(Deseret News) – When Adam Phillips was an undergraduate at Ohio State University, he found himself in between what felt like two separate worlds.
Phillips, who is now the CEO of Interfaith America, was a leader in a conservative campus ministry. At the same time, he sang in the university’s Men’s Glee Club, a prestigious choir, where many of his friends happened to be gay and held more progressive views.
From inside of these two communities, he watched the culture wars unfold on campus. Heated debates over LGBTQ rights, abortion and climate change seemed to widen the divide between left- and right-leaning student groups. Phillips’ mind grasped for solutions — how to keep people talking, how to stay curious across disagreement.
“I think that’s part of my story as a bridge builder,” he told me in a recent Zoom interview.
Phillips, an ordained pastor who once planted and led an evangelical congregation, went on to channel his peacemaking instincts into projects that were activated and fueled by faith, including the Christian advocacy group Bread for the World and USAID’s faith-based office under the Biden-Harris administration. Over a year ago, Phillips took the role of the CEO of Interfaith America, the first one the organization has ever had.
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