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Charlie Kirk Visits Legacy Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico

Charlie Kirk Visits Legacy Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico

Last updated on: September 11, 2025 at 1:40 pm by John San Nicolas

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Charlie Kirk Visits Legacy Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico 2025-09-11T13:40:20-06:00 John San Nicolas

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Charlie Kirk speaking with attendees at the 2021 AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. | Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

ALBUQUERQUE, NM — On August 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk visited an Albuquerque megachurch’s “Freedom Night” service. Kirk is the founder of conservative organization, Turning Point USA (TPUSA). TPUSA runs several operations, including a political action committee which donates money to Republican politicians and an endowment which racks in millions of revenue each year.

I attended Freedom Night at Legacy Church to document the event itself and get perspectives from the Americans who went to protest it. First, we will give some background on Legacy Church and its political activities in recent years. Second, we will hear from protestors to learn why they were there. And finally, we will examine what the TPUSA CEO had to say about immigration, assimilation, and Muslims.

Legacy Church’s Political History

Legacy Church is a politically conservative nondenominational megachurch. Steve Smothermon founded the church in 1980. Its alliance with TPUSA did not materialize out of nowhere. In fact, the church has a long history of conservative political engagement in Albuquerque.

Gay Rights

In 2012, Smothermon protested when a gay politician was appointed to the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission. In a sermon (indirectly) to then-Governor Susana Martinez, he said,

These aren’t the people we voted for you to appoint. We voted for you to appoint people who think like we do.

In 2015, the megachurch pastor called Obergefell v. Hodges (which legalized gay marriage) an assault on the “constitution and the democratic process.”

Endorsing and Opposing Politicians

In 2014, the church distributed voter guides with highlighted names to congregants. Smothermon later said that these names were highlighted because they were church members.

In 2021, Smothermon urged congregants to vote for Lori Robinson, a candidate in a city council run-off race. He thought Robinson would oppose Albuquerque’s Democrat mayor. And in 2022, the pastor told attendees to vote for Mark Ronchetti, the Republican candidate for governor of New Mexico, telling his congregation,

You need to vote. Let me just stop right here. We have two choices in New Mexico. We have the Wicked Witch of the North [referring to Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham]. Or you have Mark Ronchetti.

Disobeying Gathering Restrictions

Of all these activities, Legacy garnered the most attention for defying government gathering restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In response to gathering restrictions and fines, Legacy sued the State of New Mexico, claiming that restrictions violated their freedom of religious exercise and free assembly. Additionally, the church issued a preliminary injunction which would allow houses of worship to meet as the case went on. The injunction, claim, and appeal were denied and dismissed.

Perspectives from the Protests

Before entering the church, I stopped to speak with some of the protestors. The first protestor I spoke with, Johnny Juarez with the Southwest Solidarity Network, wasn’t there for Charlie Kirk at all. As Juarez told me,

We know the Legacy wants us to focus on the fact that Charlie Kirk is here and focus on his culture wars. But we’re here to uplift that this is a violent and dangerous church in our community that protects pedophiles, people who harm children, people who harm women, and we’re here to make sure that that is not lost in this conversation, because we know that ultimately this is about distracting their base and stirring division.

Catalina with the Burque Autonomous Brown Berets of Nuevo México, agreed with Juarez. As she said,

We’re here today to stand with survivors and our community against institutions that protect predators and give platforms to hate. Survivors deserve to be heard believed and defended, not silenced or pushed aside. . . . We’re here to say, ‘enough’, and we’ll always defend our people, speak truth to power, and hold those in positions of influence accountable.

Juarez and Catalina are referring to two sexual abuse cases which implicate Legacy Church’s hiring practices. The first case rose out of Legacy Church’s Steelbridge Ministries, a homeless outreach.

Steelbridge’s former executive director, Travis Clark, is accused of sexually abusing one of the patients. As local journalist Cristiana Ramos reported late last year,

The civil lawsuit filed Monday stated during her substance abuse counseling, Clark was offering her an expedited release from custody if she agreed to his sexual demands.

Other women at Steelbridge allege that this Jane Doe was not a lone victim. Clark resigned after allegations were raised and began working for Crossroads for Women, a nonprofit focused at helping formerly incarcerated women. Prior to working for Legacy, Clark was tried for an alleged sexual relationship with a student while working at Liberty High School in Colorado Springs. The inconsistency of the young girl’s testimony led to the dismissal of Clark’s case.

The second case pertains to Kelly McEachran. McEachran was accused of committing sexual contact with two students during his time as a teacher at Hope Christian School. McEachran is currently in jail until his trial. Before teaching at Hope, McEachran was an executive pastor at Legacy Church.

Charlie Kirk and Freedom Night

I went inside the church to observe the Freedom Night service. As soon as Smothermon introduced Kirk, a woman stood up, calling Kirk a “piece of shit.” Church security escorted the woman out, as Kirk muttered a prayer over her.

Smothermon and Kirk talked mostly about immigration. Kirk claimed that New Mexico’s crime rates are down (violent crime has fallen by 3% from 2023 to 2024, and homicide by 7%). He attributed this to Trump’s strict border policy, saying,

We just need to praise Donald Trump and his team for securing the southern border.

Kirk enshrined his politics with biblical language, insisting that according to the Bible, “Immigration without assimilation is invasion.” Kirk was not too clear on what assimilation means, aside from learning English and following US law. (And, as Smothermon added, assimilation also includes “denouncing” your home country.)

Then, Kirk started talking about Muslim immigration. In a way reminiscent of Jay Sekulow, Kirk claimed that while congregants might know one or two nice Muslim neighbors, Muslims are coming en masse to “conquer [America] without ever having to fire a shot.”

Kirk claimed that Islam is incompatible with “Western values.” And New York City’s “fall” to Zohran Mamdani “twenty-four years after 9/11” was met with uproar from the crowd. Kirk warned against Muslims settling in America, because it meant the “mass production of new babies” who, according to him, will enact Sharia law in America.

Zionism and Other Issues

Immigration made up the bulk of the conversation. But Kirk touched on other issues. He accused liberal churches of “desecrating” their churches with “the homosexual flag.” He urged parents to homeschool their kids to avoid handing their children over to “government masters.”

As the Palestinian death toll has exceeded 60,000 since October 7,2023, Kirk told congregants to continue blessing Israel to receive blessings themselves. And while he said that blessing does not mean approval, it was not clear what blessing Israel means to the thousands of Palestinians currently starving under Netanyahu’s regime.

Kirk blamed city crime on a Democrat establishment and mass immigration under the Biden administration. To young people, Kirk said they must continue to aspire towards the dream of homeownership—even as this dream is now mostly viable for those who will inherit a house.

During the question and answer session, one brave, albeit standoffish questioner asked Kirk about indigenous land rights. Kirk called for the abolition of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He brought up alcoholism on indigenous reservations and claimed that Native Americans have become “dependent” on the government. Volunteers led the questioner out of the sanctuary.

Rhetoric in Need of Correction

Political actors have a considerable degree of responsibility for what they say. Politics affects all of us. And the court of public opinion should scrutinize the ideas that political influencers like Charlie Kirk spread.

This is especially the case when political actors invoke God to justify their ideas. As Smothermon claims of Kirk, “God elevated him supernaturally.” Kirk’s elusive discussions of assimilation, his blatant and absurd generalizations about Muslims and Indigenous Americans, and his general distrust of his own fellow Americans stand in need of correction. And because God is being invoked, these ideas stand in need of rebuke.

Charlie Kirk invoked “Christendom” and Christians’ need to defend it against the supposed foes of Marxism and “Mohammedism.” The idea of Christendom, or a Christian civilization, is often the site of delusion and death of Christian witness. As Kierkegaard did in the 1850s, I shall issue my own attack upon “Christendom.”

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