Just days after saying her late husband’s detractors have “no idea what you have unleashed,” Erika Kirk — the widow of the slain Charlie Kirk — has been elected CEO of Turning Point USA.
On Thursday, the board of TPUSA, founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk, who served as its chief executive until his assassination last week, announced it had unanimously voted for Erika Kirk to assume her husband’s role at the helm of the organization.
Relying on the wisdom from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, the members of the TPUSA board, David Engelhardt, Doug DeGroote, Mike Miller, and Tom Sodeika wrote in a joint statement that it was “the honor of our lives to serve … at Charlie’s side.”
The board alluded to Ecclesiastes 3:18, which states, “I also said to myself, ‘As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals’” (NIV). They wrote, “King Solomon wrote that mankind is to be tested by God,” calling the assassination of Charlie Kirk “such a test,” adding, “Yet we know that God has prepared us with everything we need to overcome this ordeal.”
“Charlie prepared all of us for a moment like this one,” they wrote. “He worked tirelessly to ensure Turning Point USA was built to survive even the greatest tests. And now, it is our great pride to announce Erika Kirk as the new CEO and chair of the board for Turning Point USA.”
The statement continued, “All of us at Turning Point USA have a special role in carrying Charlie Kirk’s mantle and completing his vision of bringing us all closer to our Lord and fostering a prosperous country for generations to come. As Charlie always said, ‘We have a country to save.’ We will not surrender or kneel before evil. We will carry on. The attempt to destroy Charlie’s work will become our chance to make it more powerful and enduring than ever before.”
In an emotional address last Friday as she stood next to her slain husband’s empty chair in his podcast studio in Phoenix, Arizona, Erika Kirk told alleged assassin Tyler Robinson and any person celebrating Kirk’s murder that they “have no idea what you just unleashed.”
“Two days ago, my husband, Charlie, went to see the face of his Savior and his God,” she said. “Now and for all eternity, he will stand at his Savior’s side wearing the glorious crown of a martyr.”
In the immediate aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s heinous assassination, TPUSA has received more than 54,000 requests for new campus chapters, according to Fox News. Additionally, the 31-year-old’s murder has sparked a surge in Americans returning to church services.
Please continue to pray for Erika Kirk, their two children, and those close to Charlie Kirk as they continue to mourn and process his murder.
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