Remembering Charlie Kirk: From Political Movement Leader to Greatest Evangelist of Our Generation

[00:00] Charlie Kirk was a great Christian man,

[00:04] an incredible patriot, a visionary

[00:07] leader, and a kind human being.

[00:14] He started out as the leader of a

[00:16] political movement

[00:18] uh and he ended as the leader of a

[00:21] Christian movement, a revival. I think

[00:25] through eternity be remembered as our

[00:27] generation's maybe greatest evangelist.

[00:30] I was in touch with Charlie just about

[00:32] every single day going back many many

[00:35] years. The last time heard from him was

[00:38] the day before he was assassinated. The

[00:40] most fitting description I've heard of

[00:41] Charlie Kirk over the course of these

[00:43] last several days has been the

[00:46] description of calling him one of one.

[00:48] There was only one Charlie Kirk.

[00:50] I met him during the transition. I was

[00:52] actually quite nervous. You know, you

[00:54] don't you don't I don't get starruck

[00:56] very often, but he was one that I I knew

[00:58] about and and the impact that he had.

[01:00] And so when I met him, he was sitting at

[01:02] this he's so tall and he was at a little

[01:04] small desk and I was like, I don't think

[01:06] that desk quite fits you.

[01:07] Big giant tall guy uh walks in, you

[01:11] know, full of energy. Uh just enthusiasm

[01:14] and passion.

[01:16] The first time I met Charlie was in July

[01:19] of 2021 and I did his podcast and I

[01:22] think both of us approached each other

[01:24] with some trepidation because we came

[01:27] from such different

[01:30] uh let's say uh constellations and

[01:33] presumptions

[01:35] and world views. Um but after that after

[01:38] my first meeting with Charlie we became

[01:41] fast friends. I knew Charlie from almost

[01:44] the beginning of his efforts and he

[01:48] said, "We are going to do something with

[01:51] young people that no one says can be

[01:53] done." No matter where the political

[01:55] curve was, Republicans in, Republicans

[01:58] out, Trump in, Trump out, Charlie was

[02:01] always building.

[02:06] [Music]

[02:08] I was really struck by the massive

[02:12] crowds of people who would turn out to

[02:15] these uh campus events for him, to talk

[02:17] to him, to have the chance to see him in

[02:20] action. Uh the energy was electric and

[02:23] palpable and it was just so cool to be

[02:26] in an environment where people were

[02:28] gathering together uh really to

[02:30] celebrate free speech uh and to engage

[02:34] in that dialogue and that debate that

[02:36] really Charlie did uniquely period but

[02:40] also Charlie certainly did better than

[02:42] anyone else. Charlie was showing up

[02:44] challenging other people to come and to

[02:47] debate him on ideas uh to be able to

[02:50] engage substantively.

[02:52] His mission was to exercise our First

[02:55] Amendment rights, celebrate and defend

[02:57] free speech even if it's speech that you

[03:00] don't like or that you disagree with.

[03:03] I'd tell Charlie, "I'm too old to

[03:05] participate in Turning Point." And he

[03:07] would say, "No, you're not. You're there

[03:09] to mentor young women." and he cared so

[03:12] much about everyone mentoring younger

[03:16] people in the next generation.

[03:18] Charlie was an institution, right? And

[03:20] we all know who he is and he has a

[03:22] meaning to people my age um and older a

[03:26] little bit younger.

[03:27] What was key about Charlie was that he

[03:30] was a really good judge of character and

[03:32] a really good judge of people.

[03:34] I want to be remembered for for courage

[03:36] for my faith. That that would be the

[03:39] most important thing. most important

[03:40] thing is my faith in my life.

[03:41] The work he was doing really reminded me

[03:43] of Matthew uh chapter 9 when they say

[03:47] that the harvest is plentiful but the

[03:49] workers are few. But Charlie was in the

[03:52] vineyard every day making sure that the

[03:55] workers were plentiful to meet the

[03:57] moment.

[03:58] But you saw this unique transition where

[04:01] he started to talk about his faith,

[04:03] talked about God.

[04:04] Charlie did get bolder and bolder in his

[04:06] faith over time. uh frankly encouraging

[04:10] a lot of others including myself to do

[04:12] the same. And I had a chance to talk to

[04:14] him about this a little bit o over the

[04:16] years. You look at the problems, the

[04:18] societal problems, the cultural problems

[04:20] and trying to fix them simply at the

[04:23] political level won't get it done.

[04:25] If you don't have faith, if you don't

[04:27] have relationship with God, if you don't

[04:29] start a family, the true things that

[04:31] give you joy, you don't have anything in

[04:33] life. Charlie exemplified what it meant

[04:36] to have a personal relationship with

[04:38] Christ. He exemplified what it meant to

[04:41] live life to the fullest. All the

[04:43] conversations about politics are

[04:45] ultimately futile if we don't know that

[04:49] there is a God and it's not us. When you

[04:51] understand that the the things of of the

[04:53] political world which are important,

[04:55] they all become secondary because you

[04:58] realize the battlefield is not of this

[05:00] world. It's not a political battlefield.

[05:01] It's a spiritual battlefield. Tax rates

[05:04] are great and limited government's

[05:06] wonderful, but if you want to affect the

[05:09] human heart, if you want to affect the

[05:11] human life, again, that's not politics.

[05:14] This is humanity. Andrew Breitbart

[05:16] famously said, "Politics is downstream

[05:18] of culture." And if you want to add to

[05:21] that, um maybe Charlie Kirk taught us

[05:23] that culture is downstream of our faith.

[05:26] And so, yes, culture is more important

[05:28] than politics, but faith is what defines

[05:31] uh what kind of culture we live in. And

[05:33] Charlie understood that and he lived it.

[05:36] My current belief, and I think it's the

[05:38] right way of looking, is I'm far more

[05:40] interested in what God wants of me than

[05:42] what I want from God.

[05:43] One word to describe Charlie Kirk, I

[05:46] look at him and think how powerful he

[05:49] is. So, if I could think of one word,

[05:52] um, I think it's powerful.

[05:54] Ethical, faithful, passion. Charlie

[05:58] lived with passion.

[05:59] To ascribe one word for Charlie, it

[06:01] would be he was a force. Personal.

[06:05] He's a man of courage.

[06:06] He was resilient in his faith. He was

[06:08] resilient in his conviction. He was

[06:10] resilient in his knowledge of the word

[06:12] of God, his uh love for the country, his

[06:15] knowledge of being a patriot. Charlie

[06:18] was a a man of honor, of character,

[06:22] love for God, and of course, love for

[06:26] his family. And that's what I believe

[06:29] he'll always be known for.

[06:35] What a Charlie I would say on this side

[06:37] of eternity. Thank you for answering the

[06:40] call. Uh and as a believer, I will see

[06:43] him again. I think for for many of us in

[06:45] this country, we'll know we'll see him

[06:46] again. But I want to say thank you.

[06:48] Thank you for what you've done for so

[06:50] many of our young people.

[06:51] Well, first of all, I would just express

[06:53] enormous gratitude.

[06:54] What you allowed God to unleash in our

[06:56] country. You were a really, really

[06:58] important vessel. You ran hard.

[07:02] Uh, and it's hard to even talk about his

[07:06] name in the past tense still. It's

[07:08] difficult to articulate the depth of

[07:10] gratitude that we should all hold for

[07:12] for Charlie Kirk. Charlie would not want

[07:15] anyone to be silenced by that bullet

[07:20] that stole him from us. I feel like uh

[07:24] the message that that the world is

[07:26] sending to Charlie Kirk right now uh is

[07:29] that his his sacrifice certainly wasn't

[07:32] for not. I have the greatest respect for

[07:35] you, Charlie. You lived your dreams. You

[07:38] lived your morals. You lived your

[07:41] passion. You lived your objectives. You

[07:43] didn't hold anything back. You left

[07:45] nothing on the table. You brought it

[07:48] all. You always brought it all and you

[07:51] always brought it out there. And uh and

[07:54] I love you for it.

[07:56] Thank you for the inspiration, Charlie.

[07:58] Thank you for making yourself a

[08:00] template, a paradigm

[08:02] of strength and moral courage. And

[08:05] you've given us an example to follow.

[08:08] I would say thank you. Thank you. Thank

[08:10] you for being a great American. Thank

[08:11] you for your service. Thank you for your

[08:13] faith. Thank you for being an example of

[08:15] how you treat and talk about your own

[08:17] wife, how you talk about your own kids.

[08:20] Um, I think we are in need of great

[08:22] examples in America. And Charlie, you

[08:24] have been a great example.

[08:26] We know that Charlie is now in the arms

[08:28] and the loving embrace

[08:31] of Jesus Christ who he dedicated his

[08:34] life to. And in that knowledge,

[08:38] we too can rest in God's love.

[08:44] He started a group called Turning Point.

[08:46] And it turns out he was the turning

[08:48] point. And God had a higher purpose, an

[08:50] even greater purpose.