Utah Valley University

by Aaron Marshall, Director of Ratio Christi Ministry at Utah Valley University

“When people stop talking, bad stuff happens. When marriages stop talking, divorce happens. When civilizations stop talking, civil war ensues. When you stop having a human connection, with someone you disagree with, it becomes a lot easier to want to commit violence against that group. What we as a culture have to get back to, is being able to have a reasonable disagreement where violence is not an option.”
– Charlie Kirk

The following article was Aaron Marshall’s first person reflection on the events of September 10 where Turning Point USA’s Founder and President, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem, UT.

Orem, UT – On September 10, I was at the Charlie Kirk event at Utah Valley University (UVU) with my wife, my oldest daughter Adalyn (a freshman at UVU), my youngest daughter Isabelle (12), two of our Ratio Christi staff and some other friends.  I’ll be honest, I had never watched a whole lot of Charlie Kirk’s videos before that day. My wife is a big fan and was super excited to come to the event. My daughter got there early and saved us all a place about twenty yards from where Charlie’s tent was set up.  There was an incredible energy in the crowd. It was overwhelmingly pro-Charlie, although there were a few protesters that were set up on a roof top walkway near the stage.  When Charlie came out the crowd went wild as he passed out hats and posed for pictures. He challenged the protesters to come down and debate him with a wave of his fingers.

As he sat down to begin, the first question was from an LDS student we have had some interaction with at our table previously.  For the past three years as we have tried to get the Ratio Christi chapter at UVU off the ground, we have done tabling evangelism almost daily. Much like Charlie, our goal is to foster conversation across religious and political divides. We are known around campus as the “whiteboard guys.” The county that UVU is in is overwhelmingly LDS (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – they do not like to be referred to as Mormons anymore) and so much of our interaction at the table is with LDS students. So, when the first question for Charlie was about Mormon vs Christian theology, I recognized the student and the questions he was offering as we have heard much of the same before.  Charlie did a great job (especially for someone that isn’t well versed in Mormon Theology) of outlining some of the major differences between Christianity and Mormonism and pointing out some of the reasons why he doesn’t think that Mormonism is true.  He also was able to share the evidence for Jesus’ resurrection and the Biblical gospel with the crowd of thousands. It would be the last thing that Charlie Kirk ever did.

The next question was about transgenderism and mass shootings and as he began to answer that question, we heard a loud sound from behind us. I was staring at Charlie when the bullet hit his neck. Everyone dove to the ground and started screaming as we became aware of what was happening. After a few seconds, we all realized that there were no more shots and started moving quickly towards the inside of the school building behind us. My daughters were in hysterics. I was trying to keep us all together in the mass of people and keep them calmed down. We moved inside and got temporarily separated. I screamed at everyone to stay together. I knew we needed to get to the other side of campus, so we started heading in that direction. Some people were being ushered into “safe” rooms, but I wanted us to keep moving (we found out later that people in those rooms were stuck there for hours). People were understandably freaking out all around us.  I just wanted to get us to a “safe” place.  We moved through the campus and out the other side. We were able to get to my wife’s car that was parked off campus and drive home safely. My car was left on campus and I wasn’t allowed to pick it up until the next morning. 

The next week was really rough for all of us and for our community. At first, it was the nervousness that the killer had not been caught. Then it was just coming to grips with what we saw and experienced.  The girls would jump every time they heard a loud noise. I went down the dark rabbit hole of “X” and reddit to find out as much information as I could about the shooter and what happened (I later found out this is one of the six stages of grief). My conclusion was that those are two of the most vile places on the internet. I cannot imagine how young people are able to constantly be on those sites, and those like them, and not be permanently traumatized.

UVU was closed the next week and reopened for classes the following Wednesday (one week after the shooting). It was a weird feeling returning to the campus. There were tons of police there that day. There were news crews and “onlookers” all over campus. They had turned the shooting scene into a memorial. We went out that day to pray with students and just be with them. We were able to pray with the student that was asking the question about transgenderism when Charlie was shot. He was super shook up over everything that happened. I saw him last week and he told me how much it meant to him that we were able to pray with him that day. He is not a believer. Only 0.5% of Utah County are believers. If the numbers correlate (and I think it’s probably worse) that means that less than 300 students at UVU are believers. That means over 44,000 students are trying to process what happened at their university on September 10 without Jesus. Can you imagine how hard that would be?

In the few weeks since the terrible event at UVU we have seen an incredible openness to spiritual conversations on campus and in the Salt Lake Valley. The pernicious problem with that in this area is that so many people think that Biblical Christianity and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one in the same. Our evangelistic conversations so often are a mix of proclaiming the true gospel while at the same time trying to separate this from the LDS message these students have heard their whole lives. To say that this is hard soil is an understatement.  But we keep going – because the gospel is worth it. 

Charlie Kirk died immediately after sharing the true Biblical gospel of eternal life by grace through faith alone. In the weeks since the event, I have been contemplating our ministry in light of that. This has been one of the hardest seasons in ministry since we joined Ratio Christi back in the early days (my Supported Missionary number is 1 – 430001 to be exact!). Doing ministry in Utah is hard. Doing ministry in Utah County, Utah is even harder. It feels like there have been all kinds of spiritual attacks on us and this community in this season. It even got to the point where I was contemplating if we should leave.  But the events of September 10 have helped me to begin to change my mind (there are still days I want to leave). I think about Romans 10:14 – “How then will they call on him whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching.”

How will the LDS ever learn of the true Jesus? How will those that have rejected Mormonism (the stats say that upwards of 80% of those that walk away from Mormonism will go atheist or agnostic) ever learn about the true Jesus that loves them because he loves them and not because they are keeping the rules? How will people find true freedom outside of man-made religion?

Only if someone is here to tell them. And I think a ministry like Ratio Christi is uniquely able to not just share the truth of the Biblical gospel with those that are lost but then also help them understand the reasons and evidence behind why the gospel is true. Ratio Christi is a ministry that encourages students to ask hard questions and seek those answers. It encourages students to go where the evidence leads, not just where someone in authority tells them to go. And a ministry like Ratio Christi is so needed in a place like this.  God is working at UVU even though it doesn’t feel like it all the time. God is using us and has been using us. And maybe we are here on this campus for such a time as this.

On the Wednesday that students came back, we also got a chance to pray for the Governor of Utah – Spencer Cox. After we prayed over him, he addressed the students that had gathered around us while we prayed. He said that this would either be the end of something terrible and the beginning of something better or it was the beginning of something far worse. My prayer is that September 10, 2025 will not be remembered solely as the day that Charlie Kirk was assassinated at UVU but will be remembered as the beginning of something much better. The beginning of true Revival at UVU and in Utah County and in Utah.

Aaron Marshall has served for several years ministering on the campus of Utah Valley University. A portion of your State Missions Offering supports his work, but there is so much more that can be done to help him remain on the field where his needed now more than ever. If you would like more information about how you can be a part of his Support Team through prayer or financial gifts, visit his support page at https://give.ratiochristi.org/missionary/aaron-marshall