming a lot of speakers these

[01:10] speakers will challenge you they'll

[01:11] inform you hopefully you'll see the

[01:13] buffet line of options that we have for

[01:15] you here at tpusa Faith but let me take

[01:18] a step back and kind of tell you the

[01:19] story about why we're doing this and why

[01:21] we're here

[01:22] so I gave my life to the Lord in fifth

[01:24] grade at Christian Heritage Academy in

[01:25] the suburbs of Chicago some people are

[01:27] from Illinois I'm also a refugee and a

[01:30] great place to be from

[01:33] I'll say one thing about Illinois

[01:35] we have term limits in Illinois a little

[01:36] different than most States one term in

[01:38] office one term in jail for our

[01:40] politicians

[01:42] that's it I'm done that's my Illinois

[01:44] commentary

[01:46] most important decision I made in my

[01:47] life was in fifth grade to make Jesus

[01:50] Christ the chairman of the board of my

[01:51] life

[01:52] and every year it's meant more and more

[01:54] to me but I was told from a young age

[01:55] and many of you might have heard this

[01:57] some of you might actually teach this

[01:58] and if you teach this I'm so glad you're

[02:00] here because we're going to lovingly

[02:02] challenge you these next couple days I

[02:03] was told that politics and Faith are

[02:05] incompatible that you do not bring that

[02:07] stuff into the church it's dirty it's

[02:09] unclean I was taught that from a young

[02:11] age you could do the politics thing but

[02:13] keep it away from the bride of Christ I

[02:15] said okay so I started Turning Point USA

[02:17] I was very careful not to co-mingle

[02:19] those things and I just assumed for

[02:22] quite some time that the church was

[02:23] doing its work and was talking about the

[02:26] issues that matter with moral Clarity

[02:27] and you can look it up I made the worst

[02:30] prediction in the history of American

[02:31] podcasting in March of 2020 the worst

[02:34] there's never been a prediction so bad

[02:36] so awful so inaccurate where I made a

[02:39] big Proclamation I looked right to the

[02:40] camera I said listen

[02:42] I'll give my life to the Lord in fifth

[02:43] grade and I've been you know to church

[02:45] and I'd I'll tell you the church is

[02:47] never going to lock down

[02:48] the church is not going to listen to

[02:50] these government mandates and orders the

[02:52] church loves Liberty

[02:54] I said Trust Me podcast audience that

[02:56] there's going to be a mass response

[02:58] where the church won't close down for

[03:00] Easter or Pentecost the church

[03:01] understands tyranny and will push back

[03:04] against it just watch and tune in next

[03:06] week

[03:09] and I kept waiting I said where's the

[03:12] response and you know there's some of

[03:13] you in this room deserve a tremendous

[03:15] amount of credit and Pastor Rob McCoy

[03:18] and Jack Hibbs and so many people and I

[03:22] want to make sure that you know that we

[03:23] notice you but you are the minority and

[03:25] you know you're in the minority the vast

[03:27] majority of churches coward in fear to a

[03:29] tyrannical agenda from State local and

[03:32] federal governments based on a lie to

[03:34] keep us Mass to keep our kids at home

[03:36] socially isolated we saw depression

[03:38] rates go up suicide rates go up

[03:40] alcoholism drug addiction Eastern

[03:42] Pentecost taken from us as it says in

[03:44] the scriptures do not forsake the

[03:45] Gathering of Believers the church was

[03:47] coward in fear I said what is going on

[03:49] and I was confused because I thought the

[03:52] church believed certain things widely of

[03:54] course some of you did the right thing

[03:55] and you remained open and you fought the

[03:57] local and County governments and I was

[03:59] starting to receive emails from people

[04:00] that people said well Charlie my pastor

[04:02] said Romans 13 and weren't allowed to

[04:04] open because we have to submit to the

[04:06] local governor and again here I am I'm

[04:08] super confused because I'm a political

[04:10] guy right hosting a show and

[04:13] you know when you study this stuff for

[04:14] many couple years in a decade and you

[04:16] fight these people on campuses

[04:18] you start to see patterns of language

[04:20] and behavior and he said no this is not

[04:21] about public health

[04:23] this is not about science this is about

[04:25] totalitarian control this is about

[04:28] isolating people to make them unfamiliar

[04:30] with one another to try to make the

[04:32] pullet beer or the Leviathan the fourth

[04:34] branch of government more powerful of

[04:36] course in an election year

[04:37] and for saying those things you get

[04:39] labeled all sorts of different names and

[04:41] awful stuff and so that was frustrating

[04:43] started to travel to some of your

[04:45] churches and learn that there was a

[04:46] Remnant that there were pastors that

[04:49] were fighting back

[04:51] and started to spread and people started

[04:53] to open and but then

[04:56] Then I then I realized okay we have a

[04:58] serious problem okay because it was bad

[05:00] enough that it was lockdowns that you

[05:02] know people would just they'd be giving

[05:04] these sermons to empty congregations on

[05:07] live streams and I would be told they

[05:09] Charlie live streams exactly the same

[05:10] thing as having people in church and our

[05:12] response would always be you know giving

[05:14] a sermon on a YouTube channel is like

[05:17] watching a fireplace on YouTube you get

[05:19] all the effects but there's no warmth

[05:22] so so speaking to an empty congregation

[05:26] I had to hear pastors that because they

[05:29] saw a five-minute Facebook video or

[05:32] Instagram video they became subject

[05:34] matter experts on race in America

[05:38] I had to all of a sudden see a video

[05:39] after video of hearing that America

[05:41] systemically racist and BLM is the most

[05:43] important organization ever and while

[05:46] there's looting and arson and we see all

[05:48] of the things that tie us together start

[05:49] to fall apart I start to see pastors

[05:52] that have told us not to be political

[05:54] for years become extraordinarily

[05:57] political on every issue that they have

[06:00] no idea what they're talking about

[06:02] these are the same people that get mad

[06:04] at us because we talk about life

[06:07] we talk about marriage but then they had

[06:10] the audacity

[06:12] to say things that they have no idea

[06:13] what they're talking about many of whom

[06:15] I think do actually regret it and

[06:16] they've tried to backpedal and I hope

[06:18] they do uh repent because that is what

[06:20] is necessary for some of the sermons

[06:22] that they delivered

[06:24] in that summer

[06:27] and I I could name names I promised I

[06:29] wouldn't do it at this event right um

[06:30] but you you know who I'm talking about

[06:32] right

[06:33] and it was bad and so look

[06:36] doing it for at that point nine years

[06:39] going to campuses debating professors

[06:40] reading the literature understanding who

[06:43] Herbert Marcus is and Jacques derida

[06:44] Michelle Foucault and Antonio gramsian

[06:47] cultural Marxism and reading intro to

[06:48] critical race Theory I said whoa whoa

[06:50] whoa whoa American Church broadly you

[06:53] have no idea what you are introducing

[06:56] into your seminaries into your pews into

[06:59] your Co you are about to bring in a

[07:01] luciferian unclean Spirit under the

[07:04] guise of diversity and that's where I

[07:07] said okay the Rubicon is crossed it's

[07:08] one thing you guys are cowering in fear

[07:10] it's another thing that you guys are now

[07:12] making me the enemy because

[07:15] I'm a white Christian male who believes

[07:17] that we shouldn't judge people based on

[07:19] the color of their skin

[07:20] I said no no that the Rubicon is crossed

[07:22] so then I started to travel the country

[07:24] see that there's pastors speaking out

[07:25] against this and you know we saw what

[07:27] happened in that summer of 2020 and we

[07:30] saw you know black lives matter Global

[07:31] Network come out and they say that we

[07:33] want to destroy the Western prescribed

[07:34] nuclear family that's not a conspiracy

[07:36] theory it's on their website they took

[07:37] it down once that that that's what

[07:39] pastors were promoting and I said what

[07:41] is going on here and we've seen that

[07:43] it's accelerated in certain communities

[07:45] and certain areas what I found as many

[07:47] pastors had a lot of willingness and a

[07:49] lot of spirit they had a lot of energy

[07:51] to want to fight back against it but I

[07:53] heard a couple pieces of feedback

[07:54] Charlie I'm the only Pastor in America

[07:56] that's fighting against this I was like

[07:57] well I know that's not true okay I was

[07:59] just with you know Pastor Jurgen in San

[08:02] Diego or Steve Smotherman in Albuquerque

[08:04] right I know you're not the only one I

[08:06] said but do you know any others no I

[08:08] said okay so we have to create community

[08:09] of the courageous I said that's a need

[08:12] and then they said Charlie I just don't

[08:14] have time to study it where do I get the

[08:16] resources and I said ah okay that's

[08:17] something else we could help you with

[08:18] because we know this stuff pretty well

[08:20] after doing it 10 years we know the

[08:21] arguments we know the literature we know

[08:23] we we have the speaker Network I said

[08:25] okay so we launched I had no plans ever

[08:27] to do anything in the churches right at

[08:29] all and I mean that this was born

[08:31] completely out of necessity

[08:34] and out of a love for the church

[08:36] I would be happy just to do the college

[08:38] campus stuff guys there's plenty of work

[08:40] there trust me okay we're doing great

[08:42] work there by the way okay praise God

[08:44] our movement is growing like you

[08:46] couldn't believe on the campuses

[08:51] I I'm happy to do that but I look to my

[08:53] left to my right and there's some

[08:54] organizations and I just said you know

[08:55] what as being an organizing guy as being

[08:57] someone who doesn't sit still well I

[09:00] don't I'm not a good spectator I said we

[09:02] have to do what we have to do so

[09:03] somebody asked me they said Charlie what

[09:04] does success look like for TP USA faith

[09:06] I would love to be so successful we

[09:08] could work ourselves into retirement

[09:09] every Church wakes up bold and

[09:11] courageous and wokeism gets kicked out

[09:13] say thank you guys very much I'm going

[09:15] back to the campus thing the America

[09:17] church is on fire

[09:19] but do you know that 95 percent of the

[09:21] American Church

[09:22] was silent

[09:23] and did not even say a prayer of thanks

[09:25] or gratitude after reversal of Roe

[09:27] versus Wade

[09:29] you know I had a I had someone come up

[09:31] to me and they said Charlie when is God

[09:33] going to do a move of intervention in

[09:35] our nation I said well Roe versus Wade

[09:37] is pretty miraculous right the reversal

[09:39] of Roe versus Wade for years I was told

[09:41] it's never going to happen don't even

[09:42] waste your prayers on it don't whisper

[09:43] it don't think about it don't talk about

[09:45] it and organize that that is law it's

[09:47] Untouchable it is the third rail and

[09:49] then in a very uncharacteristic way

[09:52] you know God just works in amazing ways

[09:55] someone that we were supposed to hate

[09:57] who loved the very colorful life came

[09:58] down to Golden escalator put three

[10:00] people on the Supreme Court and Roe

[10:02] versus Wade gets repealed now

[10:06] so then you just have to imagine right

[10:10] that's a miracle

[10:13] and so God can does a miracle and 95 of

[10:16] his church says meh

[10:21] 95 percent of churches across the

[10:24] country did not say thank you Lord for

[10:26] your intervention

[10:29] something to pray about think about

[10:31] so

[10:33] we're here to change that

[10:35] I I love I love what I'm seeing them I'm

[10:38] seeing more and more pastors be

[10:40] interested there are people here that

[10:42] you are more than welcome that have

[10:43] written some very critical things about

[10:45] us about me questioning my faith and our

[10:48] walk I'm glad you're here I hope you

[10:49] learned something

[10:50] and you know I hope that you'll see that

[10:53] our agenda is pretty clear

[10:55] I love Jesus love Liberty love America

[10:57] and you can love all three of those

[10:58] things

[11:00] [Applause]

[11:02] [Music]

[11:04] and

[11:07] in Psalm 97 10 if you love God you must

[11:10] hate evil

[11:12] and

[11:14] boy you're seeing it everywhere right

[11:15] target got Satanist close no

[11:18] exaggeration you got the trans stuff

[11:20] right here in the city oh my goodness so

[11:22] sad trans terrorist goes and kills six

[11:25] Christians in an act of a terror hate

[11:26] crime majority of Christian pastors

[11:28] they're not mentioned that from their

[11:30] pulpits and even mention it but they did

[11:32] mention fluid they did mention Floyd

[11:35] so I want to read something just the

[11:37] part of something which I find to be

[11:38] interesting uh Rolling Stone which I

[11:40] didn't realize was still a thing

[11:42] um they wrote this article

[11:44] Charlie Kirk's Turning Point first of

[11:46] all it's not my Turning Point okay it's

[11:48] the Lord's turning point this is not my

[11:50] Turning Point okay they say Charlie

[11:51] Kirk's Turning Point pivots to Christian

[11:53] nationalism a description that I've

[11:56] never used on myself they're trying to

[11:58] smear and slander all of you okay now I

[12:00] am both a Christian and a nationalist

[12:02] but most importantly I'm a Christian

[12:03] okay and that's that's that's the most

[12:05] important thing in my life and so they

[12:07] write all this stuff this is just so

[12:08] it's nonsense I I could go through it

[12:10] over and over again but I want to read

[12:11] one part of this

[12:12] which is uh they really lost control as

[12:15] they wrote this article

[12:18] the focus on fundamentalism

[12:21] okay when they say fundamentalism that

[12:23] just means believing in the Bible so

[12:24] we're clear okay

[12:26] represents a clear and present danger to

[12:29] democracy

[12:31] that's what they call us here today

[12:33] that you are a first of all we're a

[12:34] republic not a democracy let's just make

[12:36] sure we're clear okay

[12:41] they can write all these articles this

[12:43] doesn't phase me this is we've been

[12:44] through this for a decade and that's the

[12:46] other thing that I kind of learned right

[12:47] is that some people in the church World

[12:49] they freak out when the New York Times

[12:51] contacts us where they have like a

[12:53] hotline right with us it's kind of like

[12:55] okay get in line we're like the fourth

[12:57] reporter to call us from either

[12:58] Washington Post New York Times Reuters

[13:00] AP we've dealt with this for a decade

[13:02] because you know some Christians they're

[13:03] like oh my goodness what happens here I

[13:05] think that's some of the last decade of

[13:07] what we've been through at Turning Point

[13:08] has been getting us ready to really not

[13:09] care that the media is going to try to

[13:11] attack the work that we're doing here to

[13:13] be perfectly honest it's just

[13:14] indifference really is is the solution

[13:16] there and look

[13:18] I want to reiterate something here which

[13:20] is I think our short-term mission that I

[13:22] think we can all agree on we believe in

[13:24] biblical inerrancy we believe in the

[13:26] word of God

[13:28] I cannot emphasize enough the threat

[13:30] that woke is imposes to American

[13:33] Christianity and I will prove it to you

[13:35] at the core of wokism at the core

[13:39] is to believe is to do exactly what

[13:41] happened in Genesis 3. did God really

[13:43] say that

[13:45] it's Genesis 3 right now everybody are

[13:47] you sure God said that are you sure God

[13:49] said that are you sure God said that the

[13:52] wokies are going right after biblical

[13:53] and larrancy it is subjectivism at its

[13:57] core

[13:58] so when you introduce these ideas really

[14:00] what it is is oh maybe maybe we don't

[14:02] need Deuteronomy or Leviticus by the way

[14:04] some pastors are outwardly preaching

[14:06] this stuff right some pastors are

[14:07] tweeting out that we don't need the Old

[14:08] Testament right we don't maybe that's

[14:10] not really what Jesus meant or what

[14:11] Jesus said or

[14:14] that that is deconstructionism

[14:18] and so then how do we beat the woke how

[14:22] do we push back against them well this

[14:23] is a huge threat to them and this is why

[14:25] the Rolling Stone people write I don't

[14:28] know like look how big this is three

[14:29] thousand words that it's just nauseating

[14:31] because they know something

[14:34] they know that even if just 10 percent

[14:36] more churches speak out the whole game

[14:38] changes

[14:40] Everything Changes

[14:43] the whole ball game

[14:44] they see it

[14:46] they want a passive Church they want an

[14:48] obedient Church you're going to hear

[14:49] from the great Eric mataxis later and

[14:52] and and by the way Eric's book letter to

[14:54] the American church one of the most

[14:55] important things published in the last

[14:57] couple years I mean that

[14:59] and he'll tell you it's not that there

[15:01] were no churches in Nazi Germany it's

[15:03] just that they just kind of like nah I

[15:05] just do the gospel

[15:07] just Romans Romans 13. that was the

[15:09] number one most quoted verse

[15:12] a church that is willing to call good

[15:14] good and evil evil is a threat to

[15:17] secular totalitarianism

[15:22] and another another thing that people

[15:23] say is well Charlie you know isn't it

[15:26] about winning the Lost

[15:27] absolutely

[15:30] if we don't get this right though

[15:31] and if we continue theological disputes

[15:36] and don't focus on Liberty then we're

[15:37] going to be having those theological

[15:38] disputes from prison

[15:41] the totalitarianism they're trying to

[15:43] implement in America

[15:46] they must go through the church first

[15:49] and so these next couple days is pretty

[15:52] amazing you look around 1100 registrants

[15:55] it's never happened before for my

[15:57] knowledge now there are Pastor Summits

[15:58] that are bigger but they're usually not

[16:00] really talking about the meaty cultural

[16:02] issues of the day right

[16:05] I don't know I see some of the I get I

[16:07] get some feedback I say what'd you learn

[16:08] they say well I learned how to better

[16:10] collect tithes and offerings or

[16:15] great

[16:16] I mean I don't know maybe maybe that

[16:17] maybe there are other ones that I'm not

[16:19] aware of I don't think so no you're

[16:21] going to be equipped to spot this seed

[16:23] of Darkness

[16:25] how to teach your congregation about it

[16:29] how to have a positive vision for what

[16:31] it means to be a Biblical citizen in the

[16:32] greatest nation ever to exist in the

[16:34] history of the world

[16:35] have to have an optimistic message of

[16:37] how to educate your congregation but

[16:39] what's happening in the news cycle every

[16:41] single day

[16:43] because if you're not educating our

[16:44] congregation what's happening in the

[16:45] news then they're going to go somewhere

[16:46] else

[16:47] that's what I'm always so perplexed some

[16:49] pastors say well you know it's not my

[16:51] job to tell them you know how to

[16:53] interpret what's happening in the world

[16:55] around them it's like so you'd rather

[16:57] have Dylan Mulvaney do that to your 14

[16:59] year old kid

[17:01] your silence is you delegating

[17:04] the authority to a secular communicator

[17:08] influencer

[17:14] and then finally I hope this is a

[17:16] launching off point I hope this is a

[17:17] good starting point for you because we

[17:19] have an amazing amount of follow-up

[17:20] items for you from Biblical citizenship

[17:23] classes to guest speakers to becoming

[17:25] part of our tpusa faith Network and

[17:27] you're going to be a little surprised

[17:28] because we're not going to ask anything

[17:31] of you except for you to be courageous

[17:33] that's the ask

[17:36] we just want you to leave with more

[17:38] boldness and courage and understanding

[17:39] what does success look like that you go

[17:42] back to your communities and you'll go

[17:43] back to your churches and you just raise

[17:45] the level of expectation for yourself

[17:47] and for your engagement and for your

[17:50] messages and for the people around you

[17:52] and so it is um thank you

[17:56] it's it's a tremendous blessing and

[17:58] honor and privilege and thank you for

[17:59] those of you that have kept this event

[18:00] in prayer thank you for those of you

[18:02] that have supported it financially and

[18:04] have allowed this to happen and look

[18:07] somebody asked me the other day they

[18:09] said Charlie you optimistic or

[18:10] pessimistic so I'm ultimately optimistic

[18:12] because Jesus is on his throne right so

[18:14] I

[18:15] I said but it's about what we're going

[18:16] to do and I want you to look at it as

[18:18] obedience to the Lord obedience to the

[18:20] Divine these next couple of days and so

[18:23] I'm honored to be in this crucial time

[18:26] with you

[18:27] fighting for the good the true and the

[18:30] Beautiful we have an amazing lineup

[18:31] tonight and we have some fun changes

[18:33] we're gonna have a panel discussion here

[18:34] with Pastor Rob McCoy and Sean Ellingson

[18:36] and then as a surprise we have Michael

[18:38] nulls who many of you know where we're

[18:39] going to talk about transgenderism in

[18:41] particular and lean into that and then

[18:43] we have Dr Hutz Herzberg who runs

[18:45] Turning Point Academy and then if you're

[18:47] willing to sit through it we have Eric

[18:49] mataxis but I totally understand if you

[18:52] heard it all before and uh I'm kidding

[18:55] Eric is is lovely and wonderful I'm

[18:58] thankful this is this has grown beyond

[19:00] my wildest imagination I said the very

[19:02] beginning when we launched cheap USA

[19:04] faith if we're doing something somebody

[19:06] else is doing if we're doing duplicative

[19:08] work we're happy to step aside and it

[19:10] turns out that there's a lot more demand

[19:12] hunger and appetite for this than we

[19:15] ever could have imagined God bless you

[19:16] guys and we'll continue onward thank you

[19:22] thank you