As tens of thousands of fans of Charlie Kirk gathered at State Farm Arena in Arizona on Sunday to honor the slain conservative activist, leaders including cabinet secretaries, the vice president, and Kirk’s longtime friends proclaimed that a great spiritual “revival” was taking place. 

Kirk, an evangelical Christian, said in June during a podcast interview that the thing he would most want to be known for was “for courage for my faith.” His widow, his pastor, Vice President Vance, and President Trump talked about that faith at length. 

“After Charlie’s assassination, we didn’t see violence,” his wife of four years, Erika Kirk, declared on stage. “We didn’t see rioting. We didn’t see revolution.

“Instead, we saw what my husband always prayed he would see in this country — we saw revival,” Ms. Kirk said. 

Mr. Vance said Kirk’s message and his voice are now “louder than ever” in the wake of his death. 

“The evil murderer who took Charlie from us expected us to have a funeral today, and instead, my friends, we have had a revival and celebration of Charlie Kirk and of his Lord Jesus Christ,” the vice president said, eliciting cheers from the crowd. 

Kirk was famously one of Mr. Vance’s first major supporters when he announced in 2021 that he was running for the United States Senate in Ohio. Hosting Kirk’s daily radio show just days after his death, Mr. Vance stated that Kirk “was maybe the most important person in both getting us across the finish line but actually getting me the nomination to begin with. 

“It was his grassroots army,” Mr. Vance said of Kirk pushing for him to be the running mate in 2024. 

Mr. Trump said that Kirk “became convinced that we needed not just a political realignment, but also a spiritual reawakening.”

“We want God back,” the president declared. “In the days since Charlie’s death, we’ve seen how his legacy has touched so many millions around the world … Today, Charlie Kirk rests in glory in Heaven for all eternity. He has gone from speaking on campuses in Wisconsin to kneeling at the throne of God.”

The Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, called Kirk a Christian warrior whom he knew for more than a decade. “We always did need less government,” Mr. Hegseth said of Kirk’s old mantra that “Big Government Sucks.”

“But what Charlie understood and infused into his movement is, we also needed a lot more God,” Mr. Hegseth said. 

One of the most powerful moments of the hours-long memorial was when Ms. Kirk took the stage of State Farm Arena to call on young people to stay engaged, just as her husband asked them — especially young men — to do. She said that the alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, was exactly the sort of young man her husband sought to persuade. 

“That young man … I forgive him,” Ms. Kirk said to a standing ovation of Mr. Robinson. 

Ms. Kirk, who has been elected to take over Turning Point USA, says her husband’s work will continue despite his assassination.

“Chapters will grow. Thousands of new ones will be created,” Ms. Kirk declared. “And yes, campus events will continue and we will continue to hold debates and dialogue.”

“No assassin will ever stop us from standing up to defend those rights,” she said.