| As the nation reeled following the killing of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, one epicenter of mourning was the Ventura County church whose pastor helped inspire Kirk's cheerleading for President Trump and jeremiads against the secular left. |
| "My friend Charlie Kirk was murdered today by a coward. His life will be remembered for many wonderful things," Pastor Rob McCoy of Godspeak Calvary Chapel in Newbury Park wrote on Instagram on Wednesday. McCoy gained renown for defying COVID-related bans on in-person church services, slamming Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom as "Newssolini" and decrying government "tyranny." |
| Kirk credited McCoy as the religious leader who encouraged him to combine his Christianity with his conservative political beliefs. In a 2021 interview, Kirk said that when he first met McCoy, the pastor told him: "You're a Christian, and I want to tell you that not only does the Bible say a lot about civil government, not only does the Bible say a lot about how we should interact with our leaders, but I think you should talk more publicly about that." |
| Kirk's Turning Point USA organization had previously been an avowedly secular youth organization. But he would go on to declare that God was on the side of conservatives and that pastors had a divine duty to preach against progressive policies. He liked to say there was "no separation of church and state." |
| The 31-year-old's far-right views allowed no room for compromise with liberals. He said that "the Democrat Party supports everything that God hates" and that "there is a spiritual battle happening around all of us." |
| The married father of two also disdained gun control measures advocated by Democrats. After he was shot at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Wednesday, his statements on the issue rocketed around the internet. It was Kirk's contention that conservatives should acknowledge that gun rights meant some people would die. |
| "I think it's worth it. I think it's worth [it] to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the 2nd Amendment to protect our other God-given rights," Kirk said during a 2023 event at a Salt Lake City Church. "That is a prudent deal. It is rational. Nobody talks like this. They live in a complete alternate universe." |
| Pastor McCoy suggested in his Instagram statement that Kirk had gone to a better place. |
| "Charlie did not die however but instead he has begun to truly live," McCoy wrote. "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." |
| Kirk's pastor had been a provocative newsmaker well before his relationship with the Turning Point USA founder became widely known. Times reporter Hailey Branson-Potts recounted last year how in early 2020 the former Thousand Oaks mayor resigned from the City Council, saying he planned to violate public health orders that banned in-person church services because they were deemed nonessential and dangerous during the pandemic. |
| After a San Diego judge allowed strip clubs to reopen during the pandemic, McCoy followed the suggestion of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and pretended his church was an "essential" adult entertainment venue. He danced in the sanctuary to striptease music, throwing his tie into the congregation, where worshipers held up dollar bills. |
| Ventura County sued McCoy's church for defying public health orders, though the county eventually dropped its suit. McCoy said that the net effect was quadrupling his congregation to about 1,500. |
| As many college campuses shutdown speaking engagements during the pandemic, churches like McCoy's remained open to speakers like Kirk. "He called me his pastor," McCoy wrote on Wednesday, "but I prefer to be known as his friend and biggest fan." |
The week's biggest stories |
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| President Trump and Turning Point Chief Executive Charlie Kirk shake hands before a 2022 summit in Tampa, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack / Associated Press) |
Charlie Kirk's killing: What else we know |
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LAPD touts 2024 dip in police shootings, but officers are already firing more this year |
- LAPD officers shot at 29 people last year, down from 34 in 2023 — a sign that the department's efforts to curb serious uses of force are having an effect.
- Already in 2025, however, LAPD officers have surpassed the total number of shootings recorded last year, with police opening fire at least 31 times in less than nine months.
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First onshore wave energy project in the U.S. launches in Los Angeles |
- The seven blue steel structures, also called bouncing floaters, sit along a rocky wharf at the Port of Los Angeles and harness the natural rise and fall of the ocean to create clean electricity 24 hours a day.
- The project produces little power yet, but could scale along the port's breakwater to supply as many as 60,000 households.
- Unlike wind and solar energy, wave power operates continuously and could help L.A. reach its 100% clean energy goal by 2035.
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What else is going on |
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Commentary and opinions |
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This morning's must reads |
| | | Ohio-born director and screenwriter Tyler Piña dreamed of living in Los Angeles. It ended up better than he had imagined. | | | |
Other must reads |
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| Keep up with California | Your support helps us deliver the news that matters most. Subscribe to the Los Angeles Times. | | | | | |
For your downtime |
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| It's not easy to tell whether someone is a local or a visitor at Pioneertown, a high desert locale founded nearly 80 years ago as a permanent movie set for western films. (Simone Lueck / For The Times) |
Going out |
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Staying in |
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A question for you: What is your favorite place to visit in California during the fall? |
| Anne Lanshe writes, "As an out-of-state visitor, Death Valley is the only place in California that I've visited in the fall. While visiting Las Vegas two years ago, we drove over to California on the last possible fall day. The temperature was in the 60s and the sun was shining — a perfectly beautiful day to visit Death Valley. Zabriskie Point and Badwater Basin were memorable stops." |
| Steve Reid writes, "We love a visit to the town of Julian, in the Cuyamaca Mountains near San Diego.
The crisp, cool air, colorful leaves, and delicious apple pies all remind us that Autumn has arrived." |
| Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week. |
And finally ... from our archives |
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| The twin towers of the World Trade Center burn behind the Empire State Building in New York after terrorists crashed two planes into the towers causing both to collapse. (Marty Lederhandler/AP) |
| On Sept. 11, 2001, Al Qaeda hijackers flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing and injuring thousands in what became the worst terrorist attack against the United States. |
| The Times reported on the assaults, which stirred fear and anxiety across the country and evoked comparisons to Pearl Harbor. |
Have a great day, from the Essential California team |
| Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, Sunday writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters |
| How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com. |
