Remembering Charlie Kirk: A Legacy of Faith and Freedom

A somber yet inspiring tribute to Charlie Kirk fills our latest episode as we reflect on the shocking loss of a Christian leader whose impact reached far beyond political spheres. Charlie's assassination on September 10th—what many are calling the first Christian martyrdom in America in decades—has left a void that cannot be filled by any single voice.

Charlie Kirk began his journey at just 18 years old, founding Turning Point USA in 2012 after being rejected from West Point. What started with a simple card table on college campuses grew into a global movement. Known for his tagline "I go out and talk to college kids on college campuses so you don't have to," Charlie became a beacon of light in spaces often hostile to conservative viewpoints.

What distinguished Charlie wasn't just his intellectual prowess but his character. Despite facing hostile questions on campuses nationwide, he never responded with anger, always maintained respect, and frequently reminded his audience to show courtesy to those who disagreed. This commitment to civil discourse while standing firmly for biblical truth made him extraordinary. As his influence grew, so did his openness about his Christian faith, often expressing his desire to "make heaven crowded."

Steve shares a heartfelt poem titled "Remembering Charlie," capturing the grief and gratitude many feel for Kirk's life and legacy. We discuss how his work must now be carried forward not by one person but by thousands willing to have difficult conversations with grace and truth. Charlie's example reminds us that being "bold as a lion" doesn't mean abandoning kindness or respect.

As we navigate this loss together, we're reminded that light dispels darkness. Charlie Kirk's legacy challenges us to be that light in our own communities, standing firm in biblical truth while extending grace to those with whom we disagree. Though we mourn his absence, we're inspired by his example to continue speaking truth with both conviction and compassion.

To help you to navigate the home buying and mortgage process, Jonathan & Steve are currently licensed in Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia, contact us today at 423-491-5405 or visit www.jonathanandsteve.com.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Benchmark Happenings
• 1:30 Honoring Charlie Kirk's Memory
• 4:39 Charlie's Impact on Campus and Country
• 8:32 Faith, Humility, and Making Heaven Crowded
• 15:14 Standing Firm in Truth
• 21:28 Remembering Charlie and Moving Forward
• 24:04 Closing Thoughts and Contact Information

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

This is Benchmark Happenings, Brought to you by Jonathan and Steve from Benchmark Home Loans. Northeast Tennessee, Johnson City, Kingsport, Bristol, the Tri-Cities One of the most beautiful places in the country to live. Tons of great things to do and awesome local businesses. And on this show you'll find out why people are dying to move to Northeast Tennessee. And on the way we'll have discussions about mortgages and we'll interview people in the real estate industry. It's what we do. This is Benchmark Happenings, brought to you by Benchmark Home Loans and now your host, Christine Reed, by Benchmark Home Loans and now your host, christine Reed.

Speaker 2: 0:54

Welcome back everyone to another episode of Benchmark Happenings and today's episode. I have my wonderful husband, steve Reed, that is here with me today. Welcome, steve.

Speaker 3: 1:00

Thank you, happy to be here.

Speaker 2: 1:02

Well, I'm glad you are here today and in our conversations. Due to the recent turn of events in our country, on September, the 10th of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, we felt that it would be appropriate to have a podcast that is dedicated to honoring Charlie Kirk.

Speaker 3: 1:30

Yeah, I'm so humbled just to be able to talk about him, to honor him Hopefully it's healing for us as well as those who listen to the podcast and he was a big part of my life and he was a big part of a lot of people's lives and so, yeah, we'll just dive in and talk a little bit about Charlie today what he meant to the country, what he meant to the church, what he meant to the college campus, what he meant to a lot of people. I mean, it's kind of you know, we felt the vibrations throughout all of our society and our world that we live in, and so, yeah, I'm excited to talk about him. I wish it was under different circumstances, but we need to never forget. We need to never forget.

Speaker 2: 2:23

Absolutely, and it's ironic that we witnessed the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the first Christian martyr in our country for this generation, and it was on September, the 10th last week.

Speaker 3: 2:41

Yeah, right before 9-11. And so it really makes that seem now like a very significant time of the year. And I've heard a few reports that said, you know, it was really the biggest martyr that we've had in the last six decades or 60 years. So, uh, it's a big deal. It's a big deal and I know, um, you know a lot of people are talking about it. I've never seen anything so viral on social media and I've had to make myself put it down at times because you know, part of the healing is you just want to read about him and know more about him, and you know, but sometimes you have to step away. But it's a big story and I think it'll be a big story for years to come. Really.

Speaker 2: 3:30

Absolutely Well and the influence that Charlie Kirk had. We wanted to on this podcast. We wanted to honor him because he was a Christian first and foremost. He was a Christian first and foremost and to hear people talk about him and to hear people who knew him intimately. I've listened to several podcasts of the people who worked with him on the Charlie Kirk Show the daily podcast that he put out and just to hear them talk about Charlie and how kind he was, how compassionate and also, you know, charlie was as bold as a lion. He went out on college campuses to have a conversation with college kids because he believed in free speech and he believed in our constitution, our first amendment of free speech, which we need to remember how important free speech is in our nation.

Speaker 3: 4:33

Yeah, I loved his tagline for college campuses. He said I go out and talk to college kids on college campuses so you don't have to. And I always appreciated that because I thought, boy, that would not be something that I would want to do.

Speaker 3: 4:50

And he just started out, you know, kind of unpolished, and he would go set a little card table up on campus and hang a little poster on it and they'd be a handful of people there and then it just kept growing and growing and growing. And you can really see him grow as a person too, because I don't remember him ever not being a great speaker. It just seems like the last eight or so years that I've listened to him and followed him closely. He's always been a great speaker. But I heard a lot of his close friends talking about him today and they were saying, you know, saying how much better he had gotten as a speaker.

Speaker 3: 5:27

And I thought, man, I always thought he was pretty top-notch from the first time that I ever heard him but that was the crazy thing about him was as good as he was. They said he was still trying to get better. So to me that's inspiring. He wasn't just sitting there, he was already trying to get better. So to me that's inspiring. You know, he wasn't just, you know, sitting there, he was already better than everybody else at what he?

Speaker 3: 5:51

did. And he's sitting there and still trying to get better and we get lazy and think, well, we're good enough, we'll just kind of glide through life here. But yeah, he was still trying to get better even at this point in his life.

Speaker 2: 6:07

Well, and he started Turning Point USA in 2012.

Speaker 3: 6:11

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 6:11

And he was 18 years old and he was turned down. Which? Where was it he was turned down? It was West Point, I think.

Speaker 3: 6:20

Yes, it was.

Speaker 2: 6:22

But literally he is probably one of the most well-read, self-educated people that I've ever listened to, and Charlie Kirk grew up listening to Rush Limbaugh. His parents listened to Rush every day. He grew up listening to him, he idolized him, and I know, steve, every morning when you and I got up, I would hear your phone and what was the first thing that you would be listening to?

Speaker 3: 6:51

Yeah, it would be Charlie Kirk, it would be his podcast. That was part of my daily routine and it's like where do we go from here? It's just so empty and it's so sad that I just enjoyed him. I enjoyed his topics there was a lot of politics, but there was also a lot of biblical values and he talked a lot about his faith. And his faith was another thing. He just wanted to learn, learn, learn and read more of the Bible and, just you know, he just kept growing in his faith.

Speaker 3: 7:28

Now I did see that over time he was. He talked a lot more about Christianity and his faith over the last couple of years and he just couldn't be quiet about it. He was, just, you know, one of the things I love. He said he wanted to make heaven crowded. He wanted heaven to be crowded, and now they've come out with shirts that says Make Heaven Crowded, with Charlie Kirk's name on it.

Speaker 3: 7:52

So you know, just knowing he was such a humble guy to be so good at everything he did, and so just that humility and wanting to share the gospel of Christ with people, no matter who you were, no matter what side you were on, and he changed a lot of people's hearts and minds. Well, I know, you know he don't do the changing, but he planted the seed and a lot of people change because of him and he didn't do it in a mean way. So, no matter what reports you're seeing that says you know he was a bigot or he was this or that, that was not Charlie Kirk. I mean that is lies, because he was a nice guy, he was a humble guy, he was a caring guy, and so he just he had the whole package.

Speaker 3: 8:47

And when you think about who's going to replace him, well, there's nobody going to replace him. It's kind of like when Rush Limbaugh died. They're like who's going to be the next Rush? Well, there's not going to be another Rush, there's not going to be another Charlie. But I think what it's going to take is he was bigger in life but hopefully the movement is bigger than him. So I think it's going to take thousands and thousands of people to replace Charlie. I don't think it's going to be one person as a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure it's not.

Speaker 3: 9:20

So it's going to take a whole movement of people across the US to be Charlie.

Speaker 2: 9:25

That's right.

Speaker 3: 9:26

That's right, that's right.

Speaker 2: 9:27

I mean and we were actually this weekend there's a conference in Murfreesboro, tennessee, at Alan Jackson's church, world Outreach, culture and Christianity that you and I were so excited about because Charlie Kirk was going to be the keynote speaker. And his beautiful wife Erica was going to be there as well, and little did we know that his life would be taken away.

Speaker 3: 9:54

yeah, yeah, we were so excited about seeing that we booked our tickets, you know, a few months ago and after listening to Charlie and following him for eight years, I'm like man, I finally get to meet this guy, you know, and wasn't guaranteed to even meet him. I didn't have VIP tickets, they sold out pretty quick, but I think I would have met him. So I was pretty excited about that. And so here we are. We didn't expect this, didn't want this. Like Pastor Ken said from Patriot Church the other day, if he was on God's board of directors he would have definitely questioned God and said no, this is not a good plan.

Speaker 2: 10:34

You need to leave Charlie Kirk here.

Speaker 3: 10:37

You need to kind of leave Charlie here. Let's come up with plan B. But you know we're not on the board of directors. God knows the future and he knows what's best for everything that works together for him and works together for us and according to his plans. So we don't get a say, unfortunately. But man, it's just tough it's just tough I'm. I've noticed myself just kind of fidgeting around, just doing kind of menial crazy, just kind of just to stay busy, so I don't have to think about it.

Speaker 2: 11:13

Well, and you know, because Charlie was a believer in Christ and a devout follower of Christ, he witnessed to more college students in this country and around the world more than anybody that has ever existed. And you know, and we talk about, there'll never be another Charlie Kirk. And we've talked about this on our podcast before with other guests I have and talking about how God designed each of us so uniquely our DNA and there's no other Steve Reed, there's no other Christine Reed. You know we're designed to do what God created us to do and we've got to find those things and do those things. That God you know, no matter how divisive or how hateful the person who came up to that mic, charlie never responded in anger. He was always very calm and he gave everybody hope. He shared the gospel message with them, whether they wanted to hear it or not.

Speaker 2: 12:33

And when someone would walk up to that mic and you've got to think about it you're in a crowd of all of your peers on a college campus. There's probably thousands of students there. For you to walk up to that mic. It takes a lot. That takes a lot of courage, and he would always say I want the ones who disagree with me to be up front. I want to hear from you.

Speaker 2: 12:55

I mean, he did not because he wanted to have a conversation and he truly believed that having conversations with people and sharing a biblical worldview, the truth, the gospel, would change people.

Speaker 3: 13:11

Yeah, and he did it in a respectful manner, and a lot of his fans, you know if they would start heckling the person at the microphone, he would. I heard him say this a thousand times. He'd say all right, everybody be respectful.

Speaker 2: 13:24

Yes.

Speaker 3: 13:25

Be respectful. So you know, no matter what people are saying about him on the other side, it's not true, because he was always respectful and he never lost his cool. I don't know how. One of my favorite ones was where the person came up and was going to ask him a question because they disagreed with him. He said hey, come to the front of the line. They come up and started asking their question and he said what's your name? And they said none of your business. And he said, okay, none of your business. Well, let's hear your question. I mean he didn't even miss a beat and so it was just. But he didn't do it. I mean it was just.

Speaker 3: 14:07

He was such a natural at it, he, he grew into that and you know it was discourse that we needed on these college campuses. They're so woke, they're so you know where their kids are getting indoctrinated by these left-wing woke professors? Yes, that I wouldn't. I wouldn't pay my money to send my kids to one of those colleges because they're going to come back radicalized and so college is a scam and it needs to be. It really needs to be overhauled. But I don't know how that happens, because we've got so many ideologies in these campuses and these professors and they're kind of hard to fire, so they're embedded in a lot of these places and they're teaching our kids and I think it would be.

Speaker 3: 15:01

Maybe parents need to go sit in these classrooms and hear what they're teaching their kids because it's really really scary.

Speaker 2: 15:09

Well, and it even boiled down to our local schools. You know we're having to fight to keep that out of our schools in our area and there's been some good work that's done. But also, you know, here at our you know East Tennessee State University, we've had two professors put on administrative leave for comments that they've made.

Speaker 3: 15:31

Yeah, and hopefully they'll be fired. I hope so Hopefully they'll be fired because you know that's what needs to happen. And you know a lot of people say well, that's my, you know, that's my rights for free speech. Actually, if you're working for an institution of private or public sector, you still agree to certain core values and a mission and vision statement.

Speaker 3: 15:59

And you know for I mean one example you know a doctor at a hospital was cheering and Charlie's death, his murder, his assassination. Well, you know, when you're a doctor you kind of take the vow that you're going to try to keep people alive, right?

Speaker 1: 16:14

Hypocritical.

Speaker 3: 16:16

Yeah, I was trying to think of the name of it.

Speaker 2: 16:18

Do no harm.

Speaker 3: 16:18

First thing for physicians. First thing do no harm. Do no harm If you're going to applaud now. Thank God that was not in our area, but if you're going to applaud that kind of thing. But if you're going to applaud that kind of thing, your employer has every right to fire you because that does not go along with, you know, with the core values of most institutions cheered on to be allowed to be condoned.

Speaker 2: 16:56

It's taking a human life.

Speaker 3: 16:57

Yeah. So it's just, you know we've seen some fallout from this and you know that's good. That's good. I mean, that needs to happen if people are going to take that attitude.

Speaker 2: 17:12

And even more importantly, steve, I think we have to carry on the mission of being willing to have those critical conversations with individuals and share the gospel, to share a biblical worldview. What does that mean? You know well, we believe in the Bible. Our ultimate truth as a follower of Jesus Christ is the word of God, because it is infallible, and that's where our source of truth is, that is our plumb line. You know you can go around and say, well, I have my truth, you have your truth. Well, what do you put your truth up against?

Speaker 3: 17:51

I don't have my truth. I don't know about you. It's biblical truth.

Speaker 2: 17:54

I have God's truth and God's truth is absolute truth and that's what's important. And I just want to say this about Charlie I mean his reach and influence went around the world, his events.

Speaker 2: 18:08

He had events in korea, several other countries, multiple campuses, uh, america canada, uk, yeah america fest that he always has in december yeah and also I just want to mention, you know he left behind, uh, he was taken away from a beautiful wife, erica, who was a former miss arizona, and two children, a boy and a girl. Just that you know they won't have their father.

Speaker 3: 18:34

No.

Speaker 2: 18:36

And Erica was on television and it was just amazing how she was able to hold up and talk about her husband and you could just tell that they had just a beautiful relationship. And, steve, I know that this has had it's had an impact on both of us. We've mourned, we're grieving, thank God for Patriot Church on Sunday in Lenore City and Pastor Ken Peterson honoring Charlie Kirk.

Speaker 3: 19:04

Pastor Ken Peters yeah.

Speaker 2: 19:06

Yeah, honoring him, but you had written a poem and I wanted you to read that poem today because I feel like it's just. God gave that to you and you have a gift with words, so would you please read that poet.

Speaker 3: 19:20

I think I've written about four or five poems in my life and unfortunately most of them are when friends or people really close to me have died. Other than for Dawn's birthday when she turned 40, I did write her a poem. She probably wishes she was dead after she heard me read that, but most everything I've written is just from the heart. When something like that happens and I just kind of get overtaken and feel like I need to write it, but anyway, so I wrote this the morning after. So I guess I wrote this on 9-11. Actually 9-11-25, at 8.50 am I'm looking at the note.

Speaker 3: 20:07

So the name of this is Remembering Charlie. America was a country fleeing into the night. Then here came Charlie Kirk, a beacon of light, a voice that I treasured and found incredible trust. To hear Charlie's perspective daily was simply a must. You inspired me more than you'll ever know and I would have met you next week, but now I can't go. The hurt of your death is a lot for our Christian family to bear. The only comfort we can find is knowing you are with Jesus and watching how much we care. A positive voice and inspiration for our youth of today. You spoke of morals and family values and would not be swayed. You had such a strong faith and you love to defend, and that's exactly what you were doing, until the very end To say you're an incredible human, and American can't even start to describe how you face this evil world with boldness and would never hide. We love you, charlie, and know you are the best. So I pray your movement lives on as we are put to the test. And that's it. So that was just what I was feeling on the 11th. I still feel that.

Speaker 3: 21:32

I think every day goes by, you know I think I'm coming to grips with it, but the anger hadn't really gone away for for what happened? Because this didn't have to happen. Um, you know. So I keep hearing for unity and you know all that. You know, and you know the other side's wanting, you know saying we need to tone down the rhetoric on this side, but that's almost like saying we're going to take half the blame and them take half the blame. Well, that's not true and there's no unity, there's no unifying with a lie, and there's no unity, there's no unifying with a lie. And there's certain things that you know Charlie talked about. He was very vocal on abortion and murdering babies and he was very vocal on the trans issue that you know, boys can't be girls and girls can't be boys, and you know boys can't be girls and girls can't be boys and borders.

Speaker 3: 22:31

You know God's a God of nations and laws and borders, and so you know we can't unite around a lie, and so I don't see this unity thing ever happening. Now. Could we sit down with somebody that disagrees with us? One-on-one Sure. You know we can defend our faith and we can defend what we believe in, but as far as on a large scale, as far as seeing unity, I'm not seeing that happen. But I mean, I think it starts with us personally and with who's in our sphere and who we can talk to and show respect to, and not violence.

Speaker 3: 23:15

That's the, you know, absolute, uh, not the way to go, but uh, maybe if we need to start talking to our neighbors, and you know, one at a time. But there's no, it's not going to be a quick fix where we just say, okay, let's all just get along and unify, because we can't unify around lies.

Speaker 2: 23:33

Well, and, as Christians, darkness does not like light, but light will dispel any darkness, and that's where we're called to be salt and light. So, steve, thank you for being here today and thank you for reading your beautiful poem and for those of you listening. I just hope that you know we just provided you some comfort today in honoring Charlie Kirk.

Speaker 1: 24:04

This has been Benchmark Happenings, brought to you by Jonathan Tipton and Steve Reed from Benchmark Home Loans. Jonathan and Steve are residential mortgage lenders. They do home loans in Northeast Tennessee and they're not only licensed in Tennessee but Florida, georgia, south Carolina and Virginia. We hope you've enjoyed the show. If you did make sure to like rate and review. Our passion is Northeast Tennessee, so if you have questions about mortgages, call us at 423-491-5405. And the website is wwwJonathanAndStevecom. Thanks for being with us and we'll see you next time on Benchmark Happenings.