Charlie Kirk’s Evangelism: Turning Point for Gen Z

By Carole Hornsby Haynes     September 16, 2025 

On September 10 Charlie Kirk, the charismatic co-founder of the conservative youth group, Turning Point USA (TPUSA), was gunned down in cold blood in front of thousands -- on video – while engaging in open dialogue with leftist students at Utah Valley University. 

Charlie was fearless, sharp, and magnetic, dismantling opponents with humor, composure, and an encyclopedic command of facts. Using facts as a powerful weapon in the war of ideas and policy, he was a brilliant speaker and highly skilled debater. 

On college campuses where students are taught to hate the values of their parents, Charlie proudly defended marriage, faith, and family. A fierce opponent of abortion and LGBT, he dared to dispute the left’s claim that men can get pregnant and sex is a choice. He encouraged young men and women to get married and have children. He encouraged young women to prioritize having children over a career. 

Yet fewer young adults are getting married and having children. As a result, the birth rate in the U.S. is below 1.6 children per woman and below the replacement level of 2.1 births per woman. This has undermined dramatically the stability of marriage, family, and communities that historically have served as bulwarks against tyranny and revolution. 

It is a generally accepted view that the lower birth rate in the U.S. is the result of the collapse of traditional Christian values and supporting institutions. A young adult himself, Charlie understood that, not only is the decision to get married and form a family discouraged by the decline of the Christian ethic, but by the U.S. economy and social structure with LGBT as well. 

Older Americans with right-leaning political organizations and think tanks denounce Gen Z as selfish, spoiled brats with no concept of hard work, commitment, or moral virtue. Charlie believed leftist radicalization of American youth was rooted in their feeling of economic disenfranchisement. 

Unlike their parents, Gen Z do not believe they can achieve the American Dream. In their despair and anger, they are striking out to “tear down the system” that is not working for them in favor of socialism and communism. 

They watch as vast wealth flows to a few billionaires who reap the gains of economic growth while the middle-class is hollowed out. 

Not only is college admission much more competitive with foreign money and affirmative action driving selection, but college has become unaffordable for many. With the market devaluation of a college degree, students no longer are guaranteed a lucrative career track. 

The job market has changed dramatically over the past several decades with mass immigration bringing a decline in wages as foreigners compete with American workers for jobs. The outsourcing of production and labor abroad has left many Americans jobless. 

The first-time homebuyer’s median age is 38, up significantly from the 1980s when the typical first-time homebuyer was in the late 20s. Saddled with student loans, car payments, credit card debt, high apartment rent, and generally higher expenses in the middle of a hyper-inflation economy, it is difficult for young adults to accumulate enough cash for a down payment on a home or to be able to afford the high payments created by the higher cost of houses, mortgage interest, property taxes, and homeowner’s insurance. 

Living in an extremely wealthy nation doesn’t mean Gen Z actually possesses any real wealth or has any ownership stake in society. To distract them from the truth, they are fed propaganda by World Economic Forum billionaires who enjoy fabulous homes, private airplanes and yachts, and luxurious lifestyles, but promise the rest of the world they will be happy if they own nothing – no house, no car, not even the clothes they wear. 

So our youth join radical organizations, such as Black Lives Matter and Antifa, to destroy the nation that has failed them. 

Gen Z is told they have to cower to be safe. They have to censor their thoughts. They have to accept the left’s psychopathic ideology or risk having their lives destroyed. Charlie Kirk taught them otherwise. With a single bullet by a radicalized sniper who hated all that Charlie stood for, Gen Z lost one of the few outspoken icons who encouraged them to seek truth and to stand tall.

But Gen Z will not retreat. They will not go back to their radical, self-destructive lifestyle. Charlie gave them a voice for their own future and taught them how to engage politically to make positive changes in the American system. They will question openly why the system is rigged against their achieving the American Dream. They will denounce the transgender propaganada and demand that athletes compete against their own biological sex. 

With his testimony for Christ, Charlie taught them about the importance of faith. Many Gen Zers, as well as millenials, are attending worship services. 

Charlie taught them about the joys of being a husband and a father – of marriage between a biological male and female. 

Charlie was their inspiration as he stood against the nation’s most powerful forces, their efforts to loot the country, and the squalor they inflicted. He promoted order, justice, liberty, and Christianity against the pervasive forces of lawlessness and nihilism.  

Although one of the most powerful voices for American youth has been silenced, his legacy will live on. Since Charlie’s murder, there has been a surge in young people calling TPUSA to work either as employees or volunteers or just to help in any way. TPUSA has had more than 37,000 inquiries from people who want to start new campus chapters. 

New conservative leaders will rise up from those whose lives Charlie touched and were changed forever. 

What better way to ensure the legacy of Charlie Kirk than to continue his work to reintegrate youth into American society and make positive changes in the nation’s economic and social structure so that, once again, everyone can achieve the American Dream.