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Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk speaks via video during TPUSA\u2019s Make Heaven Crowded Tour at Prestonwood Baptist Church, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in Plano.<\/p>\n
Chitose Suzuki\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Erika Kirk, the widow of the slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk, was scheduled to appear at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano Wednesday night and instead spoke to hundreds via video message, saying she was taking time to be with her family.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI wanted to at least send you a video to just really let you know how grateful I am for all of you and for your support,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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On Saturday night, Erika Kirk attended the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association Dinner, where, authorities say, a man tried to storm the event with guns and knives. He\u2019s been\u00a0charged with attempting to assassinate<\/a> President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Erika Kirk\u00a0spoke in a pre-recorded video played before the Prestonwood congregation and others at the\u00a0megachurch’s worship center. She did not talk about the correspondents’ dinner, but she did so earlier Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a\u00a0video<\/a> on social media, she said there\u2019s an \u201cepidemic of dehumanization\u201d happening in the U.S.<\/p>\n Make Dallas News a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI can speak firsthand to that unbearable toll that this must take on our first lady,\u201d she said, referring to Melania Trump, who was also at\u00a0the correspondents’ dinner<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n She said the band played the national anthem, and then gunshots rang out, \u201cand total chaos ensued.\u201d<\/p>\n Related: I was at the table when chaos broke out at White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner<\/a><\/p>\n Charlie Kirk was the CEO<\/a> and co-founder of Turning Point USA, a conservative youth organization. He was assassinated in September while speaking at a college campus in Utah. \u00a0<\/p>\n Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk speaks via video during TPUSA\u2019s Make Heaven Crowded Tour at Prestonwood Baptist Church, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in Plano.<\/p>\n Chitose Suzuki\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n Erika Kirk\u2019s scheduled appearance was part of Turning Point USA\u2019s Make Heaven Crowded tour. A few sighs of disappointment echoed in the worship center as she apologized for not being able to make it.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The tour is part worship, part political engagement. Speakers Wednesday eulogized and mourned Charlie Kirk, spoke against abortion and encouraged standing up for conservative values. Christian rock singer Matthew West led a song of worship and Prestonwood senior pastor Jack Graham concluded with prayer.\u00a0<\/p>\n At Kirk\u2019s memorial in September, attended by the president, Erika Kirk forgave<\/a> her husband\u2019s accused killer.<\/p>\n Related: Two visions of America at Charlie Kirk’s memorial<\/a><\/p>\n In the recorded video on Wednesday night, she gave a sermon-like address, reflecting on her husband\u2019s death and her resilience since then. She compared the Biblical story of Jesus Christ’s burial and the Saturday before Easter Sunday with the difficulty she\u2019s experienced in the wake of Charlie Kirk\u2019s death.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cEaster Saturday, the world looked like the end, but God doesn\u2019t write stories that end in the tomb,” she said. The audience applauded her address.<\/p>\n Matthew West, right, and Prestonwood Worship Team perform during Turning Point USA\u2019s Make Heaven Crowded Tour at Prestonwood Baptist Church, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in Plano.<\/p>\n Chitose Suzuki\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n Loan\u00a0Nguyen, 52, attended in support of Erika Kirk.<\/p>\n By signing up, you agree to our Terms Of Use<\/a> and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like she\u2019s my sister,\u201d she said. \u201cMy heart goes out to her and her family.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Grace Nicklas, a 22-year-old member of Prestonwood, said she attended to stand up for her beliefs with other Christians.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important as believers that we are involved in the world of politics to stand for truth,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk speaks via video during TPUSA\u2019s Make Heaven Crowded Tour at Prestonwood Baptist…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[95010,160,162,161,88944,92240],"class_list":["post-272309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-news-politics","tag-plano","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news","tag-tp-plano","tag-tp-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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