Jeb Jacobi wasn’t sure about Sunday night’s gathering.
The last time he attended a big campus event at Utah Valley University (UVU), he watched from ten feet away as a bullet took Charlie Kirk’s life. He can replay the chaotic aftermath—everyone running in different directions, parents shielding their children’s eyes.
Just two months later, thousands returned to the Orem, Utah, school for a crusade held in Kirk’s memory. Jacobi felt relieved it took place indoors, with metal detectors, uniformed officers, and campus security monitoring the crowds that filled the basketball stands.
As they sang along with worship leader Phil Wickham, “Oh God, the battle belongs to you,” the music’s triumphant tone stood in stark contrast to the horror Jacobi and many others there had witnessed on September 10.
“Sixty-seven days ago, tragedy struck just feet from where we are now,” said Jonathan Laurie, son of Harvest Christian Fellowship pastor and evangelist Greg Laurie. “I believe even before Charlie knew what happened, he was in the arms of his Savior.”
A second-year student and member of UVU’s Turning Point USA chapter, Jacobi wore a white T-shirt with the word FREEDOM, designed after the one Kirk wore during his campus visit.
“God kept me safe that day,” said Jacobi, who’s Catholic. His faith has grown in the wake of the tragedy, and he’s seen more students join TPUSA who are looking for a place to engage their beliefs and values.
Catholics and evangelical Protestants make up a tiny minority in Utah, where Latter-day Saints outnumber each more than tenfold. But at this “Hope for America” event, put on by Greg Laurie, they worshiped together, and evangelicals spoke of the potential for revival.
The evening opened with a tribute video of Kirk speaking about Christianity. In a front-row bleacher, one young man wore a shirt printed with one of Kirk’s X posts: “Jesus defeated death so you can live.” Another woman, a volunteer for the event, sported a white “47” hat and a shirt that said, “Make Heaven Crowded,” with Kirk’s name under it.
Greg Laurie paid homage to Kirk during his message, which otherwise focused on his personal testimony and urged attendees to commit to faith in Jesus.
“Despite this tragedy, God has done amazing things around our nation,” said Laurie, who also serves as a spiritual adviser to President Donald Trump. “It was like a wake-up call. All of you, for all of us, this is your moment tonight. This is your wake-up call tonight. Don’t let it slip by.”
The evangelist originally planned to bring his crusade to Utah in 2027 but expedited the timeline after Kirk’s assassination, planning the visit in mere weeks. Utah pastors asked Harvest to come sooner. Former governor Gary Herbert and US Rep. Mike Kennedy—both members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—sat in the front row.
Laurie invited attendees to profess faith in Christ as Wickham retook the stage to sing “O Come to the Altar.” A few hundred people left the bleachers to surround the stage. Volunteers met them with resources and a New Believer’s Bible. According to event organizers, over 2,100 people made professions of faith in person and online.
Though people came down for the gospel call, local faith leaders suggested that they may have responded by recommitting faith rather than converting, particularly among the LDS community.
Laurie later described the crowd as a mix of LDS church members, nonbelievers, and evangelicals. While he did not specifically address Mormonism in his remarks, his ministry does not consider the LDS church to be “biblically sound.” The night before the event, he met with evangelicals who minister among Latter-day Saints to pray for the crusade and learn about the spiritual norms in Utah.
One of those faith leaders was Gregory Johnson, a convert from the LDS church and cofounder of the ministry Standing Together. Johnson called the UVU crusade “the most successful, historic, largest evangelical outreach that I think Utah probably has ever seen.”
Dozens of evangelical congregations across the state partnered with Laurie to send groups to the UVU event, and 67 streamed it at their own churches.
“Jesus has opened the door for the gospel to be unapologetically preached in our backyard,” said Ken Krueger, who pastors The Mountain Church, an Assemblies of God congregation an hour away. “What we are seeing God do, and he will continue to do in this region, is the result of years, years of travailing with the Lord. Do not overlook our tribe. Do not overlook our land.”
Justin Banks, pastor of the Genesis Project in Provo, said that in Utah, pastors are used to big Christian artists skipping the state for ones with larger evangelical populations. So for him, the crusade was a huge encouragement.
“This is a miracle,” he said. “This doesn’t happen in Utah County unless God moves.”
He hopes the success of the event will encourage other Christian leaders to “stop flying over us.”
One young woman in a cross necklace, Megan Luna, came with two friends after hearing about the event from her church, Redemption Hill in Eagle Mountain. “I loved it,” she said. “I think a lot of saving happened here.”
Annie LeBaron, 20, said she came after attending Charlie’s memorial service.
“It’s the first time I ever saw those two Christian singers sing in person, and it changed my life,” she said, referring to Chris Tomlin and Wickham, who also performed at Kirk’s memorial service in September.
“There’s something about music and just praising and praying, things like that, that just touch the soul,” she said. “That’s why I came tonight. Because I want to continue to fill that fire in my soul.”
