(ANALYSIS) The massive online audience that viewed the Sept. 21 memorial service for assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk saw a remarkable fusion of his two preoccupations: fervent evangelical Christianity, along with the type of conservative American politics personified by President Donald Trump, who appeared alongside an impressive lineup of his appointees.
Kirk promoted both causes through his Turning Point USA (TPUSA) youth outreach, which boosted Trump votes in 2024 and conceivably made the difference. The staff of 350, now led by Kirk’s widow Erika as C.E.O., claims to run “the biggest conservative movement in the country.”
TPUSA reports affiliates at some 900 colleges and 1,200 high schools, and believes one day it will reach every campus in the nation. It says 120,000 inquiries about forming new local groups have been received since Kirk’s martyrdom.
Undeterred by its star speaker’s death, TPUSA is continuing 12 scheduled rallies at universities through this fall and the annual America Fest December 18-21 in Phoenix. Speakers include such celebrities as Steve Bannon, Glenn Beck, Tucker Carlson, Ben Carson, Riley Gaines, Megyn Kelly, Ken Paxton, Vivek Ramaswamy, Donald Trump Jr. and Jesse Watters.
TPUSA’s stated purpose is organizing youths behind “freedom, free markets and limited government,” not Christianity as such. But as shown on Sept. 21, it energizes countless young enthusiasts who identify their Christian faith with political devotion. In 2021, Kirk added an explicit “Faith” arm, led by Pastor Lucas Miles of Nfluence Church in Indiana. It trains churches and individuals “to stand for biblical truth, combat cultural compromises,” and “bring about a God-centered revival in America.”
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If Kirk’s movement accomplishes its ambitious goals, it would rival America’s significant evangelical youth revival that erupted after World War Two. “Parachurch” organizations formed during that era are all active today among U.S. teens, collegians, soldiers and young adults. Collectively, they report annual revenues that exceed $1.6 billion (which includes sizable international operations). That compares with TPUSA’s $85 million in 2024, double the 2020 total.
Unlike TPUSA, the prior movement was non-partisan, though it naturally won ample support from politically conservative adults, not to mention the Hearst newspapers. Sociologist William Martin writes that “apart from a decided anti-Communism and a strong patriotic strain,” which characterized the nation as a whole, “politics was neither its manifest nor hidden agenda. It was, as it purported to be, a religious movement.”
Another contrast: The prior uprising was clearly Protestant, based upon defined doctrinal statements, though nowadays these same groups are friendly toward Catholicism. TPUSA has no doctrinal creed, is now led by Catholic Erika Kirk, and welcomes Latter-day Saints (formerly nicknamed “Mormons”) whose theology evangelicals reject. It included politically conservative Jewish and Hindu speakers at the September 21 worship service. Both the traditional evangelical groups and TPUSA defend traditional man-woman marriage despite cultural controversy.
For comparison, here’s a sketch of some key organizations and white male founders in America’s prior youth uprising.
A pivotal moment occurred in 1944. Pastor Torrey Johnson (1909-2002) and colleagues decided to imitate teen rallies in New York City and elsewhere and risked renting the Chicago Symphony’s Orchestra Hall, near the city’s United Services Organization center, bustling with young soldiers in transit. Johnson chose as speaker a young suburban pastor named Billy Graham (1918-2018). The event was so popular that rallies continued week after week, moved to a church when the orchestra performed, and were held weekly for years.
That fall, the team drew 28,000 to a Chicago Stadium rally. In 1945, Johnson mortgaged his home to guarantee the rental of Soldier Field, where 70,000 youths heard track star Gil Dodds, who had broken the world record for the mile. Johnson was now president of the newborn Youth For Christ (YFC). Graham, as its first employee, organized chapters and rallies in dozens of cities before launching his own spectacular revival career. You want showmanship? How about a YFC concert with 100 pianos! By some estimates, a million teens attended rallies each week.
An important forebear of this upsurge was Dawson Trotman (1906-1956), a converted lumberyard worker whose 1933 evangelism among U.S. Navy sailors in California developed into The Navigators organization, expanded from the military into schools, and currently has 4,600 staff members in more than 100 countries. Operating under the radar, The Navigators skipped eye-catching rallies in favor of personal outreach and small fellowship groups. Trotman’s discipleship training for new Christians was so effective that Graham recruited him and successor Lorne Sanny (1920-2005) to devise follow-up programs for those making commitments to Jesus Christ at his “crusades.”
Another predecessor, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, originated at British universities. Young Australian C. Stacy Woods (1909-1983) was leading IVCF in Canada in 1938 when University of Michigan students asked him to expand across the border. Woods later helped foster the movement internationally.
Early innovations included triennial mass student conventions to promote evangelical faith and foreign missionary careers. As it happens, the latest one will occur days after TPUSA’s event at the same Phoenix venue. Starting in 1947, InterVarsity Press fostered the group’s “discipleship of the mind” purpose with Bible studies and quality books geared to issues college students face. Today’s IVCF, active on 700 U.S. campuses, includes faculty fellowships and, though non-partisan, encourages discussion of “ethnic reconciliation and justice.”
Young Life, which reports average weekly attendance of 378,000 teens, originated in 1939 with a small-town Texas club led by seminary graduate Jim Rayburn (1909-1970). It emphasizes one-on-one friendships as well as clubs and has achieved notable success with urban minority youths. One specialty is a week-long immersion at one of the organization’s 33 summer camps. Recent additions are a college ministry, Young Lives for teen mothers, and Capernaum for special-needs youths.
The Gospel behemoth is Campus Crusade for Christ, renamed “Cru” in 2012, founded in 1951 with a UCLA club led by businessman Bill Bright (1921-2003). Today, a staff of 25,000 works in 173 countries, with groups at 8,900 schools worldwide. The organization combines local clubs with occasional mass rallies, and such promotional efforts as the 1976 “I Found It!” ad blitz. It claims its “Jesus” film, with soundtracks available in 2,000 languages, has been viewed by billions.
Cru’s Athletes in Action subsidiary, started in 1966, parallels the prior Fellowship of Christian Athletes, founded in 1954 by university basketball coach Don McClanen (1925-2016). FCA sponsors 20,000 local high school and college “huddles” and nationwide events. Founding supporters included baseball’s most innovative executive, Branch Rickey, who famously broke professional sports’ color line by signing Jackie Robinson. Later boosters included the likes of Florida State icon Bobby Bowden, second only to Joe Paterno among U.S. football coaches with the most wins.
Analysts are alarmed by rising rates of loneliness, depression, eating disorders, and even suicide among 21st-century American teens. Insofar as Christian faith can help, youths have local church fellowships and denominations’ campus ministries.
Those seeking emphatic multi-denominational evangelicalism now have two choices. Kirk’s sharply partisan movement unifies such belief with the current expression of Republican conservatism. By contrast, the youth ministries that arose in mid-20th-century America continue their non-partisan tradition of evangelism and missions, Bible study and defense of the faith, preaching and prayer.
This piece originally appeared at Religion Unplugged.
Richard Ostling, a contributor to Religion Unplugged, is a former religion reporter for the Associated Press and former correspondent for TIME Magazine.
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20 Responses
Pretty sure, TPUSA is not a para church ministry. Almost an insult comparing it to the evangelical Christian ministries named.
I’m still a bit confused as to what TPUSA actually is. I have utmost respect for the Kirks, but is it promoting politics or Christianity? They say it’s political but why have a faith department then? And if they are promoting Christianity then why are Mormons etc a part of it? If it’s just a political organization than sure, all conservatives regardless of faith should be involved. I just dont know where they draw the line. And Tucker Carlson? He and Candace Owen have spoken out against Israel but TPUSA supports Israel. Confused.
And Lucas Miles….the man who burned the steeple from the first church they bought because it represented religion. So much to say about his actions. Hopefully he’s a changed man since he’s now head of the faith part of TPUSA.
Lynn, You’re not the only one who is confused. I call it The Christian Casserole with three ingredients: 1) evangelical faith 2) conservative politics and 3) American exceptionalism. After baking it in the cultural oven since at least 1980, separating the components is challenging. But those in the kitchen see nothing wrong with the recipe.
In their own words
‘The organization says its mission is “to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government”‘
In my words
I take those words to mean that the organization’s primary focus is political.
I thought it was confusing, too. My thoughts today: TP evolved because CK was changing as he educated himself and as he sought the Lord. The para church orgs mentioned in this article are wonderful. However, we are in a different time on God’s calendar. God wants His kingdom to reign on earth and we are at the end of this age. The other orgs, while wonderful, did NOT change the culture. Those who believe that Christianity belongs only in churches, should live in monastaries/convents and pray for God’s heart for the world./I think, I think, that CK supported TC and CO because he believed in free speech and not because he actually agreed with them. Why not welcome Mormons who want a moral culture and hope that they receive a revelation of Jesus Christ? That’s market place evangelism. I would say that Chr. Nat., according to definition of Wikipedia, is actually God’s will, but not in a forced way! Wouldn’t we be much better off if all areas of life operated within God’s will?
It is a false dichotomy to say that christians who aren’t politically engaged or partisan should live in monasteries. How did Jesus and the Apostles live and engage with society?
Christian Nationalism (CN) as a philosophy is nothing new. I appreciate the sentiment, “but not in a forced way”. However, that is idealism. History and reality have proven, time and again, that once CN takes hold, it rarely stops at that line. Christianity is a great servant to mankind, but a terrible taskmaster.
CN has a long and rich history of 1000-1500 years, especially in Europe. It has been tried over and over again, throughout the centuries. Resulting, in no order, the inquisitions, crusades, Doctrine of Discovery, colonialism, wars, etc. The Pilgrims and Puritans tried to establish a “christian utopia” in Massachusetts Colony. Within a couple of decades of John Winthrop setting foot there, they were killing Quakers as heretics. The Quakers’ crime? Believing in salvation by grace alone, in Jesus alone, no works. That last part, “no works” was heretical part. Not to mention the “witch trials” and the eventual demise of Puritanism and the Mass colony experiment.
But then again, there is always the hope that this time, things will be different. Even the Pharisees believed that if they had lived in their ancestors’ time, they “would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets” (Matthew 23:29-36).
“Two thousand years ago Jesus Christ said that His Kingdom was not of this world, yet His followers have been trying to prove Him wrong ever since.” ~Coleman Luck
TPUSA seems to be a cloth made of mixed materials, variously illustrated in scripture as the weakness of impurity.
Yes, it’s amazing that the victims’ families can forgive the murderer so quickly, but the government still has a penalty for the perpetrator to serve. Forgiveness from the victims’ family does not negate the civil penalty that must be served.
Christian Nationalism is one of the biggest deceptions to hit this country.
The speakers they have lined up are Catholic, Mormon, Hindu, SDA and who knows what the others are. It may well be a political movement, but it can’t be called Christian.
So Catholics and SDAs are NOT Christians?
I ran into that shtick too many times when I was in-country.
Catholics were the original Western Rite liturgical church who 1700 years ago kept the Shirley MacLaines of the time from rewriting the Bible in their image; SDAs are very Protestant-to-Fundagelical in their soteriology but a bit weird in their eschatology (they began with an 1844 Rapture Scare), with an additional tribal marker of Sabbath Keeping (instead of Sunday) and emphasis on Vegetarianism reflecting their 19th Century origins.
Thank you for providing a brief summary of Evangelical youth outreach organizations. In all examples there were political undertones that were being addressed. Maybe unintentional but nonetheless fulfilling a sense of purpose both spiritual and political. The post WW2 era organizations were providing a feeling of unity around the cross apposing nazi/communism. Since then the progressive movement has gradually introduced issues such as abortion and sexual gender confusion into politics. These are very adverse to the beliefs of most western religions. TPUSA is the first organization that openly promotes and recognizes how the spiritual and political aspects of today are blended and are addressing them intentionally. This is why the older organizations are being replaced by TPUSA.
Rob McCoy, claiming to be Charlie’s pastor, said, “You see, Charlie looked at politics as an onramp 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.”
The difference between the parachurch youth movement and TP is that those parachurch ministries taught/teach that Jesus is the on-ramp to many things, including politics. TP wants to frame any conversation about Jesus through a political perspective. It’s like suggesting that we give a stoner free pot as an on-ramp to the Creator of all living things.
James 3:9-10
“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.”
Referring to an entire group of people as demons simply because they have POLITICAL beliefs that differ from yours is not christ like in the least.
“Kirk’s martyrdom.”
I have a hard time with Kirk being labeled a Christian martyr. I don’t believe he was killed for his faith. I think he was killed because of his rhetoric that alienated minorities and horrendously a young man felt that murdering him was the answer to that.
Tabitha Rose:
Your words: “I don’t believe he was killed for his faith. I think he was killed because of his rhetoric that alienated minorities….”
His rhetoric came from his faith. He was killed for it.
There are many of us who would dispute Kirk is even dead based on observable facts. Here are a few:
1)Technology has been around for decades and has been frequently used to deceive the masses. Technology has advanced so rapidly with the help of AI that it becomes incredibly difficult to determine what is synthetic vs organic.
2)Kirk was referenced by multiple people in the present tense numerous times after the incident occurred.
3)there was obviously no demarcation of the immediate area where the incident occurred either with police tape or police officers. People walked freely through the area. It was paved over shortly afterward. One logical explanation would be no actual crime was committed.
Those combined with many others should make us all question what exactly happened, and are we being deceived?
“I think he was killed because of his rhetoric that alienated minorities….”
“His rhetoric came from his faith”
Rhetoric that alienates minorities is NOT of the Christian faith spoken of in scripture. Let’s PLEASE not associate the two.
Charlie Kirk had a complicated legacy. Yes, he quoted scripture. He also said “women in their early 30s are past their prime” (which I believe we can agree is unBiblical)….while then dating and marrying one (he met Erika when she was 31; does that mean he didn’t believe what he was saying?).
Regardless, he didn’t deserve to be killed.
and it is my prayer that as TPUSA moves forward that it breaks free from the binds of Christian nationalism.
Marin:
I find that truth is often alienating, don’t you? Jesus said his words would alienate others. Indeed, the Gospel is incredibly offensive.
So, when Charlie Kirk’s words alienated people, it was very often because he spoke a truth they did not want to hear or acknowledge. Further, it is a scientific fact that women in their 30s ARE “past their prime” when it comes to getting pregnant and having children.
The truth is often painful, but it stands regardless. We cannot judge the truth of anyone’s statements by the reactions of those who hear the statements. Charlie Kirk’s words definitely came from a strong faith in Jesus. He was killed as a consequence.
Cynthia – The gospel is offensive to those who love darkness/hate light. Yet when “his rhetoric came from his faith” and “the truth is alienating” is said in response to a comment about how Charlie Kirk’s rhetoric alienated minorities, the implications are that Charlie’s faith alienated minorities and that minorities hate truth. Both are untrue.
Charlie often conflated truth with opinion; as this has become a common practice, it is important to note what truth actually is and what is someone’s opinion. It is NOT “truth” that women are “past their prime” in their early 30s. “Past their prime” means decreased in value. That is unBiblical; God does not believe nor say that about older women, nor does He say this about women who do not have children. In scripture, older women are valued for their wisdom and encouraged to share it with younger women. In scripture, God gave older – and barren – women children (Sarah and Elizabeth), and compassionately heard and answered the prayers of women (Hannah) harmed by a culture that tied their value to their ability to have children (specifically boys). Does that read like a God who believes “women in their early 30s are past their prime”? No. So what Charlie said WAS UNTRUE. It was his opinion. (BTW, Charlie pursued Erika when she was in her early 30s; was he violating “truth”?
If I had listened to these untruths, my esteem would have been in shambles decades ago. Unfortunately, there are still many who believe this lie and in Christ we need to expose it.
Judge the truth according to what God says about it. If it doesn’t line up, then it’s not true, even if someone we like says it.