Erika Kirk calls for a Christian revival as tour starts at Riverside church
Erika Kirk launched a national tour in Riverside to honor the memory of her husband — slain media personality Charlie Kirk — while spreading the word of God, the power of prayer and calling for a Christian revival in the U.S.
The audience of thousands gathered Wednesday night, Jan. 21, at Harvest Christian Fellowship greeted Kirk with a standing ovation. Some shouted their love for her.
It was the first night of the Make Heaven Crowded Tour 2026, which is set to visit more than 30 cities between now and the year’s end.
“This tour is so special to me because I wanted … to bring a slice of heaven from my husband and bring it to everyone around this county so that they could have that extension, and that beauty and that palpable feeling of the Holy Spirit,” Kirk said.
She added that her husband always told her that if anything happened to him he wanted her to step in and take over Turning Point USA, which she has done.
Charlie Kirk, was shot and killed in September while speaking to thousands at a Utah university. He was the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, a top podcaster and an ally of President Donald Trump. He led an effort to remake the GOP’s get-out-the-vote effort in the 2024 election based on the theory there were thousands of Trump supporters who rarely vote but could be persuaded to do so.
“This is why this tour exists,” Kirk added. “It’s unifying … when this nation rises up and prays for this nation and is in revival.”
Kirk added she would not let her husband’s death be a footnote in history and she would continue his pursuits.
“Church is never meant to retreat from culture,” she said. “We will change this country. We will change this world.”
“When you trust in the Lord, you have no idea what you can bear until you’re tried,” she said.
The tour, organized by Turning Point USA Faith, will end in Phoenix in December. It seeks to gather people for “repentance, faith and bold obedience to Jesus,” according to its website.
In Riverside on Wednesday, audience members stood several times throughout the night to cheer, pray, sway to worship music, raise their hands and sing. Some wore T-shirts of Charlie Kirk or Donald Trump; others had sequined Trump and Make America Great Again jackets as well as red MAGA caps.
Other tour speakers included Harvest’s founder and senior pastor, Greg Laurie, a well-known evangelist and author.
“I was just talking to Erika, Charlie’s wife, a few moments ago,” Laurie said before she took the stage. “And I said, ‘Erika, tell me the origin of this phrase: Make heaven crowded.’ And it was something that he would say to her often.”
“So the reason we’re here tonight is we want to encourage you in your faith,” Laurie added. “We want to pray for a revival, a spiritual awakening in America. And we want to encourage you all who are Christians to preach the gospel. And we want to see you, who are not believers yet, believe in Jesus.”
Before the event, about 60 protesters gathered along Arlington Avenue in front of the church, chanting “No ICE, no Trump, no KKK.” They blew whistles. One woman played “America the Beautiful” on a flute. Sign slogans included: “Beware: false Christians go here” and “T.P.U.S.A. and I.C.E. out of Riverside.”
Jose Martinez, a 38-year-old Riverside resident who works as a butcher, said he was there to protest Erika Kirk’s political views.
“My family lives right around the corner,” Martinez said. “And (Kirk) thinks she can come here to Riverside … honestly, this is wrong. We’re here to speak out for our people, for our children, for our families … for our whole nation.”
Martinez added that all must “stand together in solidarity against the tyranny that’s happening with ICE, and everything happening in our society.”
One woman dressed as Erika Kirk by wearing sequins, a blonde wig and carrying a microphone into which she shouted: “Give me your money, not the poor!”
When the event ended after 9:30 p.m., the protesters remained outside the church campus, walking with signs along the street and through a crosswalk.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.