Charlie Kirk’s faith-driven legacy will endure after Utah assassination

Charlie Kirk‘s legacy, rooted in his deep devotion to Christ, will not be erased following his tragic assassination in Utah, his longtime pastors and friends told Fox News Digital. 

“His message will not be stopped, his testimony will not be snuffed out. His memory will be championed. We encourage every patriot to be galvanized to lift their voice against the tide of darkness that attempts to destroy our fragile republic and the particular gifts our Creator has granted us here in these United States,” Pastor David Engelhardt of Manhattan’s Kings’ Church said in an interview. 

Engelhardt spoke with Fox News Digital by Zoom on Thursday morning, after Kirk was assassinated during a campus event at Utah Valley University by a single shot. The Turning Point USA co-founder was a powerhouse in the conservative movement since before the first Trump administration, championing the ideas of faith, family and freedom to America’s youth. He was driven by his relationship with God, Engelhardt said. 

“I think his message for Christ and for faith is louder actually than his political message. There’s a synchronicity, obviously, but he was a profound man of faith,” the pastor said. 

CHARLIE KIRK WAS PROUD CHAMPION OF CHRISTIANITY ON CAMPUSES NATIONWIDE: ‘I’M NOTHING WITHOUT JESUS’

Engelhardt, who sits on the TPUSA board, first met Kirk through his wife, Erika Kirk, when she lived in New York City and attended his church. The pastor recounted that Erika relayed she had met someone and was planning to move to Phoenix ahead of the pandemic — “that someone turned out to be Charlie Kirk.”

“About a year later, in the summer of 2020, when it felt like all hell was being unleashed in New York, Erika reached out to us to see how we were and said she wanted to put me in contact with Charlie …  And that’s how I met Charlie in 2020 during all of the BLM and COVID and all that kind of stuff. And Charlie, you know, was one of the people that specifically encouraged me to go back to New York and open my church,” he recounted. 

VIGILS HELD ACROSS US AFTER ASSASSINATION OF CHARLIE KIRK: ‘WE MUST HEAL’

Attendees hold candles during a Seattle vigil for Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, who was shot dead earlier that day while…