Pastor Arron Moon leads a special service for Charlie Kirk at The Refuge Fellowship Calvary Chapel in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Photo courtesy of Antonio Graceffo
“I’ve heard many things. Some people have said this is a political issue, some have said it’s an American issue, some say it’s a right-wing or Trump issue. It’s none of that. Very simply, our brother in Christ, Charlie Kirk, has been assassinated,” said Pastor Arron Moon, opening a moving service dedicated to Kirk on September 11, 2025.
Although I am Catholic, I spend a lot of time at The Refuge Fellowship Calvary Chapel in Chiang Mai, where I live between missions.
Tonight, during a special memorial service, the pastor explained that Kirk was closely connected to Calvary Chapel in the United States.
Looking around the room, I saw Thais, Chinese, Mongolians, Burmese, Americans, Australians, Indians, and Europeans all grieving.
Even the Chinese members, who probably hadn’t watched many of Charlie Kirk’s videos because of the language barrier, were crying and praying.
They understood that a man who spoke the truth had died for the Word of God. Many in this congregation come from countries where Christians are persecuted.
They know the weight of persecution, and given the esteem they hold for America, it was shocking to see the land of the free allowing Christians to be silenced on college campuses.
The pastor said Kirk had been killed “Because of the truth that he spoke, the truth of God’s word.” He asked the church to come together as one body to pray and grieve, inviting anyone who felt moved to give testimony.
“But then in the end, remember who Jesus is, and his promises… I preach almost every Sunday that we live in a very evil world, and that we’re going to face trials, troubles, tribulations, persecution.”
Many members of this church have a connection to the war in Burma. The pastor once served as head pastor of a church in Yangon.
Shortly after the coup in 2021, he was nearly killed when a sniper’s bullet struck the church window across from his pulpit during Easter Sunday worship.
He later witnessed the military open fire on parishioners protesting the generals’ overturning of the elections. In the chaos, he scooped up two children and helped them escape as soldiers began killing protesters.
Some congregants are Free Burma Rangers who have run into hails of bullets to evacuate civilians. Others were forced to flee war, while still others serve in ministry and humanitarian work among Burmese refugees on both sides of the border.
Some are missionaries who have worked in other conflict zones or in countries where Christianity is illegal. Many of the rest are in Chiang Mai seeking religious freedom.
The Americans in the room were all patriots, and every parishioner, no matter their country, had known violence, war, and religious oppression. They all felt Charlie Kirk’s death on multiple levels.
As parishioners spoke about Kirk, some commended his Christian faith and his willingness to speak it publicly. Others asked for prayers for his wife and children, who will now grow up without a father.
When it came my turn, I focused on Charlie Kirk as a Christian and journalist, a man who challenged mainstream media and establishment narratives to speak unpopular truths. These truths were grounded in data and supported by Scripture.
The pastor, like many Christians, spoke of Charlie as a martyr: “I think all of us are aware that 11 of the 12 disciples were martyred, and the 12th was imprisoned. John the Baptist was beheaded, and Jesus himself was crucified.” He went on to say, “That often seems distant. Well, today it wasn’t distant.”
He directed the congregation to Matthew 3, where John the Baptist preached repentance and a call to turn to God. John’s mission was to proclaim the truth of God, the reality of sin, and the people’s urgent need to repent.
“He shared the truth of Jesus. Charlie Kirk also had an amazing anointing from God upon him…just as John the Baptist…he called sin, sin.”
“He didn’t go with the culture. He fought the culture. He fought the system and he called it out black and white, according to God’s word. This wasn’t about politics. It wasn’t American. He went out and he shared with the college campuses and the kids the truth of God’s word.”
The pastor explained that John the Baptist, too, showed no restraint.
In Luke 3:19–20, John condemned Herod Antipas for marrying his brother’s wife and for other wrongs. In response, Herod imprisoned John. Bold and unafraid, John declared God’s truth even to those in power.
“It led to his imprisonment and then his death, his martyrdom.”
Charlie Kirk went into universities, one of the hardest but most important places for ministry, where students are bombarded with lies. There he stood and spoke truth, challenging the culture, debating publicly, and proclaiming God’s word.
“He called out sin for what it was, but then he always pointed them to Jesus and his faith and their need to repent and turn to God. For this, he paid the ultimate price.”
The pastor reminded us that God has a plan, even if we do not understand it. None of us knows why Charlie Kirk had to die, but we know he is in Heaven now.
He also noted that Kirk’s ministry is called Turning Point and prayed that Charlie’s death would not be in vain, but that it might become a true turning point for our nation and the world.
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