Charlie Kirk's legacy, rooted in his deep devotion to Christ, will not be erased following his tragic assassination in Utah, his longtime pastors and friends told Fox News Digital. 

"His message will not be stopped, his testimony will not be snuffed out. His memory will be championed. We encourage every patriot to be galvanized to lift their voice against the tide of darkness that attempts to destroy our fragile republic and the particular gifts our Creator has granted us here in these United States," Pastor David Engelhardt of Manhattan's Kings' Church said in an interview. 

Engelhardt spoke with Fox News Digital by Zoom on Thursday morning, after Kirk was assassinated during a campus event at Utah Valley University by a single shot. The Turning Point USA co-founder was a powerhouse in the conservative movement since before the first Trump administration, championing the ideas of faith, family and freedom to America's youth. He was driven by his relationship with God, Engelhardt said. 

"I think his message for Christ and for faith is louder actually than his political message. There's a synchronicity, obviously, but he was a profound man of faith," the pastor said. 

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Engelhardt, who sits on the TPUSA board, first met Kirk through his wife, Erika Kirk, when she lived in New York City and attended his church. The pastor recounted that Erika relayed she had met someone and was planning to move to Phoenix ahead of the pandemic — "that someone turned out to be Charlie Kirk."

"About a year later, in the summer of 2020, when it felt like all hell was being unleashed in New York, Erika reached out to us to see how we were and said she wanted to put me in contact with Charlie …  And that's how I met Charlie in 2020 during all of the BLM and COVID and all that kind of stuff. And Charlie, you know, was one of the people that specifically encouraged me to go back to New York and open my church," he recounted. 

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Kings' Church was the first church in Manhattan to reopen that year despite the city's strict lockdown measures that kept residents sheltered in their apartments and homes, he said. 

Engelhardt and Kirk became close friends over the last five years, with the pastor explaining he watched him "grow into a father and be an incredible husband and share his faith with many people."

Pastor Rob McCoy, Kirk's longtime pastor and co-Chair of TPUSA Faith, told Fox Digital that "evil has not prevailed" in the murder of his friend by "a coward." 

"His life will be remembered for many wonderful things. He built it all with the power of the spoken word. He never used violence but was threatened every day with violence by those who couldn’t contend with logic and truth, and now they have done to my friend what evil always does; it takes away life," McCoy told Fox Digital, adding that while Kirk described him as his pastor, he calls himself Kirk's "friend and biggest fan." 

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"Charlie did not die, however, but instead he has begun to truly live. His life was secured eternally by His Savior Jesus Christ. This truth allowed Charlie to face every threat with courage because he didn’t fear death. All evil knows is death, and they derive power from death. Charlie lived for life and will be remembered for this. My heart is broken for his family: his wife Erika and his two precious children. Evil has not prevailed, and it will not win," McCoy continued. 

Kirk leaves behind his wife, whom he married in 2021, as well as their 3-year-old daughter and a 1-year-old son.

Just months before his assassination, Kirk joined a podcast and said that he wanted "to be remembered for courage for my faith."

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"Charlie's faith was genuine, in that you can see it manifest in action. And we know in the Book of James it says that faith without works is dead. Charlie wasn't a person that just said he was a Christian. He acted, and he worked, and he raised his kids telling them about the Lord. And his wife, incredible Christian, her Biblein365 app, her life mission to get more people to read the Bible every day," Engelhardt said of the couple's faith. 

Kirk's assassin is still at large as of Thursday morning, with the FBI, ATF, Utah Department of Public Safety, and local police departments investigating. 

"Truth and logic and faith and that combination of those things that made him so effective. And so, I think Charlie is a champion for the family, for life, for growth, for having many kids. I think those are all a central part of his legacy that will be championed by the next generation," Engelhardt said of Kirk's enduring legacy.

"Please pray for his family, his parents, his sister, his wife and children. Please continue to hold them up in your prayers. And I would say, most importantly, pray that the seed of Charlie's life would be multiplied 100,000 times. That there would be 100,00 Charlie Kirk's across college campuses sharing their faith and sharing the truth about the world around them," he added.