A north Phoenix church that partnered with Charlie Kirk in his effort to elect Donald Trump president proceeded with its usual Wednesday evening service on Sept. 10, just hours after news of Kirk’s assassination in Utah sent shock waves across the nation’s fraught political landscape.
Dream City Church Senior Pastor Luke Barnett called Kirk a patriot in his opening sermon, garnering robust applause. Many congregants took out their phones to record the tribute.
“He’s bled for it. He died for it,” Barnett said as he described Kirk’s commitment to his country. “He gave his life doing what the preachers of America ought to be doing — speaking the truth.”
The pastor likened Kirk’s death to 9/11 and the assassination attempt against Trump on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania, calling Kirk’s death a “turning point” for the United States.
“What killed him today was not his political views,” Barnett said. “His biblical views of truth killed him today.”
Barnett said Dream City would continue to address sin, singling out same-sex marriage and transgender people.
“We’re gonna proclaim with a more of a clarion call than ever before that marriage is between a man and a woman. That’s what marriage is. We’re gonna proclaim like never before that there are only two sexes: male and female,” Barnett said. “What the enemy has tried to do today is silence the people of God, silence the men and women of God. Well, you just unleashed the dragon.”
Law enforcement authorities had not identified a suspect or shared a motive in the shooting by the time of Dream City’s evening service.
Krik, who founded the Phoenix-based Turning Point USA, which focused its outreach on young people, was fatally shot at an outdoor event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, shortly after noon local time.
“He was a passionate advocate and a leading voice for faith, freedom, and biblical truth — a guiding force for a generation seeking clarity in a complex world,” Dream City said in a news release.
“Charlie’s presence at our church was less about politics — it was about purpose,” the news release said. “Through his leadership at Turning Point USA and Turning Point Faith, Charlie inspired millions to stand firm in their biblical convictions and live out their faith with courage.”
Couple who saw Kirk twice at Dream City mourn his death
Kirk hosted “Freedom Night in America,” a regular event at Dream City that the church described on its website as “rallies designed to address current cultural and political issues from a conservative perspective, encouraging the faith community to become more active and informed.”
The most recent “Freedom Night in America” event was held Aug. 13, according to the church’s website.
Jason and Alexis Van Skike of Gilbert saw Kirk at Dream City during two “Freedom Night in America” events.
“He spoke truth with grace,” Alexis Van Skike said.
The couple made the roughly hourlong drive with their infant to attend the Sept. 10 service. They wanted to lay flowers at the base of the church’s American flag in honor of Kirk.
“What a legacy he’s leaving behind,” Jason Van Skike said. “Something we can all aspire to be.”
Echoing Pastor Barnett’s tribute, Jason Van Skike said Kirk’s death should be a calling for Christians to unabashedly stand by their beliefs.
“As Christians, we’re going to be challenged at times,” he said. “I think his death means for all Christians to rise up to the occasion and to speak the truth and to seek the truth.”
For Alexis Van Skike, Kirk’s death marked a moment of reflection.
“I’m actually kind of shocked how hard this has hit home,” she said. “And I’ve heard that from a lot of peers — friends — that this is just, it feels personal.”
Dream City, Kirk group hosted Trump at height of pandemic
The megachurch gained national attention after hosting Trump at a service during the peak of the pandemic. The event was put on by Students for Trump, a component of Turning Point Action, an organization Kirk headed.
Ahead of the June 23, 2020, event, Barnett and the church’s chief operations officer, Brendon Zastrow, assured congregants in a later deleted video that the church had an air filtration system installed that killed “99.9% of the COVID within 10 minutes,” according to CBS News reporting at the time.
A statement by the church to CBS News later backtracked on the claim that the system targeted the virus, clarifying that the use of the term “COVID” should have instead been “coronavirus or COVID surrogates.”
Trump returned to the church during his second reelection bid for a June 6, 2024, rally, drawing a crowd of more than 4,000, with many not managing to get in and 11 people hospitalized amid 112-degree heat.
That visit was also hosted by Kirk, who ripped Democrats for prosecuting Trump and likened Democratic rule to the Nazi fascists the U.S. battled on the beaches of Normandy 80 years ago.
Kirk mentioned those who took part in the D-Day invasion in 1944.
“They were fighting against totalitarianism, fighting against a dictatorship,” Kirk said. “But 80 years later, if we are honest with ourselves, that very same totalitarianism is now here in this country.”
Kirk’s presence at Dream City reflected the religious outreach that was part of his broader political agenda.
Turning Point USA sprouted Turning Point Faith in 2021.
“We engage, equip, and empower millions of grateful Americans who are prepared to defend our God-given rights, by giving them the tools to expose lies and articulate the connection between Faith and Freedom,” reads Turning Point Faith’s mission statement on the organization’s website.
The website also states, “Turning Point Faith exists to unite the Church around primary doctrine and to eliminate wokeism from the … American pulpit.”
(This article was updated to add new information.)