One year after Charlie Kirk’s death, can faith hold Turning Point together?

(RNS) — In the days after Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025, Leona Salinas, Turning Point chapter president at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, fielded dozens of urgent inquiries from peers eager to join the political organization, she said.

That surge was part of a larger wave, according to Turning Point USA, which in December announced that 140,000 students requested to get involved after Kirk’s assassination — an awakening leaders described as both political and spiritual.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. It was a revival,” said Kristan Hawkins, Students for Life president, about the response to Kirk’s death.

One year later, it’s hard to know if that uptick in engagement had staying power. In recent fundraising appeals, Turning Point, now under the leadership of Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, who took over as CEO after her husband’s death, cites more than 1,500 college chapters, 3,500 high school chapters and 11,000 church partnerships. But some students said the enthusiasm they encountered last fall has waned. According to Salinas, initial interest in her campus Turning Point chapter dwindled amid the spread of…