Voices of Freedom - Interview with Adam Josefczyk

Episode Date: May 21, 2026

An Interview with Adam Josefczyk, Co-founder and President, Forge Leadership Network Many young conservatives have genuine conviction and real potential — but without personal formation, a trusted network, and professional mentoring, they never find their footing in the public arena. Forge Leadership Network was created to change that. Our guest on this episode of Voices of Freedom is Adam Josefczyk, co-founder and President of Forge Leadership Network. Since founding Forge in 2014, Adam has built a pathway for emerging Christian conservative leaders through formation, friendship, and preparation for influence in politics, culture, and business. Through its Leadership Summit, Mentorship Academy, and a growing national network of Forge Fellows, Forge is turning a sense of calling into enduring impact in the public arena. Before Forge, Adam worked in public policy in Ohio and graduated summa cum laude from the University of Dayton. Topics Discussed on this Episode: •          What Adam observed working in Ohio policy and politics — and the gap it revealed for young conservatives entering the public arena •          Why formation, friendship, and preparation must work together, and how the Forge Summit, Academy, and Network deliver all three •          How Forge measures success — and why placement in roles of real responsibility is the right standard •          The relationship between faith and political engagement, and the principles that guide how Forge navigates that tension •          What gives Adam hope about the next generation, where Forge is headed, and what it can offer young people who want to make a difference

Hello and welcome to Voices of Freedom, a Bradley Foundation podcast. I'm Rick Graber, president and CEO of the Bradley Foundation. On the podcast, we'll explore issues that affect our freedoms with a focus on free enterprise, free speech, and educational freedom. So let's get started. Conviction and capability matter. They really matter. But without personal development, a network of friends and professional mentoring,

many young conservatives with genuine potential never quite find their footing in the public arena. Forge Leadership Network has been created to change that, offering a clear pathway for young leaders interested in making a difference. Our guest today has spent more than a decade building that pathway. Adam Josephic is the co-founder and president of Forge Leadership Network, which he founded back in 2014 to develop future Christian conservative leaders through formation, friendship, and preparation for influence in politics, culture, and business.

Through its Leadership Summit, Mentorship Academy, and a growing network of Forge Fellows, forge is turning a sense of calling into enduring meaningful impact in the public arena. Before Forge, Adam worked in public policy in Ohio. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Dayton. Adam, it is great to have you on Voices of Freedom, Welcome. It's great to be here.

Thank you so much for having me, looking forward to this conversation. Looking forward to it, Adam. And Adam, let's start with you. Before Forge, you worked in policy and politics. Talk to us about those experiences a bit. And tell us what it revealed about the gap you've set out to fill when you launched Forge back in 2014.

Absolutely. Well, there's probably a joke about, there's probably a joke to be had in starting off thinking about getting a seminary degree and being a college professor and ending up, you know, six months later in a state Senate campaign. In college, I was really involved with some great Christian ministries,

navigators and campus crusade, athletes and action, all those. The long story short, is a friend ran for office, and I had studied political science and history, and studied what I enjoyed and thought I'd, you know, I thought I'd teach it, you know,

at the college level or maybe pursue some type of pastoral ministry. And the funny thing is God used those interests that I had in the public arena. And then all of a sudden, threw me in, thanks to a friend, threw me in the actual arena, helping run local campaigns. And next thing, I knew all of my, when I needed a job when I was 22 or 23, all my contacts were in kind of pro-life politics in Ohio. And ended up working for a great organization called Center for Christian Virtue CCV,

which was the Family Policy Council in Ohio, had great mentors and friends. But yeah, it was, there's, there's something in there about, you know, how the Lord has a good sense of humor. And, but honestly, the way it shaped Forge was because at the heart of this was, was friendships and mentorships, that the people who had mentored me and the friendships I had made, particularly with the gentleman who would co-found, go on to co-found forge with me, Justin Powell. I just phenomenal friendships with people who love God, who love this country, who love good things, and, and did so with integrity and an high character. and conviction. And we started making all these mentors across the country and friends and thinking, wait a second, there's this, there's this, we see all these 18 to 24 year olds with big dreams to impact their state and their country, but they were getting burned out and disillusion and, you know, compromised at worst. And, but you would see all these mentors in their 30s, 40s,

and 50s and beyond and say, wait a second, that person is not only person, a strong conviction, character, but they're also phenomenal at constitutional law or campaigns or fundraising and or running that think tank. And these two need to meet, right? We need to be able to connect that would-be mentor with 22-year-old who needs them right now. Let's dig a little deeper on that. But before I do, how'd your friend do in that race? He lost.

As much as it would shock you. And what's he doing now? As much as it would shock you, $3,000 is not enough to win a state Senate primary in Ohio. I know. We knew it was kind of a protest campaign at the time and, you know, it ended up, you know, teaches us a lot. One of the jokes that we draw from that is actually that a friend in that campaign said, you know, what I really have realized I love about politics is I really get to know people. And, you know, I've learned what I hate about politics is that I really get to know people. That became a good lesson in local politics. It's a great experience. As someone who ran for the state legislature in Wisconsin and got crushed, you do learn it all. a lot going through that process. Anyway, back to our topic. Forge is committed to developing future Christian conservative leaders through formation, friendship, and preparation for influence in the public arena. Now, that's a distinct combination. Talk to us about why you think all three are

essential and what's missing when young conservatives have only one or two of the three? Yeah, we believe all three are essential. Formation means. meaning real professional, rigorous professional and also spiritual formation to shape and form the types of people that we want representing us in the public arena, whether that's literally representing us, you know, as our elected officials or the ones advising them as support staff or running nonprofits or shaping the public arena on a volunteer level as they, you know, as they build their platform in the marketplace. And so that's, you know, formation is absolutely key. And then the friendships, that's kind of going back to that testament, that Forgerly was birthed out of friendships and just wonderful friendships by which there's the CS Lewis quote in the Four Loves where he says, the great British author says, friendship is that moment when you say, you two, I thought I was the only one who cared about, you know, tax rates in the Virgin Islands or, you know, that friendship, basically that, that spark of caring about the same thing, having thought you were rare and now and lonely and now you've got. you know, somebody to lock arms with, well, those friendships are the type that change lives, and we believe change communities in states and a nation. And so we've drawn heavily from the

Clapham circle of William Wilberforce and John Newton and, you know, their friends who really led the British abolitionist movement against the slave trade in the early ages. And there's just intentional friendships across American history and across world history that have changed the world. And so those friendships, we believe, actually are essential for when somebody's going to get, you beat up and knocked down, which in the public arena you're going to, you're going to be discouraged, you're going to be frustrated. And you might even be attacked for, you know, hopefully for standing for something that's right yet unpopular. And so having these friendships that they make through Forge, these life-changing friendships, it's not only what keeps somebody in the

arena, but it keeps somebody accountable. It keeps somebody in a line with their highest aspirations, those to walk alongside as well as those who have, you know, walked ahead and having those mentors. And then the preparation for real influence, we could give you great formation, great friendships, but if we didn't help actually put real opportunities in front of you, well, then a lot of that would go to a waste, right? We actually wanted to be in motion and in action. And so that's where real referrals, warm connections, as well as really connecting them with opportunities and the network, the network connecting them and in creating opportunities for each other is essential because forge we train, we mentor, but then we launch. And the launch is key to the whole thing.

Did it take time to develop the three components or did you just kind of know that going in? Yeah, that's a great question. I know, friendship was absolutely at our core. Right. Training is, training is essential to development. And then we knew we wanted to train them at state capitals, give them some national experience as well. even as we grew that love of their state and their home community as well as giving them a national compliment. And then, you know, the thing of, all right, let's test these connections. Can we actually help people find real meaningful responsibility in the public arena? So yeah, it's evolved in terms of you're always refining the programming. And now the great thing is that somebody, a new student, steps into this now and they go through our Forge Summit.

I'm sure we'll talk about the Forge Summit in the year-long Forge Academy. And we tell them you're not graduating from a training program. you're graduating into a network, a network of Christian conservatives who are advancing in the public arena. And so now, you know, somebody enters that network and there's 400 Forge Fellows in that network. The first, you know, 10 years ago, they were entering a network with, you know, 40 people. And so that grows, but the refinement of the processes, yeah, it's definitely something we set out to do, but it's, it's been fun to add to that a little bit every year. Really interesting. Well, let's talk about the network right now. I mean, you describe Forge as a network and a pathway, not just a program, and there's a difference.

Walk us through what that means in practice. And talk about the summit, talk about the academy. You've touched on the network, but elaborate on that and how each stage builds towards real responsibility in the public arena. Yeah, that's a great question that we call it, we've got a tagline for Forge. It's the pathway to influence for a Christian conservative in the public arena. And by that we mean that a young person brings a calling, which is really just a spiritual term for a God-given desire to impact their country, a desire to impact their nation, impact the public arena. And Forge matches that with the formation that we just talked about with those friendships

and then with the preparation for real roles and real influence in the arena. So that's the pathway that takes them from calling through formation, friendship, and then real preparation. and it results in influence, right? Their competency and their character displayed in the context of responsibility over a meaningful period of time results in, you know, godly influence on our country and on our leaders. And so, yeah, it's essential great individual trainings out there in this country and in the conservative movement. There are great conferences that are out there.

But we didn't set out to start another conference. We set out to actually start something that would begin with somebody when they were in that 18 to 25-year-old. range when they were making all those major decisions and trying to chart that path and then that we could trust would take them through those next steps to not only give them the training but to give them the people and the opportunities that that would then become a network for life right we say this is like I said not something you're graduating from but a network that you're graduating into and we want that to be a network for life that you know this is network is only going to get

stronger every year as as as as as as as as as as well trained people enter and as those in it are accruing experience and expertise over the years some examples of what you mean when you say prepare for influence how do you prepare someone for influence yeah that's a great question i think preparing them with the helping refine and fortify those convictions giving them the practical skills so we we teach media training. We do campaign competitions. We do mock legislative sessions for persuasion. We're doing things even offering, you know, on ramps in terms of, you know, fundraising training in terms of nonprofit boot camps, things like that that give them practical skills, not only not, or not to mention

interview, coaching, resume building, things like that. But we're doing that. But coupled with those friendships, you're hopefully helping somebody step into something where high characters needed, high convictions needed, and then proving themselves as competent and faithful over time, right? Forge has become really a trusted standard amongst many conservative organizations and conservative leaders out there. We've had the vice president, the speaker of the House, several U.S. senators have all hired forge fellows and mentored, or it's spoken to Forge Fellows. And so that means something.

We had one major conservative organization nationally who had only an 8% internship acceptance rate in 2025, you know, with all the excitement that was out there with a new election and in new administration. There were a lot of interns to their DC internship and eight, they only had room for 8% well forged students had an 88% acceptance rate in that same internship because it, it signifies something about a type of character and the type of resolve that they're going to have that say, hey, this is what these type of, this is what these people believe. They're solid conservatives.

And you're not just looking for people who want to be candidates, right? Correct. No, correct. We say public arena because we believe that there are many ways that a citizen can impact the public arena. And so for some of them, that is going to eventually be running for office or helping somebody run for office for many others. That's going to look like working for policy organizations or grassroots organizations or think tanks. Some are going to work as support staff. And we like to talk about that there's just as in scripture, you've got the Esther's and Joseph. and Daniels advising kings. Well, you've got Forge Fellows advising president, vice president, Supreme Court Justice, many governors, and not to mention, dozens of state

legislators and more. And so they're in these roles and we want them to be there for there. We know they're going to be there for the right reasons. You measure success a little bit differently than a lot of programs. In fact, you measure success not by programs completed or attended or attention gain, but by Forge Fellows actually being placed in roles of real responsibility and visible influence. What's that look like? And why do you think that's the right standard? It's not just checking boxes, is it? That's right. No, no, no, it's not. The programs matter and the programs produce, excellent programs produce great people for these roles. But we believe that people stepping into those roles is why folks like the individuals who support for us, the foundations like the

Bradley Foundation who give generous grants to forge. We believe that's why you're doing that. The ROI is people in real positions impacting the public arena. The programs are not enough. The trainings are not enough if they don't result in the people doing the type of work that we all want them to do. So that's why we say that. I want people to be clear about here's what we measure success in and we make the

training as good as it is so that it can be part of that person's development so that they're ready. Indeed, you've had success, right? We have. We've had 200 forged fellows who have served and engaged in the public arena. We've got over 150 currently serving right now. And we've got four that are serving in the White House. We've got one that's our first ever clerking on the Supreme Court. And many who are in their home state serving with governors, with state legislators, with conservative nonprofits, with ministries that touch on the public arena and a real important thing's happening in society. and we've even got nine that are serving an elected office already. So, yeah, God has really raised them up into some pretty amazing, amazing roles.

And not just Ohio. No, all across the country. That's all across the country. Those, those Forge fellows are represent. We've had 400 who have gone through the entire year of Forge and who have been, you know, minted into the, into the network. And those are from 41 different states and about 180 different campuses where they come from. So they've come from a vast swath.

We draw many great students, especially from the Midwest, you know, me and Ohio, you and Wisconsin and many from the southeast as well. And really, they're invited to join us all across the country because our networks will go with them throughout. Started in southern Ohio and now you're in 41 states, not bad. That's right. What's the, quote another Midwest state, right? If you build it, they will come.

That's, give Iowa a little shout out from Field of Dreams. Let's touch on a topic that I'm sure our listeners are wondering about a little bit. And that is that some people are going to question and wonder whether faith and political engagement belong together in the same program, same sentence, or perhaps they worry that mixing the two leads to compromised ideals or tribal thinking or whatever. What do you think about that tension? Does it exist? And if so, what principles guide the way Forge goes about it? how it manages that tension.

Yeah, that's a, no, that's a great question. I've got a co-founder who likes to say that politics, he teaches us to the students, is I like the way he words it, is politics is merely theology lived out in the real world, right? And, you know, with the backdrop of power and the palace intrigue and everything that, you know, I believe that politics, Aristotle had, you know, one of the first definitions of it, which is that, you know, it's people getting together to determine how ought we order our lives together. And, you know, we don't use the word ought very often anymore,

but it's a moral question, right? We'd say, how should we order our lives together, right? If we don't have such proper English, well, that's a moral question. And so I think all of these questions, whether it's something as controversial and with stakes as high as abortion, or whether it's, how should we set up this traffic light or should we choose a roundabout? You are still asking, what is best for society? What is best, even with that roundabout? What is best for the neighbors who live here. What is best for the people driving their kid to soccer practice in the back seat as they're entering and leaving traffic? You know, what is going to do the most good and cause the least harm, right? And so in that, I believe that people are always going to bring their theological convictions

to bear on that. And frankly, I want the best theological convictions to be represented well, and meaning we believe very much that our founding is one that recognized a creator. Of course, we know that right from our, right from our declaration. But not only that, the providence of a good God who has directed the history of our country. So I want people who are motivated by Jeremiah 297, which is a verse we share a lot with the students, which is, you know, Jeremiah talking to the Israelites who are exiled, right? And he, you know, tells them, seek the good of the city.

You know, God is telling them, seek the good of the city in which I've placed you. For an its welfare, you will find your welfare, right? And so, you know, that's something we believe is true, that political engagement, policy engagement, cultural engagement should start, and especially for folks who love God with love of neighbor, right? This is, we are the, we are the 1% of human history that is able to change our laws, elect our leaders in shape the order of society in which we raise our children in. And that's an incredible responsibility. and it should be motivated. So we should see that as a way to love our neighbor on the macro level, right? I don't think it excuses you to, I think you still need to love your neighbor on a micro level,

like, you know, helping your elderly neighbor with her, you know, take her trash to the end of the road. But it also means you can love your neighbor on a macro level. And so, you know, I believe theology has a real role to play in that. So, yeah, we try to help the students reclaim faith and ambition and having an understanding of vocation that says we know that the political arena can bring out the worst in people and we know that power and lust and all, you know, all these things are there. And just like in Wall Street or anything with high stakes and with a lot of temptation, but all the more reason why we need people like this with the right convictions and to that point earlier,

surrounded by people who will hold them accountable to their best motives and who care more about their soul than any political or economic success they might ever have. You and I attended the Bradley Prize of Celebration in Washington last week, and one of our winners, Rabbi Mer Salaevichick, is just so eloquent in making the case that faith is central to this country, not peripheral, really compelling. That was beautiful. Yeah, I encourage everybody to listen to that when available because I think I was just telling you, that was one of my favorite all times, yeah. It was fantastic. They all were fantastic. Adam, what about the young people you encounter? concerns you the most. And on the other hand, what about them gives you great hope for the future? Yeah, I'll start, I guess, with what concerns me the most. I think, you know, there are a lot of

very popular, if you look at the views and you look at the listener numbers, there are a lot of, you know, very popular voices, especially with Gen Z that, that do not represent the American founding. They do not represent Christianity. But yet they're very, they're very compelling. They're very talented. and they've got a lot of listenership, especially with Gen Z. And so that, you know, it's concerning. But I think also, I think a lot of that stems from simply the lack of institutional belief anymore, right? I mean, these Gen Z, I'm a millennial, but if you look at Gen Z and, you know, millennials has had the coming up trying to get, you know, paying a lot for college than trying

to get a job during the recession. But that's, that's nothing like what Gen Z went through with COVID, right? And basically, you know, having, you know, so much of the rug pulled out from. under them on that. And then, you know, kind of seeing the worst of, worst of woke and DEI and that. And, you know, there's a lot of, I think there's a lot of cynicism and distrust and reasons for skepticism amongst all generations given the last six or seven years that everybody's lived through. But I think that there's some of that that's bearing out with Gen Z that, you know, should be, you know, we, you know, we should be aware of in terms of, there's a lot of articles being written about

how they aren't, you know, there aren't, there aren't people to, you know, wanting to date and there aren't people wanting to marry and there aren't there isn't risk taking but like in you know and we realize oh well that's that's because they're just not you know taking risks nobody's doing you know relationships that there's a lot of that going on according to all these sociologists um and in something you know anecdotally here as well you know if if you can't if you feel like you can't pursue the American dream and actually buy a home or actually start a family or find somebody who will start a family with you I mean those are those are discouraging things so you know perhaps that's why some of the voices that are getting so much run are getting so much run.

But I'll say, I don't even like talking about the negative that much because Gen Z is exciting. Like there is a tenacity with Gen Z. And I'm, you know, I'm blessed to work with, you know, Gen Z Christian conservative. So normally they have a lot more hope that's, you know, based in Christ than maybe some of their counterparts. But there's a tenacity there. There's an entrepreneurship. There's an honestly, there's a lack of fear of man, right? Like I know coming up in the millennial generation, people are so,

afraid, not of how they were conducting themselves, but just the perception that somebody would be labeled a bigot or any of those types of things. Gen Z, really, they really, there's really just I'm going to stand for what is right. And I'm going to, I will do it in public. And I'm going to carry myself in an honorable way, but I'm not, they're not as concerned about the social fallout. And I don't know, you know, what the last few years had to do with that. But that's a, that's an upgrade over millennials. And so there's a lot. There's a lot of entrepreneurship and, you know, helping them focus on how they can build. Now, there's still things that we don't know, I guess, about what being a digital native means in terms of, you know, how do you focus on a few things when you've

got this whole stream of things that have been presented to you ever since you were 10 years old. I think that, you know, time will keep telling on that. But gosh, I'm encouraged by, I'm really encouraged by Gen Z, especially, you know, Gen Z, Krisha Conservatives. I mean, what do you see with depth of knowledge of? about basic civics, our constitution, our system of government. I mean, until recently, there's just been an abandonment of the teaching of civics. Now, there's been a revival of that in some places around the country, which is great. But is that something you need to supplement or not so much with the folks that you're talking to?

Yeah, it depends, right? It depends because we've got a lot of students who come to us from a, who are you or I say students, because they're literally in college when we're serving them. And they're coming from a, you know, conservative or a Christian conservative university, like a Hillsdale, like a Cedarville, like a Liberty. And a lot of them are really getting a good formation and tutelage and the intellectual heritage. And some are even before that coming from a homeschooling or a classical school or a parochial school and, you know, are getting solid things there. You've got others who are coming to us from extreme university. So whether that's an Ohio state or a Marquette, like private or public, right, just mainstream.

ideologically in terms of, we've also got a third of our, of our, the people who come to us, who are forged students, students who are actually working 40 hours a week to pay for a two-year degree or an online degree or, you know, something to fund it. And it's a mix, right, in terms of the civic. And it does, it does kind of fall out based on, on what that educational background is, you know, homeschoolers, they're getting civics. Yes. The word is out. They're getting civics. Wonderful. But others are not, right? There has been a huge gap for several generations on, you know, what government education is

not giving people in terms of civics. But I will say this is another good thing with Gen Z. I mean, like being digital natives and having that familiarity, I guess on the good, on the positive side is they've found a lot of resources online that they've self-educated with. You know, there's been, you know, so many things, whether it was those, you know, whether it was Prager U videos or many of the other things. I mean, they've, or Hillsdale online class, you know, constitution of classes. I mean, you know, they're, they're, they're pretty innovative in how they've found ways to educate themselves civically, even if that was never coming from, you know, teacher at a, at such and such public high school. Last question, Adam. The Ford's Leadership Network started

in Ohio. We've talked about that. You've since grown beyond that considerably. And you're not, you're now drawing students from across the country. Where do you see the biggest opportunities ahead? and for young people who want to change America for their better, and you're seeing a lot of them, but just aren't sure where to start, where to begin. What do you most want them to know about what Forge can do for them? Yeah, I'll start with that. Thank you for the question.

We want them to know that Forge will take that desire that they have to impact their community, their state, and in a nation and actually give them the formation, the people, and the avenues to do just that, to actually translate that from an interest and something that is fed by, you know, great podcasts, great YouTube videos to actually translate that into a lifetime of real impact,

locking arms with real people who love them and love the Lord. Like, that's what that was forged all about. It really is that pathway. And meaning we will take them from A to Z and then be there to support them in, you know, many years to come, Lord willing. And so that's what I want them to know. They can go, if you've got somebody who's interested in starting that pathway,

if you're 18 to 25 or no of an 18 to 25 year old who meets this criteria, they should go to forgeleadership.org right now because application is open for just a few more weeks. And so we've got a few spots left to award for the 2006 Forge summits, which are June 15th through 19th in Nashville, Tennessee and June 20th through 24th in Columbus, Ohio. So they should go to forgeleadership. dot org now to do that. You know, but your question about what we're excited about, you know, there are tens of thousands of and more Christian conservatives out there who do have that desire to impact the public

arena. And, you know, the vast majority of them will actually not do anything about it. They will not actually step off the sidelines. They will consume it as a hobby, but they will never actually help a friend run for office, help raise funds for the local pregnancy center, serve with their state's think tanker. they've got to have a pathway. And so Forge has got to, we're very, very excited about actually expanding the marketing for the very first time to do just that, to reach more of those young people who love God,

who love this country, and who want to make an impact. And we want to be able to reach them and reach them for the very first time, actually, with digital content that will help feed them content that's in line with our founding principles, that's in line with their faith. And that will not only draw many of them to the Forge Summit, Academy and then the network, but also just serve them as they're trying to navigate this crazy world that they're inheriting. Very, very exciting. Adam Josephic, thanks so much for your time today. Thanks for your leadership and for identifying and filling a very important void.

We truly do appreciate it. You're making a difference. Thank you, Rick, and thank you to the Bradley Foundation. Thanks for having me on. And as always, thanks to all of you for joining us on this. this episode of Voices of Freedom. Join us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts for our next conversation on issues impacting our freedom in America's foundational principles. And make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode. I'm Rick Graber, and this is a Bradley Foundation podcast.