Charlie Kirk honored at GOP midterm convention: Truth cannot be silenced
DALLAS — The legacy of Charlie Kirk loomed over the GOP midterm convention as Republicans honored the slain Turning Point USA founder for his bold faith and political instincts.
The 31-year-old Kirk, a prominent conservative activist and ally of President Donald Trump, was fatally shot on Sept. 10, 2025, while speaking at an outdoor Turning Point USA campus event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
Lucas Miles, vice president of TPUSA Faith, addressed the crowd at the American Airlines Center last Thursday to mark the one-year anniversary of Kirk’s death, while declaring that the organization’s mission continues to expand.
“There is a peculiar mistake that men make when they try to silence the truth,” he said. “They imagine that the voice speaking it is the source of it. A voice can be silenced, but the truth cannot. A man can be taken from his post, but if he spends his life awakening courage in other men, his absence may accomplish the very thing his enemies intended to prevent. For sometimes the silencing of one voice does not produce silence at all. It produces an echo. And if the voice was true enough and the conviction deep enough, the echo becomes a chorus.”
In the days since his assassination, Kirk’s influence, said Miles, has only gained in influence. “One year later, there is something wonderfully defiant about the fact that his voice has not grown quieter,” he said. “It has multiplied.”
According to Miles, TPUSA now boasts more than 1,500 collegiate chapters, more than 3,500 high school chapters, over 200,000 college student activists, over 58,000 high school student activists, more than 12,000 pastors, over 25 million social media followers, and more than 11.2 billion all-time views of its digital content.
“Turning Point is not dead,” Miles stated. “The organization Charlie founded is still growing. A new generation is stepping forward. Churches are finding their courage. New leaders are taking their place. And the people who never even had the opportunity to hear Charlie speak are now discovering the faith that animated his life.”
He declared that those who expected Kirk’s death to end the work miscalculated. “They could take the man. They could not take the mission. Because Charlie spent his life sowing the seeds of that mission in others. No one will ever replace Charlie Kirk. He had a remarkable vision and the rare ability to bring people together. … He understood how to build coalitions, how to appeal to our shared convictions without demanding uniformity.”
Miles, who also serves as lead pastor of Nfluence Church in Granger, Indiana, said Kirk is now “home with the Lord” and that supporters honor him by continuing the work. “I remember in the week after his death, one prominent tribute took special note that he died with a microphone in his hand. It's true that Charlie Kirk had a message to share with the world. A message undergirded by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, our Savior,” he said.
That message, added Miles, is more relevant than ever.
“I can't help but wonder today if Charlie were standing here tonight with that microphone still in his hand, what would he say to us?” he said. “I think he would say, ‘The work's not finished. There's still young people to reach. There's still pastors to equip. Still a generation searching for truth. Still a culture desperately in need of the clarity, courage and conviction of the Gospel.’”
Miles closed his message by calling on the audience to continue in Kirk’s mission. “His microphone may have fallen silent, but the message has not. Now it’s our turn to pick up the mic. … Charlie is gone, but the mission lives on. And it’s our responsibility to hold the coalition together, to act from our shared convictions, and to carry the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the Earth.”
His speech was delivered just hours before President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance wrapped up the GOP midterm convention on an emotional second night that included extended tributes to both Kirk and the 2,977 victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
