Eric Metaxas came to the TPUSA Pastors Summit ready to challenge America's pastors - but he also managed to throw a very public jab at Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson along the way.
Speaking Monday, August 17, at Turning Point USA's Faith Forward Pastors Summit in Santa Barbara, California, the bestselling Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy author delivered an impassioned message arguing that pastors need to stop playing defense, become more outspoken from their pulpits and respond to the murder of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk as the death of a Christian "martyr."
But then Metaxas dropped a line that immediately made the room - and the larger conservative-media drama surrounding Kirk's death - considerably more interesting.
"We know that there have been, you know, demonic figures out there trying to distract us," Metaxas said.
Then came the punchline:
"Don't worry, I'm not going to mention Candace and Tucker."
He didn't need to.
Metaxas Says Charlie Kirk's Murder Was Like "God Pulling The Pin On A Grenade"
Metaxas spent much of his address discussing his new book, Revolution: The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World, and arguing that Christianity cannot be separated from America's founding.
"At the heart of the American experiment is Jesus as Lord," Metaxas told the pastors, insisting that defending those convictions cannot simply be outsourced to politicians.
According to Metaxas, America's preachers once played a crucial role in shaping the country's political and moral imagination - and pastors need to recover that willingness to speak publicly today.
"We can't pretend that's the job of the politicians," he said. "It was the job of the preachers in that day, and it's the job of preachers today."
But the emotional temperature rose considerably when Metaxas turned from the American Revolution to Kirk.
"Nobody understood this better than our friend Charlie Kirk," he said.
Metaxas then offered one of the most provocative lines of the summit, describing Kirk's September 2025 assassination as "like God was pulling the pin on a grenade."
His point was clear: Kirk's death should not cause Christians to retreat from public engagement. Metaxas believes it should have precisely the opposite effect.
"Respond To The Murder Of A Martyr"
Metaxas went further by explicitly describing Kirk as a martyr.
He urged pastors to respond to Kirk's killing "the way we should respond to the murder of a martyr" and argued that the church should now go on the "offensive," rise up and become more vocal.
"If the church will rise up and be the church," Metaxas declared, "you will see the nation change."
It is potent language - particularly coming from the author of one of the best-known popular biographies of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
But Metaxas wasn't the only speaker at the gathering framing Kirk's death as a challenge to pastors.
TPUSA Faith Vice President Lucas Miles opened the summit with an emotional remembrance of Kirk and revealed what he described as one of Kirk's final messages to pastors before his assassination: "If they kill me first, I'll see you in heaven."
Kirk was fatally shot while appearing at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025. His death at only 31 sent shockwaves through conservative politics and evangelical circles and transformed the future of the organization he helped build.
Then Came Erika Kirk
Metaxas also singled out Erika Kirk's decision to publicly forgive her husband's accused killer as an example of Christianity in action.
At Charlie's massive September 2025 memorial service, Erika publicly offered forgiveness to the man accused of killing her husband. Metaxas told pastors that her response represented one of the most powerful Christian witnesses he had witnessed.
For Metaxas, that distinction appears crucial.
He wasn't calling Christians merely to become louder politically. He presented the Kirk story as spiritual warfare requiring both boldness toward the culture and distinctly Christian responses such as forgiveness.
And that's what makes his little Candace-and-Tucker aside so fascinating.
The Candace Owens Drama Isn't Going Away
Kirk's death has become the source of an extraordinary amount of infighting within conservative media.
Candace Owens, who previously worked with Kirk at Turning Point USA, has repeatedly questioned the official account of his assassination and promoted alternative theories about who may have been responsible. Erika Kirk publicly pushed back against conspiracy theories surrounding her husband's death, telling Owens simply: "Stop." The two women subsequently held a lengthy private meeting, although Owens later said she had not abandoned her doubts about the case.
Tucker Carlson has generated controversies of his own surrounding Kirk. At Kirk's memorial, Carlson compared the circumstances surrounding Kirk's killing to the death of Jesus - remarks that drew criticism from some Jewish and pro-Israel groups over what they believed the analogy insinuated.
Metaxas didn't unpack precisely what he meant by his quip about the two commentators.
But he certainly knew their names would land.
In a speech about spiritual warfare, distraction and the future of the church after Charlie Kirk, Metaxas managed to invoke Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson without technically attacking either one by name - immediately after naming both of them.
That's quite a way to say you're not going to talk about somebody.
Metaxas Wants Pastors Off The Sidelines
Strip away the viral one-liner, however, and Metaxas' larger challenge was aimed squarely at pastors.
He believes churches have become too hesitant to engage controversial cultural and political questions and that America's Christian leaders need to rediscover the courage he associates with pastors of the Revolutionary era.
Charlie Kirk, in Metaxas' telling, embodied that willingness to speak publicly about deeply contested issues.
His death therefore becomes more than a political assassination in Metaxas' argument. It becomes a challenge to the church.
Don't retreat. Don't surrender the public square. Don't expect politicians to do the church's job.
And don't expect Eric Metaxas to stay away from conservative-media drama while making the point.
Because while his message to pastors was "rise up and be the church," his cheekiest line of the night may have been considerably simpler:
Candace and Tucker, he sees you.
