Tag Archives: faith

Turning Point, Brown County, IN

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Last updated: Nov 10, 2025

Context

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”
 – Declaration of Independence

The Preamble to the U.S. Constitution
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.,

John Adams, Founding Father, 2nd President of the U.S
“We have no Government armed with Power capable of contending with human Passions unbridled by morality and Religion. Avarice, Ambition, and Revenge or Galantry, would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a Net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

The design of the U.S. system of government was influenced by Judeo-Christian principles. The system (Constitution and Bill of Rights) enables “We the People” (top management) to work together towards “a more perfect Union.”  The principles, methods, and tools of  Quality Management provide time-tested strategies for improving processes and systems and determining when change results in improvement. All actions are accomplished through a process. A system is a collection of processes with a common aim, e.g.,  “a more perfect Union.”

    • Example: Commuting to work or school is accomplished through a process that is made possible by the support of a transportation system.  

A system determines the majority (94-100%)  of the result.  If you put good people in a bad system, the system will win every time (W.E. Deming ) 

Is America functioning as designed?   Professors Martin Gilens (Princeton University) and Benjamin I. Page (Northwestern University) looked at more than 20 years’ worth of data to identify that the opinions of 90% of Americans have essentially no impact at all. A stratgegy for Change –  RepresenUs.com

Christian Perspective

In a Biblical context, God is love and love is willing the good of others. “Perfect” is described as all needs being met. When more needs are met, there is less harm to people due to unmet needs. Consequently, continual improvement in pursuit of perfection is a moral imperative for Christians.  

Originalist vs Living Document.  In one respect, the Bible is similar to the Constitution in regard to interpretation and perceived relevance. One area of contention is the belief that these are living documents that should be updated to reflect the times, rather than accepting the original text and the understanding that guided their respective development.  

The Nicene and Apostles Creed (see below) included statements of belief that are common among many Christian denominations.

Turning Point, Brown County, IN

Turning Point, Brown County, IN.  This initiative was inspired by Charlie Kirk’s contributions. 

The intent is to support the mission of Turning Point at the local level of government which can influence needed change at the state and federal levels.

Charlie Kirk created and led Turning  Point USA.  The organization’s mission is to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government.  Student chapters are supported at the college and high school level.  TPUSA empowers young people to make a difference within their community.

TPUSA Faith is the official faith division of Turning Point USA. The mission is to help equip Christians to stand for Liberty, The Kingdom & Biblical Truth.  

Charlie Kirk – Quotes:

“I believe in the Bible, and I believe that Christ rose from the dead on the third day.
This is the foundation of my faith and guides my actions.”

“It’s all about Jesus … God, family, country. In that order.”   

“If everything completely goes away … I want to be remembered for courage for my faith.
… That would be the most important thing. The most important thing is my faith.”

“The Bible is not up to date. It’s ahead of time.”  

“We do have a separation of church and state, and we should support that.”

This is an independent project NOT affiliated with Brown County Government, Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk, or any official TPUSA organization.

Quality Management 

What’s different?  The intent of this initiative is to introduce the relevance of the principles, methods, and tools of quality management in support of both a secular and non-secular (Christian-based) approach for improvement.  This strategy builds on the connection between Citizenship,  Christianity, “and” Quality Management.the an 

 W. Edwards Deming.  Top Turning Point. Deming’s contributions to improving the quality of products and services worldwide were recognized in Fortune magazine as among the 20 that have shaped the modern world of business and by U.S. News and World Report as one of nine turning points in history. The top turning point was identified as “The Apostle Paul, whose preaching and eloquent writings led to mass acceptance of Christianity.

    • Deming was a devout Christian and supported a secular (non-religious/spiritual) approach in his consulting, teaching, and publications.  In the first edition of his last book, “The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education, he was subtle in using the nonsecular term  “metanoia” to describe the needed transformation. “The word metanoia is more suitable than transformation. Metanoia is a Greek word which means penitence, repentance, reorientation of one’s way of life, “spiritual conversion.”

      • “The first step is transformation of the individual. This transformation is discontinuous. It comes from understanding of the system of profound knowledge. The individual, transformed, will perceive new meaning to his life, to events, to numbers, to interactions between people.”  ….   

      • Once the individual understands the system of profound knowledge, he will apply its principles in every kind of relationship with other people. He will have a basis for judgment of his own decisions and for transformation of the organizations that he belongs to.

      • The individual, once transformed, will: – Set an example; – Be a good listener, but will not compromise; – Continually teach other people; – Help people to pull away from their current practice and beliefs and move into the new philosophy without a feeling of guilt about the past

Turning Point Event, Bloomington, IN. The Governor of Indiana opened an official Turning Point event on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, IN, on Oct 21, 2025.  Governor Braun reiterated support for Charlie Kirk’s contributions, which reinforces the importance of Faith, Family, and Community. This focus, combined with freedom and opportunity, fiscal responsibility, and limited government, is identified as the classic battle and challenge of our times.

Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith’s church was among the first to join TPUSA Faith. The aim of TPU Faith is to unite the Church around the primary doctrine.  

Nicene and Apostles Creed – Acceptance Across Denominations. The Nicene and Apostles’ Creed are recognized by a wide range of Christian denominations, including the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, and Major Protestant Churches (e.g., Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian). Regarding the Nicene Creed, “Approximately 98.5% of the world’s Christians adhere to the Nicene Creed, making it a central element of Christian worship and identity.  (Wikipedia). Note: There are some differences in the use of some words in the Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds among denominations.  

Nicene Creed Apostles Creed
I believe in one God, the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made.  For us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake, he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. 
Amen.		I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;*
the third day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sited at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic** church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.
**universal








 
 

Charlie Kirk: Turning Point USA

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Founder John Adams famously warned in 1798, “We have no Government armed with Power capable of contending with human Passions unbridled by morality and Religion. Avarice, Ambition, and Revenge or Galantry, would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a Net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”   

“The American way of life is very simple. I want to be able to get married, buy a home, have kids, allow them to ride their bike till the sun goes down, send them to a good school, have a low crime neighborhood, not to have my kid be taught the lesbian, gay, transgender garbage in their school. While also, not having them have to hear the Muslim call to prayer five times a day. That’s important.” – Charlie Kirk    Is the Bible Real?  Charlie’s Answer

Oct 12, 2025. Homily, A homily, by Fr. Adam Blatt who was not familiar with Charlie’s Kirk but took the time to learn about it, pray and reflect.   Post on LinkedIn. 

    • “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” Charlie was shot at 12:23.  
      “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. * Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat;r but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life, loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life . Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.

      (John 12:23}

    • Transcript Homily Charlie Kirk by Fr Adam Blatt

Oct 14, 2023. Trump awards Medal of Freedom posthumously to Charlie Kirk.  “Right now Charlie Kirk wears the crown of a Martyr.  … Why does this happen … ” the blood of the martyrs is the  seeds of the church ” Charlie shot at 12:23 (John 12:23):

    • The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified. Amen, amen, I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, Itself remaineth alone. But if it die it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it and he that hateth his life in this world keepeth it unto life eternal. If any man minister to me, let him follow me: and where I am, there also shall my minister be. If any man minister to me, him will my Father honour.

Catholic Cardinal Dolan: “WOW! Cardinal Timothy Dolan: “The more I learned about [Charlie], I thought this guy is a modern-day Saint Paul. He was a missionary, an evangelist, a hero. He’s one I think that knew what Jesus meant when he said, ‘The truth will set you free.’” ….  And to do it,  Now, I understand he was pretty blunt and he was pretty direct. He didn’t try to avoid any controversy. He didn’t even try to avoid confrontation. The difference is the way, the mode, the style that he did it, always with respect.”

    • EXCLUSIVE: Bishop Robert Barron says Charlie Kirk ‘died with a microphone in his hand,’ as faith under attack  . To Barron, the attack reveals that something “basic to our civilization is in danger of being lost.”  Barron described Kirk as “a man of great intelligence, charm, and goodness of heart.” Charlie, he said, embodied a tradition of open debate stretching back to the roots of Western civilization. “He always made it clear that the most important thing in his life — the thing he most wanted to be remembered for — was not his party affiliation or political philosophy but his Christian faith.”
    • FR. ANDRE MAHANNA_ What Charlie and Erika Kirk Teach Us About the Union of Catholics and Protestants _ Joe Hoft …  it seems that both Protestantism and Catholicism have a major lesson to learn from @charliekirk11 and his wife the wonderful @MrsErikaKirk namely from their spiritual and Christian conduct. Coming from Catholic and Evangelical background and traditions, and united in the holy matrimony as husband and wife, it seems that they both lived what Saint Paul told us to do: “They tried to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace and to live a life worthy of their vocation”. In Ephesians 4: 1- 13, St. Paul tells us how our gifts can be used to unite us as a Church: GO BACK TO THE SOURCE, maintain the spiritual wealth and the treasure of faith and true knowledge we have acquired from both traditions: Catholicism and Protestantism. We can be again One Faith, One Baptism One Lord.

Sep 21, 2025. Charlie Kirk’s  Memorial Service 

Sept 14, 2025. Charlie Kirk Memorial at the Kennedy Center

 

Sept 21, 2025. Turning Point USA – Memorial Service. The morning of Sunday, September 21, at State Farm Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals, in Glendale, AZ.  Remembering Charlie Kirk — “he led the resistance that restored free speech in America.”

The White House – Tribute to Charlie Kirk

How the West Lost Its Soul – by Paul Kingsnorth, The Free Press. We’ve abandoned the founding religious story that has sustained us for 1,500 years. The result is the greatest age of abundance we’ve ever known—and a complete lack of meaning. 

Post- Chad Prather: The reason you feel Charlie’s death so deeply is because grief doesn’t measure itself by proximity. It measures itself by meaning. You didn’t have to know him personally to feel the sting of his absence, because when a voice like his goes silent, something in the atmosphere shifts. …. We are bound together by shared purpose, by shared longing for truth, by the Spirit of God Himself weaving us into a fabric that cannot be torn apart. This loss pulled at that fabric, and every one of us felt the tug.

    • Brown County Hcco Park – elder JR sharing on CWTP. “Charlie Kirk Martyred for his Faith”
    • Seán Ono Lennon on X I am against violence. I am against celebrating violence. I’m praying for peace. I’m praying for healing. I’m praying for the family, especially the children. I know what they’re going through. I’ve been through it.
      • I did NOT agree with Charlie Kirk’s views on MANY important topics. I know he helped get Trump elected and people hate him for that. But he was a conservative Christian. What do you expect a conservative Christian to believe? How can those views surprise you? He argued those views calmly, reasonably, and considerately as far as I’ve seen. But no matter what he did not deserve this. His wife did not deserve this. His kids did NOT deserve to have their world torn apart! The way some people are being so cold and uncaring and even celebrating is disturbing and repugnant to me. It is making me physically ill. If you are celebrating the murder of a non-violent man for his opinions then you are NOT the better person. Look in the mirror. Imagine telling his kids how you feel. Step back. Take a breath. Remember we are all humans. We are all just flickers of consciousness in an endless eternity. Love IS the answer. I really mean it.

Charlie Kirk’s beloved wife, Mrs. Erika Kirk, addresses the Nation. Erika, their two children, and Charlie’s parents were all present at Utah Valley University.

    • Erika Kirk_ A Widow Defiant – Rod Dreher’s Diary.
      • The courage of this woman is off the charts. Her message is an important one to hear. If you can get through the part at the end where she recounts their three year old daughter running up to her yesterday asking, “Where’s Daddy?” without weeping, you are a stronger person than I.
      • In her address, Erika Kirk urged people to find a “Bible-believing church” — for those not familiar with the phrase, it means a church that takes the faith seriously — because “spiritual warfare” is real, and we are in a spiritual battle above all.

      • This moment in the life of our nation — of the Western world, really — has been an apocalypse in the strictest sense of the term. It has been an unveiling. We are discovering how evil many, many people are.

Charlie and Erika – First Date – Marriage

Post at Brown County Matters.  Included links to The Free Press article “Charlie Kirk’s Murder and the Rise of Political Violence”  by Ben Shapiro, Senator Mark Kelly, Matthew Continetti, Katherine Boyle, Konstantin Kisin, Eli Lake, and Maya Sulkin on Charlie Kirk’s murder and
what it means for America. 

Rod Dreher: A ‘Je Suis Charlie’ Apocalypse.  I realized that I am from a country, and will return one day to a country, where more than a few people would just as soon have me killed for believing the same things that Charlie Kirk did, and talking about them in public.

Turning Point USA

Gary Varvel: Charlie Kirk is alive in his heavenly home

C-Suite for Christ  – Linkedin –  Paul M. Neuberger.

    • Charlie Kirk was murdered yesterday.
    • Evil struck in broad daylight.
    • Evil didn’t hesitate. Evil didn’t wait for a convenient time.
    • Evil doesn’t care about your feelings.
    • This world is in the middle of a full-scale spiritual war, and one of our boldest warriors has been cut down.
    • Charlie wasn’t just a conservative voice. He was a faithful follower of Jesus Christ.
    • He put God first. He was unapologetically bold.
    • He willingly walked into hostile territory — college campuses dripping with secular indoctrination — and told the truth anyway.
    • He fought not with weapons, but with ideas, logic, conviction, and courage.
    • He stood tall on the foundation of biblical truth while others caved to culture. That’s why the enemy wanted him silenced.
    • And now, in his death, we see just how desperate the other side is.
    • The Bible makes it plain: “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world” (Ephesians 6:12).
    • When your movement has no ideas, no truth, and no light, all you have left is violence and intimidation.
    • That’s why attacks like this happen. That’s why churches are targeted. That’s why Christians are mocked.
    • The other side is terrified of the momentum of truth.
    • Charlie Kirk’s legacy is a roadmap for us: put God first, be bold, challenge the status quo, stand firm on principles, and never stop fighting with the only weapon that matters — the Word of God.
    • He showed us that even when the world hates you, you stand tall anyway.
    • I’ll never forget being at a C-Suite for Christ event in Nashville with my friend Riley Gaines. An employee of TPUSA Faith leaned over and said to me, “You remind me of Charlie.” I can’t put into words what that meant then — and what it means now. I will wear that as a badge of honor until the day I die.
    • And I vow, before God and before you, to do everything in my power to carry forward his torch, to cover the world in Christ, and to never let the Gospel go silent.
    • God bless Charlie Kirk. God bless Erika and his family. And God bless all of us who refuse to bow to the darkness.
    • Prayer is the most powerful weapon we have, and today I wield it boldly.
    • Darkness may have struck yesterday, but the light of Christ cannot and will not be overcome.

      — Paul M. Neuberger (PMN)

The Face of Battle: Some things never change

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Excerpts: Things Worth Remembering: How Warriors Prepare, H.L. McMaster, The Free Press

Yet the person from whom I gained the most insight into battle never served a day in the military. John Keegan was born in London in 1934, meaning he was too young to fight in the Second World War. He was then afflicted with orthopedic tuberculosis at the age of 13, which left him unable to join the British Army, despite his deep interest in military service from a young age. Instead, he became a military historian, delving deeply into the human and psychological dimensions of combat. My copy of his 1976 book, The Face of Battle, is replete with underlined passages and marginal notes.

It was my impending responsibilities as an officer that led me to study more purposefully, knowing that the seriousness with which I studied might save lives.

I read the book in 1984, just before graduating from West Point. It is a study of three pivotal battles that occurred centuries apart in the same patch of land in Europe: the battles of Agincourt (1415), Waterloo (1815), and the Somme (1916). Keegan reveals how technology, from the longbow to gunpowder to the machine gun, changed the face of battle. But what struck me the most was Keegan’s observation about what did not change across those five centuries. I memorized the following passage from the book’s conclusion:

What battles have in common is human: the behavior of men struggling to reconcile their instinct for self-preservation, their sense of honor and the achievement of some aim over which other men are ready to kill them. The study of battle is therefore always a study of fear and usually of courage, always of leadership, usually of obedience; always of compulsion, sometimes of insubordination; always of anxiety, sometimes of elation or catharsis; always of uncertainty and doubt, misinformation and misapprehension, usually also of faith and sometimes of vision; always of violence, sometimes also of cruelty, self-sacrifice, compassion; above all, it is always a study of solidarity and usually also of disintegration—for it is toward the disintegration of human groups that battle is directed.

The technology of battle has changed a great deal in the last hundred years, yet Keegan’s description of close combat would resonate with Ukrainian soldiers in the trenches of Pokrovsk, Israeli soldiers hunting Hamas in the rubbled neighborhoods of Gaza, and U.S. Special Operations forces raiding the remnants of ISIS in the rugged hills of northeastern Syria.

I read it just prior to becoming a young officer, and it convinced me that soldiers’ confidence—in their skills, in their leaders, and especially in one another—was the essential bulwark against fear and that emotion’s debilitating effects.

 

“…there is actually no such thing as atheism”

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This is Water by David Foster Wallace (Full Transcript and Audio), The Free Press

I submit, is the freedom of a real education, of learning how to be well-adjusted. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn’t. You get to decide what to worship.

Because here’s something else that’s weird but true: in the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship–be it JC or Allah, be it YHWH or the Wiccan Mother Goddess, or the Four Noble Truths, or some inviolable set of ethical principles–is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It’s the truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you. On one level, we all know this stuff already. It’s been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, epigrams, parables; the skeleton of every great story. The whole trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness.

Worship power, you will end up feeling weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to numb you to your own fear. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart, you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. But the insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they’re evil or sinful, it’s that they’re unconscious. They are default settings. 

How Intellectuals Found God – by Peter Savodnik