AmericaFest 2025: Experiencing the Heart of a Movement
The Firestone Files: Letters to My Grandchildren — Dr. Chris L. Firestone
January 5, 2026 · Episode 21 · 1:32:48
https://drchrisfirestone.com/episode/americafest-2025-experiencing-the-heart-of-a-movement/

Transcript is auto-generated from YouTube captions and lightly formatted; it may contain errors.

Hey everybody, welcome to the Firestone Files. I am Dr. Chris Firestone. Today on the Files, we have an exclusive look at the entirety of the America Fest 2025 experience that's coming at you today on the Firestone Files. All right, everyone. Well, welcome back. As promised, we are getting right to America Fest 2025. That happened only a couple of weeks ago. And I was there. I was there for all four days. I was shooting constantly and trying to give you guys an insidider look at what's happening there at America Fest sometimes called Amfest. And that's what we're going to be doing here this morning. Um I guess I mean I'd be mourning from where you are because I'm shooting this uh at a new location.

As you can see, this is uh a friend of uh my wife's out in Minnesota and I'm in Eden Prairie and they were kind enough to allow me to use their living room to shoot uh this podcast. So, thank you to the Van Dixorns. I'm going to call them out here for um for providing such a lovely space. All right. Well, let's get right to it. Uh I want to just tell you kind of my mental state and my my uh this the the the conditions under which I was uh attending America Fest this year. As you know I've been teaching on special assignment the first ever prepar program for turning point education and that has taken place in Fort Worth, Texas and it's been an incredible experience. 34 students immersive holistic focused on the Bible, the Western intellectual tradition and the founding documents.

It's also got five different pathways that students can can get experience and mentorship in and all sorts of other skills and other things that we're doing there. So that wrapped up right before Amfest and all of us made a transition from getting our final projects done, getting the sort of uh assessments complete and then heading to the airport.

Um let me go ahead and show you a picture of me as I'm emptying out my office because I'm actually only on special assignment for one semester and I'll be turning the reinss over to Dr. uh Dave Arnot and he'll be taking over in the spring and so super excited to see uh him uh get that experience and for the students to be able to continue on in such capable hands. Um sad to see uh my time end though. There was so much fun, so much activity, so many good friendships and relationships. It's kind of a bittersweet start in some ways to Amfest for me as I'm clearing out my apartment.

My wife and I are or actually my I guess my uh my son was with us. We're and daughter were there and we were clearing out um my office and um an apartment and packing everything up. They headed back home to Hot Springs and I headed with the students to the bus that was going to take us to the airport um there in uh in in Dallas Fort Worth direct flight to Phoenix. And so that was my transition was away from Prepar to this culminating experience that we call uh Amfest and the students are super excited about that there too. uh uh sad to see the semester end and for Firestone to be done.

Um but you know this kind of like Ecclesiastes, there's time for everything under the sun and my time for uh immersive full-time uh leadership of that program um is now coming to completion. So um let's go ahead and roll. What what I'm planning to do here is to give you guys an insiders look, but what I consciously attempted to do was say what was going on in the videos as I was shooting them.

So, I'm going to try to limit the amount of time I'm spending here talking to you and get right to the footage so you get an immersive exclusive look at Amfest. I'm hoping that you'll be able to get h a real sense of the energy of the profundity of the sort of uh of friendships and and and and positive energy that is there. Um I've been going now for 3 years. In that sense, I'm an insider. I've built friendships there and relationships there.

There are some great people there that I absolutely admire and uh what they do is is so powerful, so encouraging and yet I'm also somewhat of an uh you know outsider in the sense that I'm on special assignment contracted to help them start a prep year but not you know in the organization full-time uh at this point. So um that's kind of the the position I'm in. So I feel like I'm able to to have the best of both worlds. that is I have an insiders look but I have an outsiders kind of uh uh assessment and ongoing uh look at America Fest. So that hopefully will be of interest to you.

I highly encourage you to consider attending Amfest yourself in the future years. There is I know I've been to conferences various conferences in the academic world certainly uh over the years um there is no better bang for the buck than Amfest in terms of getting to meet people seeing significant speakers and uh um uh uh personalities and companies and um you know people of uh of a of a interest in sort of conservative Christian thought. And so I would encourage you to attend and kind of get a feel for yourself. But in lie of that, enjoy this podcast because we're going to be able to take you uh hopefully inside so that you can get a sense of what's going on. So let's go ahead and uh we're going to do this chronologically.

All right, here we are in the check-in line. Southwest Airlines headed to Phoenix for America Fest 2025. We are on the airplane heading to Phoenix, Arizona. I'm here with the prepier students sitting next to Anna and the rest of these knuckleheads are back there. We got the entire back of the airplane which is really cool. All right, we are on the bus leaving the airport headed to hotel room. The Sherin hoping to get in tonight and see what's going on. Yes. All right, we are off the bus here at the Sheridan in downtown Phoenix. Lots of things happening. Nice 47 hat there, sir. Well, day one, Thursday.

We're going to try to check in early. See how that goes. All right. Well, we got ourselves into the hotel, checked in. There was a long line at the hotel check-in. Everybody was able to make it through that line. And I believe it was approaching 3:00 at that point where we asked the students to go get their room set up and drop their stuff off and then we'd meet back down in the lobby at 3:30 and we'd head on over to um to get our, you know, to check in, get our badges and so forth. Now, what we encountered next, well, yeah, it's one of those things.

If you saw the memorial, you'll recognize the huge crowds. Um they weren't quite that bad as the memorial uh but they were they were uh they were lengthy and so when we got there we had to wait in line to check in. The students waited in this long line and I kind of snuck out of that line and went around to the staff entrance where I was able to get inside and get my staff badge. And that was a key maneuver because as you're going to see throughout the videos to follow um you know that gave me unique access to a number of different places inside of Amfest that otherwise you wouldn't be able to get into. We did finally get our badges with the students and we did get inside.

All right, everybody. We have made it inside and we are approaching the Daily Wire and I think uh Matt Walsh, no it's Ben Shapiro is on right now. Let's take a look here. Look at that. One of my heroes already. I just walked into the place, Ben Shapiro. This is just 20 ft away. We have Michael Nolles here. Michael Nolles. Here he is. All right. Well, we haven't been here for even five minutes. We've already stood next to Ben Shapiro. You can see behind me here is Michael Nolles interviewing live on Fox All Access. Um, just an incredible place to come.

You come in here and get to meet all sorts of people that really are just personalities until you get to know them and you realize, hey, they're everyday people just like us. So anyway, um you know, hope to talk to some of them when they get done interviewing people. We'll see. All right. Well, we were energized. We weren't there five minutes. We'd already rubbed shoulders with some of the Daily Wire folks. That really got us off to a great start.

But we had to make our way quickly into the VIP lounge in order to see if we could get inside to the main stage because we're going to have all these great kickoff speeches and we were a little bit late to the party because of having to wait in line, get our badges, get off, you know, get off the bus and plane and everything else. So, um, now I'm heading to the VIP line and my buddy Samuel, one of my students there at Prep Year, he's, uh, not one step behind me really. He is the fellow who you may have seen at the memorial with me. He's, uh, was at, uh, the No Kings Rally with me. He's he's kind of my partner in crime with these things.

He's kind of a fearless guy. uh really uh energetic, thoughtful, uh great presence and uh I kind of call him my new wingman um in these events. And so he's tagging along with me and he gets into the VIP lounge. And in fact, he gets all the way into the executive lounge. So let's go ahead and roll the tape. Well, here we are in the VIP. And we got It's loading. It's crazy talking. It makes you believe that somehow I am less of an American than the transgender criminal who assassinated Charlie Kirk. We refuse to accept that the idea. All right. Well, we made it to the executive lounge.

Just super cool. Super cool. Very small plays. Very influential people here. Anyway, um we'll see what we can do here. All right. Well, Samuel and I are inside the executive lounge. Can't stay there for too long, however, because we hear on the screens all around us that Erica Kirk has started speaking and we want to make our way inside. So, we head to the special access point where we go right on into the main action. Now, these next videos, you're going to see me kind of getting a lay of the land in there. It is jampacked with people. We're late to the party. That doesn't st stop uh Samuel and I because we just keep moving forward.

You're going to see me entering there kind of getting in, you know, lay lay the land. Then you'll see us determined to get to the front row and see what kind of seating we can get. And then um you know, we're getting a little nervous. You'll probably sense some of that because everyone's standing up and we're now down in the front uh of this huge crowd, but we don't yet have seats.

And so we're getting a little bit nervous about how we're going to find those seats. There's an opening prayer here as well that kind of kicks off the whole event. So let's go ahead and roll all those together and you'll get a sense of uh uh what we're up to there on day one here in the main stage at Afest 2025. Let's go ahead and roll those. All right, we are making our way to the front. Um, this place is jamming. And we are trying to see if we can sit up front somewhere. You know me, I always try that. See where it gets us.

Apparently, Erica Kirk is coming and she'll be first on stage. And so, you want to try to walk up the middle or do you want to go around as we go around? Let's All right, let's try. Making our way. Let me give you guys a little look around here. This is the opening of Amfest. Erica Kirk and she has not yet appeared.

So, Turning Point is rocking as always. You only have seats up here. Standing room only up front. When everybody sits down, we're going to have some trouble standing out here. Let's shout the name of Jesus in this place right now. Everybody lift up the name of Jesus. Would you please remain standing for the national anthem? Rock the bursting in through the night was still in life, you will realize the more rewarding thing to do might be the more difficult thing to do. That is a guaranteed way that you will experience opposition. The most important question is not whether it is easy or not. It is is it worth it?

And the more often that you choose the deep, the difficult but the right path over the easy path is one that will reward you. your family and this beautiful nation. You are the heartbeat of this future and of this movement. Everything that Charlie built, you guys are the legacy holders of God. You next speaker is a very very special speaker and she has had a heroic last year and I believe she's the best mom in the world. She is my hero and the love of my life. Join me in welcoming Erica Kirk.

This is a full circle moment for me. I got bumped from the front, but Sam is still there. So, what are you going to be doing? So, I am sitting in the middle here getting some video. That means either starting a chapter, joining a chapter, maybe even one day putting up a tag in the quad. We're not afraid. All right. Well, I am now a roaming journalist, you might say, uh, as I am experiencing the mainstage activities from various vantage points. Now, this is going to give me a kind of a unique perspective.

So, you're going to be able to see the next few speakers here um, from different angles because what I'm doing is basically not situating myself in any one place for too long. Uh because that of course could raise like eyebrows like why is that even staff person staying there uh for so long? I mill around and move about and um as I'm walking along of course I'm shooting video. So this next sequence of videos is going to be of Ben Shapiro who is the first speaker after Erica Kirk.

Ben is going to set the tone for a very engaging opening uh uh sequence of speeches because he really lays into various conservative uh Christian thinkers and speakers who have allowed people like Candace Owens and others to say conspiracy theories and other other sort of negative things about Erica and Turning Point and so forth with impunity without really calling them out. So, Ben calls out these speakers to show a little courage in the uh in the uh you know in the aftermath of Charlie's assassination. So, um you're going to get a little uh experience of Ben Shapiro from a couple of different angles here. Let's go ahead and roll those videos.

All right. Up next is Ben Shapiro. And the answer is we do the right things. Now, ladies and gentlemen, Ben Shapiro. And of course, this is an incredibly bittersweet moment. It's absolutely bitter because of the murder of our friend Charlie Kirk. Well, today I want to talk about the future of the country. And the future of this country, this amazing country, relies on the future of the conservative movement. All these questions aren't new, of course. They've been asked for as long as human beings have been talking about politics thousands of years. But today, I want to talk about something even more important. How to discern those attempting to speak truth from frauds and grifters.

I want to discuss five obligations that people who speak to you on matters of importance have to you. I want to speak to you about our duties. Our first duty is truth. We have an obligation to clarity and to honesty.

So if Candace Owens size spend every day since the murder of Charlie Kirk casting aspersions at TPUSA and the people who work here who worked with Charlie every single day his best friend to cast dispersions at Mikey McCoy and Andrew Kovvin and Blake Nef and Tyler Ber and yes at Erica Kirk and to imply or outright claim complicity in a cover up over Charlie's murder to spew absolutely baseless trash implicating everyone from French intelligence to Msad, to members of TPUSA in Charlie's murder, or a cover up in that murder, then we as people with a microphone have a moral obligation to call that out by name.

And the people who refuse to condemn Candace's truly vicious attacks, and some of them are speaking here, are guilty of cowardice. Yes, cowardice. Evidence. Yes, that was a heck of a job showing the emperor has no clothes on with all sorts of conservative and non-conservative pundits. Yes, there was conspiracy time academic prowess in this discussion. There is only one moral side here, Erica Kirk's side. But you have duties too. Far more important duties. duties to God and to yourself and to your families. The duty to do the best for yourself and your family and your country with the abilities that God gave you. All of that, every bit of that begins with truth.

We owe you that quest for truth. You owe yourselves that quest for truth. And true victory only only comes through truth. Thanks so much. Happy to take a couple questions. All right, we're moving on to Russell Brand. Merry Christmas to you. Praise the Lord. The opportunity for community, the opportunity to be different. Lord, I thank you, heavenly father, for Erica Kirk's boldness and her bravery and for her example of forgiveness. And surely if she can forgive the people of a man responsible Lord for the murder of her husband. Surely this principle of forgiveness is something that we can all extend. Lord may we know your grace. May we live in your grace and particularly when it's expensive to us when it costs us something.

Well we just heard from Russell Brand. I think it's Tucker Carlson coming next refused to get married. There like 500,000 people here. This is unbelievable. Everyone in this room, I suspect, has paid tribute to Charlie in some way or other over the past few months. In heart, for they shall knock it out of the park. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. God bless Charlie and the Kirk family. God bless. Thank you.

Point a finger. All right. Well, the evening is getting late. decision is to discuss. I need to get going. Tucker Carlson is about to take the stage. Walking out is always such a trip with these things. I just I just got here and I feel like I missed the first part of the program. I hope I didn't miss anything meaningful. But I just want to say I don't think I did. Um, no, I'm just kidding. The one thing I really appreciate about Ben Shapiro is he doesn't pull any punches. He really is about um trying to do the right thing. He's he's strong on maintaining your moral outlook.

And he he calls us to be truth tellers, but also to raise the bar of scholarship and everything that we do. He says that a lot of the speakers today that we have out there are just making us stupider. And so that was a great way to sort of conclude what Ben was saying there. Now, as we move from Ben, the next speaker was Russell Brand. Now, this is an interesting guy. Russell Brand comes from a background that's pretty sorted, but uh he became a Christian and he has kind of put that life behind him, the old Hollywood life behind him. And now he is a a fairly convincing evangelist.

Honestly, uh, at least I I don't know that much about Russell Brand, but I I do know he's engaging. He's got that British accent. He's he tends to be winsome and he uh does holds pulls no punches in terms of his Christian conviction. And as the time winds down, you know, we got to Michael Nolles and when we definitely when we got to Tucker Carlson, seats started opening up a little bit. The evening, you know, the later speakers, people are getting tired. um you know they're still engaged but you can see people trickling out and I was one of them and I knew I had a special dinner set up that night.

The dinner was for potential uh students who are uh you know who are interested in Champion Christian College. And so these were the prepier students uh a small cohort of them. And uh President Eric Pacy was with me. You may remember him from an interview in a previous Firestone File. He invited anyone interested in Champion Christian College to come on out for dinner. And so we had such a large group as it turns out that was interested. I don't know if it was the free meal or Champion Christian College, whatever it was. Um we had about I'd say about 10 of them on that first dinner night and then we took the other five out for lunch the next day. Well, we are out late on opening night and u having a good time talking about the future together. We'll give you a little look around.

No, I love it. Talking about NFL football. I don't know if you heard that, but somebody donated podcast equipment. You have heard it first here on the Firestone Files. All right. Well, that was the end of day one at Amfest for us. A day of transition, of travel, of energy, of getting situated and acclimated to Amefest, getting our badges, getting inside, having a fast start by uh going to the main stage. Now, couple of contextual things to note uh as we go forward on to day two, which is kind of what I want to roll next here, is that uh not every student got inside the main auditorium.

I came to find out later uh um on our way to dinner really that as many as half the students actually didn't get inside. They went through the main entrance and had to wait in these fairly lengthy lines. And by the time they got up there, only I don't know, maybe a third of the additional students got in and then the rest of them had to go to screens in various places throughout the conference center or a few of them didn't get to see any of it. So that was kind of a sad start really because we had gotten, you know, we had gotten up early, we'd gotten on our way, we'd gotten there and a chunk of the students didn't get inside. Well, that's going to set me up for a mission on day two. And my mission was to see to it that students had a better experience in terms of getting into these events. It's not going to be easy.

We had uh we woke up in that morning, we had special sessions to get to and those special sessions all had lines in them. And so I had to use the power of my staff badge on numerous occasions. So you're going to see some of that as we go forward here as I'm working with the students to get to see some of these special speakers and these special sessions that are happening. So much energy, so much activity. Up early this morning on day two of Amfest. Um, I hear that the lines are already started at the various breakout sessions and other uh activities. What am I looking forward to today? Um, I think meeting people in the executive room. All right, walking to the convention center. Um, pretty nice morning. Sun's coming up and lots of things going on. Let's take a quick look at it.

All right, first thing in the room, we got I guess a guy named Magga Hulk. Let's take a look at what's going on. Well, Magga Hulk right here at AMFest 2025. Look at this. My goodness. This guy's huge. I'm not going to cause any trouble, though, because I don't think I can take him. History is not best preserved in a vault where it's humidity and temperature physical object, but rather when the history and the the from these artifacts make it into the that's how we induce change and that's how we affect culture. Now, I want to begin introduction. It is an honor to introduce Bill Federer and Michael Federer, president and vice president of the American Community Project.

We are also honored to welcome David and Tim Barton of Wall Builders. Going to be a good session. We have a list of questions that we want. That is when we say that history is being hidden. What is the most foundational truth that you believe America has been intentionally it has been intentionally removed from Americans in understanding and taken away from our discussions in the public forum? And the Bible is the most quoted source in their writings and it's not even close. So the most influential source in the founding was the Bible.

The founding fathers were largely anti-slavery. We can go down the list, but this is the kind of stuff that today when when you actually hear about America, we hear far more about how bad and evil and oppressive America was. In the year 1087, the Turkish Muslims are invading Turkey. All seven churches mentioned the book of Revelation wiped out by Muslim Turks. And uh but in 1625, one of the pilgrims ships had 800 lb of beaver skins. They're sending it back to England for trade. in a Turkish man of war captures it and brings it down to Morocco and sells the crew into slavery.

So the ship Maria and stick 300 of our American sailors in the dungeons of Alger and so Thomas Jefferson is sent as an ambassador over to France to meet with the Muslim ambassador Abd Alman and he's like why are you enslaving us? What did we do? And and he goes, "No, it's just written in the Quran that every nation that does not acknowledge Islam's authority are sinners, and it's the right duty to make them slaves. And any Muslim who should die in battle is sure to go to paradise." And so Jefferson had a Quran to figure out what's in this book that makes him want to attack us.

And second Barbrey Pirate War. And so this is something that's left out of history, right? And and so this was the first foreign war. 20% of our federal budget was going to pay off these Muslim pirates until we won the war. Okay, that was the first session. Now I'm headed to a second session. I heard through the grape vine that it's filling up pretty quickly. Oh my goodness. Yeah.

Oh, students are here. It looks like standing room only here in the education session. I managed to get two of our students into two open seats, but there are a lot that are just standing and not having seats. Let's take a look around the room. Pretty incredible. Um, I guess people are concerned for education in America. All right. Well, I had to get out of my seat to join the students. We would love for them to consider being a part of what we're doing. We've got some amazing students from 18 different states and we have our prepar leadership here, Dr. Chris Firestone, Dr. Ty Gu, Stephanie Staper.

We'd love to talk to you about prepier. You know, I've been in this fight for education freedom for about 15 years now. And it all started because of my children, my three boys. All right. We got out of that really crazy education session. Stuffy room. And uh we're going to throw up. Who are we going to see now? Alex Clark. Alex Clark. Okay, let's see. Do you know where room 21 is? 121. I think it's Is it right down here? All right, we're going to go to room 121. See if we can find her.

Hi, Firestone. All right, we are inside. We got reasonably good seats for Alex, Courtney Swan, and Dana Kapatrick. So, super good. All right. Well, we're gonna have some fun with this one. As soon as uh Alex Clark comes in here, I'm gonna go say hello. Hey, everyone. Hi. Wow. Judging by how packed this room is and the line and the fighting that's happening in the hallway because they want to get in, I would say that uh we all really want to make America healthy again. Courtney and I met last September testifying at the Senate with RFK Jr. and Cali and Casey Means and the food babe protesting and talking about the chronic disease epidemic that has absolutely rattled this country.

All right. Well, as you can see, got up early, got going, had some uh students in tow, but everybody's got a slightly different game plan for day two. One thing I really appreciated about the students is their resilience. And although there were quite a few of them that were sad because of not being able to fully engage on day one because of the logistics of having 30,000 people at an event meant for 20,000 people. Um they still got there, they got situated, they regrouped and we got on the road early in the morning.

Well, having finished up the morning sessions and uh you know they were an adventure for sure, we uh made our way uh to a different part of the conference center and a couple of students were interested in going to the student lounge and uh this is where students can gather. I think you have to be a certain age to attend that and have a student uh ID.

And so that's where we went. I walked them over there and was able again long line was able to get them inside. Again, part of my mission on this day was to help the students have a little bit better experience. I think that they are a priority for Turning Point, but uh hard to maintain your priorities with this kind of mob, you know, just people everywhere. And so I was able to get a few of the students um into the student lounge in in a timely way. All right. Well, I've made it into the student lounge and there is a line of students outside to get in this place. I think they're just dying for a place to socialize in and um I think they've given it to them. What an amazing amazing layout here. Let me take you around and have a look.

I've got three students I got in here with me. I'm g see if I can find them. Oh, there they are. Well, you guys going to take a table or you going to just tell them about going to get super crowded here soon. So, all right. Well, three of them made it in. I don't know the rest of them are, but I'm sure they'll text me.

All right. So much fun going on in here. Um, man, they are just streaming in. a bull ride, a dance floor, and a variety of other games. I even saw a checkerboard. I'd like to see a chess board, but a checkerboard's fine as well. Well, I didn't have anything else on my immediate agenda on uh day two. And so, having been there in the past, I knew it was likely that there was a lot going on on media row. So, I made my way out of the student section and down into the media row area. Also, I popped into the VIP section because, you know, there's lunch and there's some food there.

And so, um was going to, you know, had a plan of just milling around media row and going into the VIP section. So, that's what I did. And so in this next set of clips, you'll be able to see uh Rumble and you'll see uh the Charlie Kirk show and then you're going to see me make my way over to the Daily Wire again. And there we find Mikey being interviewed and it's a fascinating interview. So I'm going to go ahead and kind of roll these in sequence and culminate this sequence with Mikey talking about Charlie Kirk. So let's go ahead and roll. All of this happened on media row and literally I'm standing 10 feet from these people as they're uh as they're producing this material. So let's go ahead and roll those videos.

All right, I'm here on Media Row, second day of the conference. Thought I would show you guys around a little bit. It looks like the Charlie Kirk show is running live right now. Let's listen in. New Hampshire man Brandon Mal here. Explain. Yeah. Get up. Get up for Brandon Valley. Turn action. He's doing the work. Explain the dynamics inside New Hampshire. There's some behind the scenes stuff. Only here at Afest. All right. Total news. I don't think I know Total News, but apparently they're pretty significant. All right. Well, I'm back at the Daily Wire and Mikey is here. Can't wait to get a little footage of him backstage at one of Charlie's last event on this earth in Valia, California.

Can you walk us through what Charlie was going through the last few weeks of his life as Charlie the person, not just Charlie the I mean I I just talked about this earlier, but one of the last podcasts he did was that Ice Coffee Hour one where he said, you know, what do you want to be known for? He said, I want to be remembered for courage for my faith. These guys are outdoing me. They're way ahead of me. Every time I try to make a move, they're in front of All right, here we go into the VIP section. See what this looks like.

Well, I just uh finished up in the VIP room. Saw Megan Kelly on the big stage. Now I've walked out here. It's getting I think it's like 7:00 p. m. It's getting into the evening here and uh getting tired. I think I might call it an evening. I've got some things I want to do. I want to do some writing. But uh it's been a great great second day and uh yeah, we'll uh pick this up tomorrow. Like he was literally at the peak of his fate. And the the plane ride to Utah, I literally remember it. It was Malake and Dr. Turk and myself and Charlie.

And on the flight like instead of going through, you know, typical questions you might get from a lib or whatever, he was just started talking about the gospel again. He's like, "What if I get this question about slaves in Leviticus, like what do how do I how do I reconcile that? How do I make sense of that?" And but he genuinely cared. And then in the car ride as soon as he got to campus and then when he got to campus, his first full question was talking about Christ and talking about the Bible. It was a Mormon question and he was going deep though on all these topics.

I think for me that moment there on media row with Mikey talking about Charlie on the Daily Wire was kind of an epicenter of the conference for me. There was a lot going on, a lot happening and I walked right into that uh heartfelt engaged engaging dialogue with Mikey about the day in Utah when Charlie lost his life. And so um yeah, what what other conference can you possibly have such a dramatic and accessible experience as that one? So all right, well that was the end of day two at AFest and went back and kind of chilled that evening to getting a little rest from that uh wild and woolly uh opening couple of days.

The next morning, we had a breakfast scheduled with Turning Point Education and so had to get up early and so you're going to see in these next clips me uh you know heading out the door, getting there to the conference center and then um you know getting to the special event, this breakfast of Turning Point Education where the 34 students were present as well as the K through 12 components of people interested in TurningPoint Educ. ation. And so you're going to see um you're going to see the the uh breakfast experience that we that we uh that we had there in the morning of day three.

Let's go ahead and roll that. All right. Well, we are here at the Turning Point Education breakfast and getting set up and lots of coffee and good people around working on getting the event set up and uh lots of positive stuff going on. So, looking forward to saying goodbye to the students and hello to Dave Arnot who's standing behind me here. Three point education, early adopters, supporters, friends, and we also have students with us a little later. But we're we're so glad you're many of you are friends of one another as well and are working together for God- centered, virtuous education. Last December, I had no idea what was next.

Most of my friends had already sent in many applications to multiple colleges and each of them seemed to have a clear path before them. In 2024, my family attended ANvest for the first time. During one of the breakout sessions, my sister and I listened to Dr. Hutz Herzburg as he spoke about a new turning point program called Prep Year. In this program, students would dive into the great book, the Bible, the great documents, and the great books for nine months, all while being mentored by leaders in learning alongside students who hold similar values and standards of excellence. Prep year has been one of the most formative experiences of my life. And I have met so many remarkable people who share my values, sharpen my thinking, and inspire me to pursue creativity and excellence with purpose.

Being surrounded by students who share a vision to impact the world for the glory of God has been both refreshing and deeply encouraging. You know, we live in a day where men believe that they can get pregnant. And I think that is a foolish thought anatomically, physiologically, biologically, and the likes. It's impossible. I say this from the bottom of my heart. My wife gave birth to all three of our children. Okay. Well, that gives you a sense of the breakfast roundts, special speakers, turning point education, uh, you know, sharing the various components of its mission. Hopefully that gives you a sense of some of the students at Prep Year.

These are amazing people. Uh, Isaac Elliott in particular was a worship leader or the worship leader for the first semester at Prep Year. And uh he was the person I think or the student maybe most influential in those early periods after Charlie's assassination. He led us in worship with uh with grace and with wisdom and with a real sense of reverence and honor for Charlie. And so I really call out Isaac Elliott for that um for that amazing work that he did there. And of course, this speech was no joke either. In a in a uh in a big crowd, uh he delivered an excellent speech.

So now after that was over, we made our way out of the breakfast area there. And on our way, I was with a student, another student named Jude Carlson and another great student by the way, walking out of the Hyatt. Just had our education breakfast and met with the students here at the end. Always some important people walking by.

I Who is it? Ken Paxton. Ken Paxton. I I guess he's running for uh is he running for Senate here? He's the attorney general. I'm pretty sure. Attorney General and running for office, higher office, I guess. So, pretty cool. You never know who you're going to bump into at Amfest. Matthew Swift. Oh my goodness. Hey, man. It's good to have you in town, my brother. Yeah. Um I wasn't at the breakfast. Thanks. Thanks for that. Well, you were up later than me, so you had to, you know, pull yourself together. See if we can get these boys in. What do I need? Oh, this thing.

I'm going to guess the name tag, right? But let's take a look. Man, that's great. You want to join? We made it in. Hallelujah. I've got both Matthew and Jude with me and we're going to meet a number of people. So, I'm going to roll a couple of uh clips in succession here. We're going to meet uh Benny Johnson. Um it's a a a voice in the conservative world that was just gotten off stage and now he's back in the executive uh VIP lounge. And so, got a chance to meet and talk with him. We're going to see Brandon Tatum. We're going to see a guy uh named um uh Father Rob Kelvin Robinson. And then we're also going to meet Bryce Crawford. And so I'm going to roll all of those in succession just to give you a sense of the dynamics as uh we move about and begin to network there in the uh in the in the VIP lounge. So let's go ahead and roll those clips.

Got Brandon Tatum here. Officer Tatum. Super cool here in VIP. All right. My student Jude is over there meeting fairly well-known guy whose name is slipping my mind, but I will remember it and mention it in the podcast for sure. Well, we've made our way from the breakfast into the conference center. Now we're in the VIP lounge getting to meet people there and some great uh personalities and voices in the conservative sort of Christian world. And now we're ready to move on. And so we're gonna move on. We heard that Erica Kirk is going to be speaking in a much smaller venue in the exhibit hall.

And this is where you have a lot of different things going on. You have some media things going on there. You've got the Turning Point stations, which are the departments of Turning Point, which are in the center there. You've also got a number of of corporations that have presence there. That's in the exhibit hall. So, we made our way in there and there's a vast crowd there. So, let's go ahead and roll the eclipse. All right, we are here in the center booth area. Right behind me is Turning Point Education and next to me is my buddy Samuel and we're waiting for Erica Kirk to come into this smaller venue to talk to us. How can I do this?

I want to be doing more. Um, obviously like not in the stage of life where I'm married, having kids, and I go through this thought pattern of like what would be the Hey, what's going on? This for the vlog. Yeah. What are you doing here? Just waiting for Erica. Then we just keep moving forward. I I think my students are starting to outdo me. I I blinked for a second and they're in front of me. I don't know how I'm not exactly sure how my students got to the front, but they just snake their way all the way up near the stage. Be able to serve.

Just how I said earlier, focus on things that are eternal. Spend time with your family. Another thing is too that Charlie would always say, and I agree with him, if you go to a good Bible believing church, let your pastors and your pastor wife know like, "Hey, I'm looking for my future husband." It's nice for when people that you trust that pour into you that are mentors are able to help also encourage you that there's other people that you can start talking to and meeting rather than again just relying on apps. So God is the author of time and he knows exactly when you need the love of your life. Not a minute too late, not a minute too soon. So, just rest in God's timing. God bless you.

Thank you so much. This is a dream come true. Okay. Well, after the Erica Kirk presentation and and uh people started to dispand and there was a smaller crowd that was still lingering about for Megan Kelly who was going to show up. And so I stayed around with the students talking at the um at the uh the booths and doing a little mingling there. And then I went and waited in the smaller crowd for Megan Kelly to show up. She eventually did. And so I'm going to go ahead and roll the clips with Megan Kelly um in this more intimate conversational space uh still in the center of the exhibit hall.

Megan Kelly has arrived. So super cool. Oh, it's so great to see you all. God bless you for coming. This is an incredible turnout. But um I had to stand up to myself and stand up for what I believe. Great question, honey. Thank you for So did you guys hear the question? Yeah. How could she stand up for people who are calling her racist conservative? All right. Well, after Erica was finished and Megan Kelly was finished, I decided to do more walking around seeing what other things were going on. I first encountered um Senate candidate Michael Watley from from North Carolina. And so I'm going to show you that video clip.

After seeing him for a little bit, I made my way out of exhibit hall up these exclusive escalators because my staff badge seems to work there as well. all the way up to Andy Biggs who's running for Congress out of Arizona. And so I was able to I wasn't quite able to get quite as close to him because there was a long line of people. It's in Arizona. And so uh but I do I can take you kind of through that experience. All right. Well, we are in the sort of media area here. Um got Oh, Bill Federer here. Hey, Bill. Good to see you.

Um he's a historian with Turning Point and uh yeah, just a lot of good stuff going on here. Got Mike Lindell. I don't think he's there right now. He's the guy that sells the pillows. You know, looking at the landscape right now, I mean, Donald Trump got in, you know, he's in there. He's really taking some swings that he wasn't able to take the first time around. He endorsed you. Um there is now though some some division on the right and some uh some forces out there want to exploit that. Obviously, you know, I'm a big believer that I need every vote, right? So, I'm just pulling everybody in and I'm reminding them, yes, here's the deal. We're having some inner family squables right now. I get it. That happens. Movements grow. They have those squables. But in the bottom line, they need to remember what it is we're really fighting for.

Man, this is a really dynamic environmenting the former RNC chairman and candidate for United States Senate in the great state of North Carolina, Michael Wley. Michael, thanks so much for joining me. It's great to be with you guys. So far here, there's another interview going really off the uh the hook. What do you make of the state of the conservative movement when you come to Turning Points event? All right, I'm heading up the escalator to an exclusive meet and greet with Congressman Representative Andy Biggs out of Arizona. So, not really sure what this will yield, but uh couldn't get Matthew through, but my staff badge got me through um the first layer of security.

Here we go. I think I'm not going to be able to meet him. This line is too long and there's too much fun stuff going on. But maybe I can at least see him here if I walk to the front of the line. So that is Congressman Andy Biggs way inside there shaking hands and meeting people. Outside we've got a Revolutionary War hero. How you doing, sir? Very good. The English aren't the enemy anymore. I sure hope not. But all right. Well, after having those close encounters with a potential senator and congressman, I made my way back into the VIP room because I uh wanted to see or or meet with Amanda McCabe McKenna.

And I've gotten to know her over the years. I first met her at Amfest several years ago and watched her journey as a controller, I believe it is, in in uh Washington State. and she was just announcing at Amfest that she was going to be running for um for Senate in Washington State. So, that was a super cool thing to witness as she shows up at Afest. Eventually, she's going to give a presentation. We're going to look at that. That happens on day four. We're still on day three right now, but she's in town. She's in the V VIP area. I go down. I meet her and her husband, David. first time I've met David. We've we've uh chatted a few times, you know, either by text or, you know, on social media, but this is the first time I actually met him in person.

So, that was a super cool experience. Um, and I really wanted her in particular to be able to meet our students because one of the things with with our prepier students is that they have five different pathways and one of the pathways of course that we emphasize is the political pathway. And so I wanted to put a a successful uh political woman in their life and and get get a chance to meet them and to uh kind of pick their brain. Now, two of our students are from Washington State. One is Cashman and the other is Kate.

And I wanted to make sure Cashman and Kate got this opportunity because they're out of the same state, but there were other people who got wind of this meeting as well. And so, um, she was kind enough to say, "Yeah, I've got a half an hour here. Let's make our way to the, um, let's make our way to a place where we can meet them." And I thought the best place to meet them would be Exhibit Hall because it's a central place. It's a place where we might meet some other students and there's chaos everywhere, but everyone knows where it is. So, that's what we did. We made our way to exhibit hall right in front of the Turning Point Education uh booth.

All right, I am walking with Amanda and her husband to get to the exhibition hall to meet some of the prepier students. And what a crowd here. Hard to make it through. Taken that I would have been like, "Okay, whatever. Let me go, you know." So, um yeah. All right. Here we are with Amanda talking with the students. Super cool.

Okay. Well, after I was done kind of in that area hanging out, talking with people, I decided just to do a walk around of the exhibit hall really to get a sense of what was going on. One side of the exhibit hall seemed to be focused primarily on businesses, corporations that wanted to make connections with each other and with people at the conference. the other side of the exhibit hall seemed to be another kind of media area with all sorts of interviews going on and whatnot. So, let me go ahead and roll that um that footage of me doing kind of a walk around of that uh media area within exhibit hall. This isn't media row. This is another area in which media is happening live. Let's go ahead and roll that clip. All right. I am just going to do a walk around. There's an amazing number of interviews going on. What a liveaction event here. Here's the Mike Harvey show. Some boys here.

Got the Kingdom Network here to leaders spending a woke America, a weak America. That's not what the American people want. The American uh that is a Well, the rally last night was absolutely fantastic and his I'm not a fan of solar and wind. That's that's that's a that's a false that's a false god to worship. You a nuclear guy? I'm a nuclear guy. I'm a natural gas guy. So, we're just going to keep moving. We've got various other outlets here. It just doesn't end. I see O network. Um they don't have an interview right now, but it sure looks like they're going to have something soon. Let's take a look around.

Super cool. Super cool. Walk right on set. just giving you a sense of the activity and all the energy around here. It's infectious. Um meeting people, making connections, finding people of different passions and interests and um just connecting the dots. So yeah. All right, that's it for now, I guess. Well, after all of this kind of fun stuff going on, started to wrap up for the day and and uh made my way out of the conference center. Number of students were with me. We um we sat down for a little bit and I'm going to roll some of those clips where us where we're finishing up the day.

You can feel the energy, the vibe as we are going to head back. And now we're heading back early, a little bit early. It's like 6 o'lock or 6:30. Um because there was a uh the Chicago Bears were playing um that evening. I guess it was Saturday night and uh I didn't want to miss that. I'm a Bear fan as you may or may not know and they were playing the Packers in a really important game. Well, as it turns out, the Bears did beat the Packers in kind of an instant classic. So, that was a super fun evening over at the U Sheridan Hotel right there in the lobby. Well, we're leaving now because the Bears are playing. We're going to make it back to the hotel, watch them hopefully beat the Packers, but we'll see. I hope I didn't jinx them.

I know. And is the pizza official? We're going to make some get some food. I got a lot of money left over on my credit card. So, anyway, what Firestone files are over for day three. Um, I hope I can walk back to the hotel. It's been a long day. It's been pretty fun. All right. Well, this begins the final day of Amfest. This is day four, Sunday. Now, day four is going to be another one of these extraordinary days because JD Vance and Erica Kirk and possibly Donald Trump and a whole host of other speakers are going to be there to culminate the Afest experience.

and we know the crowds that are expected and we're going to be taking action. So, one of the things I'm really proud of the students on is that they corporately decided, and this was I don't know what percentage of them, maybe half the 34 students decided to get up there at 2:00 a. m. and get on site and get in line. And so they were in line in the front of the conference center at 2:00 a. m. and understanding that the doors were going to be opening at 6:00 a. m. and they were going to make their way in to get premium seating. Other students were going to uh potentially follow me. I was targeting early entry before 6:00 a. m. through a staff entrance.

And so I was going to take with me whoever was wanting to go and give that a try. Now, there's no guarantee on that. You might get bounced, in which case the plan was to go back into the line with the students who had got there at 2:00 a. m. before 6:00 when the doors open. Uh, and then there was another group of students that was hoping that they'd be able to save some seats, but they were planning to come just a little bit later. It wasn't actually going to get started, I believe, until something like 8 or 9:00 a.

m. I can't remember the exact time, but it wasn't going to be right away, but um they were going to come closer to the actual start time. So, this is a kind of multiaceted plan. I end up going there and I get out the door and I'm getting texts all morning, by the way. And this is from 2:00 a. m. all the way to 6:00 a. m. The crowds are huge. Better get moving. You'll never get in otherwise. Um, but I of course had the staff badge and I said, "Look, anybody wants to meet me downstairs, let's do it."

So, I met around 5:30 and Matthew Swift, who works with me at Champion Christian College and has been to many afs in the past with me, and uh, Ariana from Alaska was also there. And so, we make our way over to the event and they follow me to the staff entrance and they were able to get inside.

Now, we had to walk around the entire building to do that and it was a little risky because the lines were actually wrapped around the entire conference center and uh but we did get in and we were it was like I don't know 10 minutes before 6 and we were walking the halls kind of by ourselves but they had internal security at different checkpoints and so they were able to get with uh with me quite a ways into the conference center but they could not get into the venue itself.

myself and I was able to get through the final layer of security, but they would not allow my assistants to come in with me. So, uh you'll see in these next clips us descending on the escalator, getting inside together, and then you'll see uh us having to make some alternative plans. uh I decided to leave them at the uh internal uh gate which was going to be closer to the seating anyway and then I would make my way through the VIP area and down through the staff entrance there and secure some seating earlier on. Good morning. We are on day four. We have gotten in the venue about 10 minutes before a crowd.

I should have taken some footage of that crowd. I will tell the students to do that for me. Uh but it wrapped around the entire building and uh we're making our way into the event hall right now. Nobody here yet except the three of us. All right. Well, we are really close to the entrance, but couldn't get the uh students in with me. Only staff inside. So, we're going to try the VIP lounge anyway. I don't know if we're going to get in. We'll see. Okay, going to leave Matthew and Ariana there at the main door um in order to help to get them in. So, I will be uh going in myself to see if I can get a reasonable seat and uh help where I can and uh do what I must.

Anyway, we're going in now. Thank you guys. Just left him back there. Um, I'm walking past everybody, but man, it's really something in here. Oh, check this out. Three more rows for you guys. Okay, we are live at stage and uh right up front here. Looks amazing as always. And uh going to have a seat right here on the right hand side. All right, they're doing a test of the uh broadcast system. I can already tell it's going to be powerful. All right. Well, the chaos has started. Um, seats are filling up fast. I'm saving three seats. I thought it was the maximum I could get away with, but um it's really hard to hold them.

They're not allowing people to hold seats, but I'm doing my best to keep them. The event has started. Begins with worship and ends with JD. Let's take a look. I see the students in the front row down there. Super cool. We got most of them in. Still waiting for a few more to show up, but I think we got two seats left. One over there and one right here. So, all right, coming back at you later. As you can see, things are really heating up and uh everyone's excited to get started with the public presentations.

Now, one of the reasons I was there that early was not only that I wanted a seat, but also Amanda McCabe McKenna, who we saw earlier in the video, she was actually being supported by Turning Point. And so she along with three other Senate candidates from around the country uh had an opportunity to speak. So right at the beginning they had these four candidates who were interviewed at the center of the stage.

So I want to run a little bit of that interview with her. I also want to run a few of the uh other speakers that came right after those four I have with me four individuals who are going to be some new faces here in Congress because I think uh I think we need a lot of new faces in Congress. Super excited. Amanda McKay McKenna is coming on right now. Everyone, just a quick shout out to all the students out there and I know that there's some turning point prepier out there and I see you. Just wanted to say Hannah McKini. I'm uh running for Congressional District 4 in Washington State.

Go to the Rumble chat. We have a question. What motivated you most to run? Let's start with let's start with Amanda. Yeah, that one's really easy. It actually uh it happened when there was, you know, really a betrayal of President Trump. My congressman voted for impeachment and I knew that there that I needed to find a way to retire him. Today in 2025, as we turn the calendar into 2026, the heartbeat of the conservative movement is here at Turning Point USA. The first is the 47th president of the United States, Donald Trump.

He is an FAFO fighter. But the other fighter that has defined our movement is Charlie Kurt. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. The nuclear family, men and women together raising kids is what continues the great experiment that is the United States of America. All right, we are on to Glenn Beck. Let's take a look. Watch him come in.

The world needs us to be strong. They need us to remember our welcome Johnson. Here he comes, Speaker of the House. It's It's a pretty simple thing. I think the best way to honor Charlie's legacy is to live as he lived. I think we should advance his principles and I think we should adopt his approach that it is easy to take freedom away from a people if they do not understand the source of it. What a kickoff lineup that was and really just got the crowd warmed up. The next two speakers really took center stage and took it to a whole new level. The first was a special speaker, I guess, a surprise speaker and that was a rapper named Nicki Minaj.

Now, to be honest, the crowd went wild when Nicki Minaj was called out kind of in a surprise fashion. To be honest, I don't know who Nicki Minaj is, but she seemed to after the interview and hearing from her, she seemed to be a thoughtful, wellspoken, um, somewhat conservative Christian woman. And so, but definitely a unique personality. So, it was interesting getting to hear from her. So, I want to run the tape that I have of Nicki Minaj. And then after Nicki Minaj comes Donald Trump Jr. and uh those two people sort of set the stage for JD Vance to come. Now, interestingly, with Donald Trump Jr. , He did something that I have done many times in my classes over the last 25 years and that is um used my cell phone to call someone special.

She's got the longest 10ear career probably of any female rapper in history. I don't think I know any female rappers in Nigeria for standing up for that issue. Protecting Christians in Nigeria is not about taking sides. This is about standing up in the face of injustice. The American Music Award goes to The winner is the winner is one of the all time great female, one of the alltime great rappers in general. turning the war worldwide.

Superman super loud. Entrepreneurs are getting the mouth sing. How are you? So, those of you who know, Charlie was very good about having a surprise for every Amfest and we we are so blessed to have you. We are so grateful. I mean, thank you. I'm honored to be here. I am honored to be here. Thank you for having me. I want to ask you in closing, what is something that you want to leave as a legacy in this world for your family, for your baby, for just everything? Well, that it's that it's okay to change your mind. team that we have assembled with what we're going to be able to do with what we're able to expose.

I think we can create a generational shift. They're trying to crush the family. Very few people understand the consequences of standing up to the nonsense, standing up to the swamp, standing up to big government, standing up to the mainstream media, standing up to big tech, standing up to the seemingly insurmountable obstacles that they've put up. But you guys did that. This is now the America First Party. Please welcome Donald Trump Jr.

What's going on? Charlie's courage is why you guys are all here. His willingness to lead, to push people through is incredible. And honestly, I was concerned. I was worried. I was worried that without Charlie, this room would go out like it was 10 years ago when we started this incredible voyage and it would dissipate. But this is literally double what it was last year. And that was with you. But I'll be with you soon. And I just want to say that nobody more for me than Charlie. And there's nobody better than Erica. And you are the greatest people on earth. We wanted a landslide and we're going to continue to do it.

And I just want to thank everybody. You got out there and they they voted and they dress doorbells. And I just want to thank you all and I hope my son's doing a good job representing and I hope Don makes a great speech. If he doesn't make a great let me know about it. I will give him hell. Well, there's 30,000 young patriots in this room. The movement continues. They're looking forward to supporting you and everything that you, Charlie, and really everyone that's part of this movement stands for. So, thanks, Dad. We appreciate it. We love you. We'll speak to you soon.

That was Donald J. Trump and Trump Jr. how far they will go. We have all witnessed it. We have all seen it. But understand, the only thing worse than that is the consequence of our apathy if we spit it out. If we don't get out there, if we don't do everything in our power to do that. So get out there, get unafraid. And in the words of your favorite president, fight, fight, fight. Well, those um personalities led right to the sort of apex or final speaker which was JD Vance. And JD Vance did not disappoint. He came on stage. We're going to run a little bit of that video.

But I will say being the last speaker everyone's looking forward to, everyone's waiting to hear from, I do recognize that I've got to eat lunch and get to the airport in fairly quick succession. So I'm going to sneak out kind of midway through JD Vance JD Vance's speech. So let's just go ahead at this point and roll JD Vance being introduced and coming on stage and getting started with his speech. But it was also a place that had been cast aside and forgotten by America's ruling clash in Washington. Despite the closing factories and the growing addiction in towns like mine in my life, I had a guardian angel by my side. She was an old woman who could barely walk, but she was tough as nails. I called her Mamal, the name we hillbillies gave to our grandmothers. Thanks to that mama, things worked out for me. After 9/11, I did what thousands of other young men my age did. I enlisted in the United States Marines.

From Iraq to Afghanistan, from the financial crisis to the Great Recession, from open borders to stagnating wages, the people who govern this country have failed and failed again. That is, of course, until a guy named Donald J. Trump came along. President Trump represents America's last best hope to restore what, if lost, may never be found again. A country where a workingclass boy born far from the halls of power can stand on this stage as the next vice president of the United States of America. For Charlie, we will speak the truth every single day. For Charlie, we will rebuild this United States of America to greatness.

We will never cower even when staring down the barrel of a gun. For Charlie, we will remember that it is better to stand on our feet defending the United States of America and defending the truth than it is to die on our knees. May our heavenly father give us the courage to live as Charlie lived. That is what we must do for Charlie. Ladies and gentlemen, please on the mountain. JD Vance, ladies and gentlemen. Super cool. We've been waiting for this guy.

How's it going, Phoenix? Well, that takes us super close to um concluding day four, the final day of Amfest. At this point, I'm a little bit tired. My legs are not holding up like they used to. It's been a great conference, great uh, you know, time of meeting and greeting and hearing from and, um, all the all the things that go into what makes Amfest so great. So, uh, I'm on my way out at this point. And so, what I'm going to do is show you a clip of me leaving the conference center, reflecting on all that has happened, and then I arrive at the hotel, and I begin to wrap up my time there, meeting with a couple of students.

I don't have a ton of video of that hotel, uh, lunch and meet and greet with the students. It was a fabulous time. I will say maybe students have more video if I have that I'll tack it on here. But uh um it was just um pretty tearful and joyful and and congratulations between me and the students and a goodbye between me and the students there in the hotel. Uh that lasted about an hour. uh ordered some lunch from Uber Eats and then students and I nolled about. We took photos and uh and then we said our goodbyes. So, I've got a little bit of video from that experience and then um then make my way to the uh to the Uber um Suburban that uh took us to the airport. So, I ended up going with Matthew Swift and Ariana.

So, we were kind of partners that whole day uh all the way to the airport. And so, let me run those last few video clips and uh I think that'll pretty much wrap up um our time there at Afest. Go ahead and roll those. All right. Well, I am scooting out of here. Um what a great wrapup with JD Vance and all the rest of them. Super exciting. Where can you get this much bang for the buck in one location over three or four days? Nowhere. It was great hanging out with the Prepier students, meeting a lot of people. Um just uh honored to be around here and uh be involved here.

So, I'm heading back to the hotel. Going to grab some Uber Eats and uh kind of finish off my time here. But I hope you've enjoyed the uh Firestone File on location here at America Fest 2025. Hey, we are saying our goodbyes here prep year. Here comes Sam. I can see him in the background there. I got Ben. I got Joe Dell and other people. It's hard to say goodbye, but it's only the end of part A. We're going to start part B next semester with something new. All right. Well, that effectively concluded my time that day. Um, I ended up flying directly back from Phoenix to Little Rock.

Uh, made my way to Hot Springs and then the family drove all the way up 15 hours to Minnesota for uh, the holidays. And uh, that's kind of where I'm shooting this from so I could bring you Amfest just as soon as we possibly could get it done. And so that's what we have for you. Um just some basic reflections to close us off. What an amazing semester it has been. Afest was the culmination of Turning Point Education Prep Year's first class of 34 students in the fall semester. We began around Labor Day and we finished at Amfest. 10 days into our our our time together, Charlie Kirk was assassinated.

And um that sent us down pathways we never would have chosen to go down, but they were life-changing a bonding experiences that I will never never forget and frankly will always cherish with the students and uh no one can take that away from us. I mean that is really um that emotional, intellectual, spiritual journey that we were on together for the 3 or 4 months uh throughout the fall of 2025. I'm never going to forget. And Amfest was the crowning jewel of that experience for me. I was able to go on a journey with the students. And that's something I talk a lot about with my kids, but I also talk a lot about with my students. Some of the times the best and most teachable moments are not the moments in the classroom although those are important. They give us building blocks to work with. It's real life everyday life when you go on journeys together. And we had some you know uh hurdles you might say on the first day.

We overcame them. some of us earlier than others, but every one of us was able to uh create and participate in an experience throughout Amfest that just got better and better as we went along until that final day where everybody made it inside to the convention center. We got to see uh some amazing speakers. We got to get out of there on time. We had lunch together. We were able to laugh and cry together. And then we were able to say our goodbyes together. And um man, you really just you really just can't do any better than that. So that's it for Amfest 2025. I hope that insiders look was uh insightful and interesting to you.

It um it I'll probably refer back to this experience for many months and perhaps even many years to come. It's been life-changing for me. It's turning a corner in my career and uh really just a great opportunity to uh to teach to work with Turning Point and to work with these amazing students. I'm never going to forget it in this time at Amfest. Um what an amazing experience. So that's it for now from the Firestone Files. Merry Christmas, happy new year, and uh I hope 2026 is is is we're just going to knock it out of the park together. So blessings to you. God bless you and we'll see you next time on the Firestone Files.

Thanks for stopping by to spend some time with me here on the Firestone Files. I hope today's reflections offered you some new insights and perspective on life. If you enjoyed the episode or found it valuable, I'd appreciate it if you'd take a moment to like, subscribe, and share it with someone you care about. I'd also love to hear your thoughts. What resonated with you? What challenged you? Or what would you like to hear more about in future episodes? Drop a comment below or send in your suggestions to the email in the description. Your input helps shape where we go next. This has been Dr. Chris Firestone. Until next time, keep asking the big questions. And remember, the kingdom journey is always best with your friends. Further up and further in. Bye for now.

Turn it around.