After two hours of complex cultural debate, the most profound wisdom of the night came from a child.
Alyssa Murphy Nation April 30, 2026
A recent live event held at Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri, by Turning Point USA went viral this week when a young boy walked up to the microphone and introduced himself.
“Hi, my name’s Bryce. I came here from Billings — it was a 10-hour drive. I want to be a priest when I grow up. I just wanted to ask: What would your advice be?”
Catholic convert Michael Knowles quickly quipped, “Don’t be a Jesuit. That’s — no, I don’t mean to — no, there are good Jesuits sometimes,” and then said, “And that’s great news! How old are you?”
Young Bryce revealed he is 10 years old.
The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh, who was also on stage, shared how he thinks the boy’s vocational aspiration is a wonderful thing as the crowd clapped and hollered before getting down to business: “Why do you want to be a priest?”
“Just because God’s calling me,” Bryce responded.
Knowles clapped his hands in awe of his response and told him:
“Awesome. Love it, man. That’s beautiful. You know, this is so wonderful, I don’t even need to give you advice. I think you at 10 years old probably need to give me advice.”
“There are many moments when you work in politics where you feel jaded,” Knowles explained. “You say, ‘All hope is lost. The culture is dying. No one has the right ideas anymore.’ And then you meet a 10-year-old kid who says, ‘I want to serve God and be a priest,’ and you say, ‘Guys, we’re going to make it!’”
Walsh offered the lad one primary piece of advice: to continue asking the question most adults have forgotten to ask.
“The only thing I would say is to continue doing exactly what you’re doing right now, which is answering the right question: ‘What does God want for my life?’
“Now, most people, kids and adults, if you were to ask them what they do for a living or how they’ve decided to live, what their lifestyle is, they’ll tell you; and you ask why, and they’ll say something along the lines of, ‘Well, it’s what I want to do. It’s what I felt would be the best for me’ or something like that.”
“But the real answer — what we should all be trying to discern — is not what we want to do, but it’s, ‘Why has God put us here?’” Walsh continued.
“I mean, God created all of us, which is an amazing fact: that we were all created. We were all intentional creations of the Lord of the entire universe. The God that made by hand tens of billions of entire galaxies also created all of us, and he did that for each of us for a specific reason to come into this world and do something. And that thing is going to be different for everybody. So our job, first, is to prayerfully discern what that thing is, to ask God, ‘I know what I want to do, but God, what do you want me to do?’ And you’re already asking that question; you’re getting an answer,” Walsh said before advising him: “Continue asking it and continue being open to God’s answer.”
As the segment concluded, Knowles reflected on the significance of the exchange, noting that after two hours of complex cultural debate, the most profound wisdom of the night came from a child.
“We get the most concise, wisest answer of the entire night: ‘I want to do this thing because God is calling me to do it,’” Knowles said, adding: “Out of the mouth of babes. That is one of the most beautiful answers I’ve ever heard at any event.”
A courageous young boy shared a message written on his heart by God, flooring Knowles, Walsh and hundreds of souls in the room by his 10-year old discernment, offering the night’s most vital lesson. May this witness move the hearts and minds of the millions of people now watching this clip. And may God bless young Bryce on his journey toward the altar.
