Utah Valley University Chi Alpha Offers Hope After Tragedy

For many of the nearly 50,000 students who attend Utah Valley University (UVU) in Orem, Utah, the assassination of Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10, 2025, wasn’t a time for political debate.

Instead, Chi Alpha U.S. missionaries Daran and Noreen Lemon, Chi Alpha at UVU campus directors, explain it was — and continues to be — a sobering time of uncertainty and reflection laced with fear for many UVU students.

“Even though the guy (suspected shooter) had been caught, when we went to the campus the next day, nobody was outside — students were hiding out in their rooms and a bunch of them went home,” Daran recalls. “There were no political debates, it was just a hurting campus, struggling with the shock . . . of this murder-assassination . . . they witnessed a horrific crime, and the students who were right there, a week later, were still trembling with fear.”

STUDENT INTERACTIONS

As the Lemons and Chi Alpha team members listened to students express their thoughts of uncertainty and fear, a couple interactions stood out.

“We spoke to a girl from St. Louis who had a school shooting at her high school graduation the spring before,” Noreen says. “She moved to Utah, thinking she needed to be somewhere safe . . . although she wanted to go hear Charlie Kirk, she didn’t because she was terrified that there would be a shooter. Her roommate was required to go to the event for a Constitutional Studies class, but she stood with the protesters. What was cool was after the shooting, they were making sure each other was safe, looking out for each other — loving each other even if their politics didn’t agree . . . basically a microcosm of what was taking place throughout the campus.”

A second telling student interaction took place the following Wednesday when students returned to classes. Having distributed donuts to many teachers and staff the day before, Chi Alpha members, joined by ministers, and wearing “You’re Loved” T-shirts, handed out 1,600 donuts to students while also offering to pray for them.

“One pastor could tell a particular student was struggling,” Daran says. “He asked how he was doing, and the young man replied, ‘Not good.’” He explained that he had been standing near enough to the assassination that blood spattered onto his T-shirt and he was struggling to process the tragedy. The pastor asked if he could pray for the young man, but he declined, saying, “No. If you did, I would cry, and I don’t want to cry in front of people.’”

Scout Anderson, a 20-year-old junior who is in her second year as a Chi Alpha student leader, says that working with and helping other students helped her process her own feelings.

“My husband, Jonas, who is also a Chi Alpha student leader, witnessed the assassination, but I had to work that day,” she says. “I first heard about it (the assassination) when he called me and said he was OK, which helped so much to know that.”

Anderson says that she was initially shaken by the news. However, she also realized it could have been so much worse as more lives could have been taken.

“But it was amazing to be a student leader during this time,” she adds. “I lost myself in service to the community and in mentoring other students. It was a beautiful time for me to be able to serve other people and bring the light of Jesus to them . . . and through this, I was able to dispel fear and anxiety and darkness in my own heart.”

She also recalls one student who walked by as they were handing out donuts on campus the week after the assassination.

“He grabbed a donut and continued on his way to class,” Anderson says. “But after class, he came back and asked if he could simply stand by us as he just wanted to stand by something good for a while. Jonas started a conversation with him and asked if he could pray with him, and he agreed. He was feeling really scared and confused and I thought it was really beautiful that he saw us as a little bit of goodness that he could take refuge in.”

BEFORE AND AFTER

Noreen explains that until a person tries to minister as an evangelical Christian in Utah, it’s difficult to fully understand the challenges faced.

“At UVU, 60% of the students are Mormon and another 20% are nones, made up of mostly former Mormons,” she says, noting that .6% are Christians, up from .01% when they first started. “You can preach the gospel, but students think you’re saying the same thing and just recommit to LDS (Latter Day Saints). You have to be very clear about the gospel — heaven is where Jesus is; hell is where Jesus is not [LDS believes in levels of heaven, with Jesus not being present in the lower portions of heaven (terrestrial and tellestial) and may be part of a person’s journey to becoming a god in the uppermost “celestial” heaven].”

Daran adds that many terms used in Christianity are also used by Mormons, the difference being in how the terminology is fully defined and understood.

Anderson brings to light another significant challenge.

“People are leaving the LDS church in massive numbers, but Christianity is not seen as a viable option to them,” she says, then explains: “Scott McKinney, the founding pastor of CenterPoint Church (AG) in Orem, often says, ‘LDS people think of Christianity as junior varsity Mormonism — Christianity has all the same stuff, just less of it.’ We have to reveal Christianity as an option outside the realm of Mormonism.”

“We’re often having to help LDS students deconstruct what they believe in order to reconstruct who Jesus is,” Daran says.

And through these challenges, which often takes years of “chipping away” in order for students to fully (and solely) embrace the biblical gospel message, the Lemons say they had defined success if even one student gave his or her life to Christ in a semester — most semesters saw no new salvations.

But even prior to the beginning of the 2025 fall semester, the Lemons say they were sensing something different — that God was going to do something significant. And He has.

“We saw 15 students get saved this semester, which is unprecedented,” Noreen says excitedly. “We have a ton of interest from students. At the beginning of the year, 60 people said they were interested in Chi Alpha — that number is now closer to 200. When our student leaders reach out to someone, they are actually responding, which hardly ever happened before.”

Growth has also taken place among students who were already members of the Chi Alpha at UVU as students grew in their faith and confidence in Christ. The Chi Alpha small groups (called core groups) are full and the number of students leaders has increased for the spring semester. They also had a record attendance (40) at their annual fall retreat in October.

“Just the changes in people’s lives have been so exciting to see,” Noreen says. “It’s definitely not something we were seeing before and it’s definitely amazing!”

And it hasn’t just been Chi Alpha seeing growth. Daran notes that CenterPoint Church grew by 45% and immediately had to go to four services following Kirk’s death.

CRUSADE

Less than 10 weeks after Kirk’s assassination, a Hope for America crusade was held on the UVU campus. Nearly 8,000 people gathered at a UVU venue to hear the gospel preached.

“People from local churches were encouraged not to come to the crusade to allow plenty of room for students,” Daran explains. “However, there were 68 locations around Utah where people gathered to watch the event through online streaming.”

The Lemons say the crusade was very encouraging for their Chi Alpha leaders and members.

“When you’re such a minority on campus, it was huge for our Chi Alpha students to be sitting among 7,800 others singing praises to God and worshipping Him,” Daran says. “It was shocking, a dream come true, and a huge encouragement to them and us.”

THE FUTURE

Daran and Noreen believe that God is far from done working at UVU and throughout the state.

“We have this sense that God is really doing something here as we’ve witnessed what the Holy Spirit is doing in the lives of individuals,” Daran says. “So, we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing — keep fishing with poles instead of nets, looking to the individual students to have conversations with and allow the Holy Spirit to work.”

Anderson agrees, noting that throughout last semester, God confirmed to them that “reaching the masses” simply was not an effective ministry model in Utah — it has to begin with the individual, with relationship.

“We’re doing a lot more one-on-ones and meeting with individual students,” Anderson says. “We’ve found that to be so much more effective.”

In reflecting on all that God has done throughout the fall semester, the Lemons regularly point to the fact that what the devil meant for evil, God is using for good.

“And just seeing how Erika Kirk (Charlie’s wife) responded at the funeral,” Daran says. “The students here were directly affected by that. Those moments cause people to reevaluate where they’re at and what they believe. And for Erika, in that moment, to walk in forgiveness — what a powerful reflection of the forgiveness God gives to all people. This has been a catalyst, in so many ways, for God conversations.”

To learn more about Chi Alpha Utah, which serves both the Utah Valley University and the University of Utah, see its website. Chi Alpha is a ministry of AG U.S. Missions.