Forging Pueblo: How a local conservative Christian group is shaping Pueblo politics

A conservative Christian group that has been around for several years is increasing its involvement in Pueblo politics.

After mobilizing hundreds of churchgoers to ask city council to ban abortion services in Pueblo, people involved with Forging Pueblo are stepping up efforts to elect conservative candidates to local government.

People affiliated with Forging Pueblo recently filed two political committees called “Forging the Future.” The two organizations have endorsed candidates in most of the upcoming local races for school board and city government. The group is also raising and spending money to support these candidates.

The organization is planning to involve churchgoers in the political process, including recruiting people to go door-knocking and placing yard signs.

The founder of Forging Pueblo, Quin Friberg, recently said on a podcast that “we’d be far better off without public education.”

So why is he trying to help candidates get elected to the Pueblo School District 60 board? And what are Forging Pueblo's priorities in the upcoming election?

What is Forging Pueblo?

Forging Pueblo was founded in 2018 to “impact Pueblo with a biblical worldview.”

“Our goal is to influence all major areas of society, including government, education, business, religion, arts and entertainment, media and family,” the organization said on a prior version of its website, accessed by the Chieftain through the internet archive, that has since been taken down.

Forging Pueblo's mission statement emulates the Seven Mountain Mandate, an evangelical movement to influence seven "mountains" of culture — religion, family, education, government, media, arts & entertainment and business.

Friberg said on a Sept. 19 appearance on “The Truth and Liberty Live Call-In Show” that he first heard about ideas that mirror the Seven Mountain Mandate as a teenager watching "Truth Project," a DVD video series featuring Del Tackett that Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family produced.

The Truth and Liberty Coalition is a 501(c)4 nonprofit led by televangelist and faith healer Andrew Wommack, who serves as the organization’s president. That status allows the group to be more involved in politics.

Pueblo's representative in the U.S. Congress, Republican Lauren Boebert, has spoken at multiple Truth and Liberty events.

“I think being able to provide large-scale influence into whatever your culture is with the truth of God's word, and a biblical worldview, is one of the most practical ways to disciple a nation,” Friberg said on the show.

He said that Tamra Axworthy, a founding member of the group who runs Pueblo’s anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center, A Caring Pregnancy Center, was helpful in networking with churches when first forming Forging Pueblo.

Friberg is also a pastor at Family Worship Center, a large evangelical church on Pueblo’s north side. Family Worship Center is one of multiple churches in the Forging Pueblo network, but Friberg emphasized that it does not have a "unique role in everything."

Forging Pueblo started as a network of a few churches, but has grown to around 18 churches today that participate in differing capacities. Friberg declined to share the list of churches with the Chieftain, but said that many of them are also evangelical, representing “at least seven or eight denominations.”

There aren’t any Catholic churches that are directly affiliated with Forging Pueblo, but some Catholics collaborated with the group to protest an incoming abortion clinic last year.

‘We’d be far better off without public education’

During the call-in portion of the Sept. 19 broadcast, a caller identified as “Peter from California” asked Friberg and host Richard Harris if the government has the “constitutional right to own education.”

“We’d be far better off without public education — I’ll just leave it at that,” Friberg responded. “If we could get rid of the whole thing, we would be in a very different boat right now if it wasn’t for public education.”

Friberg confirmed his statements on public education in an interview with the Chieftain, saying he is not against the government funding schools, but would prefer the privatization of education.

“We would have been better off leaving it to the parents, private organizations to determine how they want to handle the education of their child versus the government becoming the one who is in charge of education, so I do stand by the comment,” Friberg told the Chieftain.

Segments of Friberg's appearance on the show were edited into multiple TikTok videos by Colorado Springs activist Rob Rogers, who studies Christian nationalism and the Seven Mountain Mandate. The videos helped raise local awareness about Forging Pueblo.

During the Truth & Liberty Live Call-In Show broadcast, Friberg also encouraged Christian parents to remove their kids from public schools immediately, if possible. However, he said he was “torn” on the idea that public school teachers should leave public schools for private ones.

“In one sense, I want to give the teachers a way out into a private Christian environment… On the other side, I am a fan of a solid Christian teacher trying to influence the system from the inside,” Friberg said.

This year, Forging Pueblo helped start two private schools: the Veritas Academy elementary school in Pueblo West and the Family Worship Center Academy for sixth through 12th grade students.

The website for Family Worship Center Academy states that the public system is “anti-Christian in many ways” and that society has “gone downhill over the past several decades.”

“From teachings on sexuality, origins, history, and identity, the public system continually moves away from a biblical worldview and now looks down on those who hold to tradition Christian beliefs,” the website details. “The secular, Godless worldview that now controls our country knew gaining influence and control in the school system was key to changing our culture.”

Dr. Roger Wright, a candidate for the Pueblo D60 school board, is a volunteer science teacher at Family Worship Center Academy.

Forging Pueblo endorsements in D60 school board race

Despite expressing anti-public education sentiments, Friberg told Harris that he, with Forging Pueblo, has “recruited” candidates for public school board races including the 2021 Pueblo County School District 70 race and the 2023 Pueblo D60 board race.

Friberg clarified with the Chieftain that some of the candidates were "identified," not necessarily recruited.

There are four at-large seats up for election in Pueblo D60 this November and there are four school board candidates — Brian Cisneros, Dan Comden, Susan Pannunzio and Wright — endorsed on the Forging the Future website.

The same four candidates are featured on the Pueblo County Republican Party website under an encouragement to “Vote for all Four.”

Comden, who served on the Pueblo D60 board from 2003 to 2011, told the Chieftain in an email that he was not recruited “by any person or organization.”

“I have always been a supporter of public education; my children are D60 graduates; I have grandchildren that are D60 students; I will continue to be a strong supporter of public education and D60,” Comden said. “I look forward to getting to work and doing our best for our students, staff and community.”

Neither Cisneros nor Pannunzio told the Chieftain they were recruited by Forging Pueblo, however, they, like Comden, say they're supporters of public education.

“I am not running to represent any special interest group; I am running to ensure all students including my daughter get a great public education and are prepared to be self-sufficient and lead successful futures,” Cisneros said.

Pannunzio, a retired teacher, said she was encouraged by fellow teachers to run for school board over a year ago.

“I am a Christian and my faith is very important to me,” she said. “I welcome working with everyone, including the faith community, to support parental rights, keep ‘politics and agendas’ out of our schools, and strongly support public education here in Pueblo,” she said.

When asked about Forging Pueblo, Wright said that he may not agree with all things an "independent group" says, but that his campaign for school board supports "God, family and country."

‘How can we flip a school board?’

When asked by Harris on the podcast about his efforts to influence public education, Friberg said that “the main (school) district” in Pueblo has not been accepting of Forging Pueblo’s worldview and that the organization looks to change the “larger scale structure” of leadership within the district.

“Almost all of our efforts have been, ‘How can we flip a school board?'” Friberg said. “How can we change the leadership behind this, get different administrative leaders?”

One of the reasons that Forging Pueblo looks to change district leadership is to host a program currently being developed by Forging Business, an extension of Forging Pueblo.

The program, which Friberg references on the broadcast, would be a career day program in which Forging Pueblo would bring community members into classrooms to talk about their careers and religious beliefs.

However, the organization’s vision goes beyond the career day program. Friberg told the Chieftain that Forging Pueblo wants school district leaders to uphold similar values like “parental rights” and school choice.

He said parents should have the right to know what their child is being taught and that school districts should be required to disclose transgender students’ gender identities to their parents.

“I think the school’s curriculum should be fully transparent to the parent… to be aware of what’s happening there,” Friberg said. “Critical Race Theory is a hot button issue right now.”

Calls for parental rights and transparency within Pueblo D60 have been talking points in the school board campaigns of both Pannunzio and Wright.

“I found out that one of the things I was concerned about was that some of the students and the parents don’t get the communication correctly,” Wright said during an Oct. 5 candidate forum. “They don’t get to have the parents involved with all the academics or the decision making in schools.”

Mike Maes is president of the Pueblo Education Association, the union representing Pueblo D60 educators. Maes rejects claims there is a lack of transparency in Pueblo D60 and called the idea of the district lacking transparency in regard to curriculum “ludicrous.”

“I’ve been in the district since 2001 and they have always been transparent,” Maes said. “This current board, especially, is very transparent and is demanding more transparency.”

There are three incumbent board members running for reelection to the Pueblo D60 board: Tommy Farrell, Anthony Perko and Sol Sandoval. None of them were endorsed by Forging the Future, but all three were endorsed by the Pueblo Education Association.

All three candidates also denounced Friberg’s statements about public education and told the Chieftain they were supporters of the separation between church and state. Farrell said Friberg’s comments were “extremely dangerous.”

“Public education is the bedrock of our society and efforts to erode or eliminate it will leave many students behind,” Farrell said. “Public education is a civil right necessary to the dignity and freedom of the American people and public education is vital to building respect for the worth and equality of every individual in our diverse society.”

Sandoval called public education a “great equalizer” and a “pathway out of poverty” for her personally.

Perko said it was "confusing" to him why school board candidates would accept support from Forging Pueblo when Friberg's statements support dismantling "the very institution (candidates) are running for."

Bill Thiebaut, the fourth candidate endorsed by the Pueblo Education Association, also defended public schools in a response to the Chieftain.

“(Public education) is the very foundation of our democratic republic; it is the spark that ignites a dynamic and robust economic engine; and it is a cure for our societal ills. Put simply, our public schools are an extension of our community family,” he said.

Dennis Maes, of no relation to Mike Maes, is also running for school board. He told the Chieftain that Friberg's comments on public education were "preposterous."

"How would Friberg ensure the education of all students and particularly the most marginalized?" Dennis Maes said. "How would Friberg provide the necessary resources students require to learn in today’s highly technological society?  Who would be responsible for delivering services to our special needs children, including the transportation to and from the required services?"

'Taking power over the school systems'

Jonathan Collins is an assistant professor of political science, public policy and education at Brown University. He said that Forging Pueblo’s efforts are consistent with a national trend of conservative religious groups increasing their involvement in school board politics.

Throughout the country, groups on the religious right feel they are “fighting back” against a public school system that they have lost control of in recent decades, Collins said.

Groups are encouraging parents to remove their children from public schools, while simultaneously mobilizing individuals to attend public school board meetings and endorsing school board candidates.

“This is not just about what they believe that their kids should be learning or not learning,” Collins said. “This is a political project that is about taking power over the school systems at-large to influence and shape what all kids are learning.”

On Sunday, Oct. 15, the Chieftain obtained an "election guide" with pictures of the nine Pueblo D60 candidates for school board.

The guides, which were “approved for use in churches” and “paid for by the Truth & Liberty Coalition” appeared to give candidates the option to “agree” or “disagree” with statements about transgender students, sex education, "parental rights" and social studies curriculum.

Friberg confirmed that the voter guides arrived at Family Worship Center last week. He said many churches distribute such guides at their discretion.

“The United States is not systemically and fundamentally racist, and students should not be taught that people are automatically privileged or oppressed based on their race or skin color,” the voter guide's statement on social studies curriculum read.

The four candidates endorsed by Forging Pueblo — Cisneros, Comden, Pannunzio and Wright — appeared to be the only candidates to provide their own responses to the survey.

Cisneros, Comden, Pannunzio and Wright agreed to statements about social studies curriculum, a teacher’s “right” to refrain from using a student’s preferred pronouns, sex education that emphasizes an “abstinence-based model” and "parental rights."

The four candidates disagreed with the notion that transgender girls should be allowed to participate in girls sports.

Policy around sexuality, transgender student rights and pronouns have become "lightning rods" in school districts nationwide, Collins said.

There was not a singular moment that triggered conversations about transgender student rights, like there was with conversations about mask mandates during the pandemic and “Critical Race Theory” following the George Floyd protests, Collins said.

“Where is the transgender student rights debate even coming from?... The one thing that we do know is that conservative groups, in unison, across states and across districts, have decided they want to talk about (it),” he said.

Politicization of school boards and school board races may be part of a national trend, but is it the “new normal?” Collins said the future of school board politics depends on how politically-charged discussions are handled.

“Can they be handled with civility and with humanity… through public reasoning?” he said. “Or will they be handled with vehement disagreement, even violence, with separation, with segregation, with removal?”

“I think the way in which these debates occur will have major implications for what things look like in 10 years.”

How Forging Pueblo rallied against an abortion clinic

The pending arrival of an abortion clinic last fall mobilized hundreds of people, the majority of them opposed to the clinic, to pack into city council chambers.

Councilor Regina Maestri, who is running for mayor, told the Chieftain in an email that she partnered with Forging Pueblo to introduce the ordinance crafted by Texas anti-abortion activists that could have effectively shut down the clinic.

The majority of city councilors shot down the ordinance and hours of expected public testimony when they voted to table the ordinance on Dec. 12, 2022.

Maestri entered the mayoral race in early August. She said that was after Forging the Future had decided they would endorse Chris Nicoll.

“I possess the characteristics Forging Pueblo is endorsing, that is why they partnered with me to introduce the anti-abortion ordinance, but I am seeking a vote of the people, by the people, for the people, not special interest groups,” Maestri wrote.

Friberg said on the broadcast that the group has “gotten a lot more aggressive” this fall and is carrying “momentum” from the pushback to the abortion clinic.

“That got a lot of churches really rallying around the cause of changing our local government,” Friberg said.

Forging Pueblo has been creating voter guides and recruiting candidates in local races “for a few years,” Friberg said on the Sept. 19 broadcast. They don’t get involved in state and national races, though. “We want to channel our energy into our neighborhood," Friberg said.

‘Forging the Future’ of Pueblo government

The broader network of Forging Pueblo was registered as a nonprofit corporation with the Colorado Secretary of State’s office in February 2020. They do not have federal 501(c)3 tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service: Friberg said that they pay taxes “because it’s easier that way.”

The principal office of Forging Pueblo is the same address as A Caring Pregnancy Center.

Forging Pueblo had been dabbling in local politics for a few years with candidate forums and voter guides, but this fall is the first time that a part of the network is actively raising and spending money on the election.

Two political committees named “Forging the Future” — one with the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office for school board candidates and another with the city clerk’s office for municipal candidates — were filed on Sept. 25.

The two groups have raised a combined $1,300, according to the latest campaign finance reports.

The stated purpose for the school board-specific committee is to support school board candidates “who favor parental choice and district transparency.”

Separate donation pages for the city and school board races are linked on the Forging the Future website. Both encourage donations for candidates with a “biblical worldview.”

Forging Pueblo sent out surveys to mayoral candidates in May, which the Forging Pueblo group used to help determine endorsements.

Friberg did not disclose who was involved in Forging the Future aside from the people listed on public paperwork. He did say that it is a “smaller group like the Forging Pueblo board of directors,” but there are other people involved.

James Salazar is the registered agent on the paperwork for the committee with the Secretary of State’s Office, but Friberg is listed on the form as the designated filing agent. Salazar declined to comment to the Chieftain.

Robert Fuller, the registered agent for the political committee filed with the city, did not respond to a request for comment.

The school board paperwork is available to the public online. The Chieftain obtained a copy of the municipal registration form after filing an open records request.

What a ‘biblical worldview’ means to four endorsed city candidates

Forging the Future has endorsed one candidate in each of the contested city races: Chris Nicoll for mayor, Mark Aliff for city council at-large, Sam Hernandez for city council District 2 and Roger Gomez for city council District 4.

Nicoll, a former city councilor and cybersecurity architect, told the Chieftain he is “excited” about the endorsement and to receive the trust of the “faith community.”

“I think a lot of folks that are in different churches around town see the same thing I'm seeing: our city falling apart,” Nicoll said, adding that issues with people who are homeless, crime and the economy are bad for the community.

“They're looking for somebody that they think could help turn around,” he said.

Nicoll said that he is a Christian and attends Family Worship Center. To Nicoll, a “biblical worldview” means that his faith is important to him. “It has always been a piece of my life, even when I was on city council,” he said.

“I think (my faith) applies in life and how you deal with others, I think it's just part of who I am,” Nicoll said.

While Nicoll has received an endorsement from Forging Pueblo, he critiqued other candidates for accepting endorsements from city unions — incumbent Nick Gradisar from city firefighters and Heather Graham from police officers — because there’s a “conflict of interest” when bargaining with the unions as mayor.

Friberg gave Nicoll a $150 donation in August, city campaign finance records show. Friberg told the Chieftain that he knows Nicoll "outside of politics" and that the donation was to support a friend.

Mark Aliff is Forging the Future’s pick for the at-large seat on city council. He appeared in a promotional video for Forging Pueblo posted to YouTube in 2019.

“Christians need to step up and become involved in an organized fashion in all spheres of our culture, including government,” Aliff said. “We read in scripture how God used mighty men and women in this capacity — Joseph in Egypt, Daniel in Babylon.”

Aliff did not respond to the Chieftain's request for comment.

Roger Gomez, the District 4 city council candidate endorsed by Forging the Future, said that he did not seek the endorsement out but was “not going to turn an endorsement away.”

Gomez, who was raised Catholic, said a statement on the Forging the Future website supporting candidates “who will stand for American values and hold to God, Family and Country” resonated with him.

“If anybody is referring to family, God, country, that's me,” Gomez said. “I've demonstrated it all my life.”

Gomez is challenging incumbent Vicente Martinez Ortega, who does not participate in the Pledge of Allegiance nor the invocation at the beginning of Pueblo City Council meetings.

Martinez Ortega has previously told the Chieftain that it’s “a personal thing” and that he won’t say the Pledge of Allegiance until “there’s justice for all.” He did say that he stands for the national anthem.

Martinez Ortega declined to comment about Forging Pueblo.

District 2 candidate Sam Hernandez Jr., who runs a local food truck, told the Chieftain he is “grateful” for the endorsement. “It shows me that I’m true to my morals and values,” he said.

“I'm tired of these politicians playing with the voters — I want to know what you believe in before you get elected. And if that loses me votes, then so be it, but at least I get elected on my principles,” Hernandez said.

Some urge caution against 'Forging the Future'

Several candidates not endorsed by Forging the Future questioned why the group is getting more involved in local elections.

“I believe they have a one-sided ideology and won't compromise with those who disagree on any of their values," at-large council candidate Elvis Martinez said in an email.

District 2 candidate Joe Latino said in an email that he is a “devout Christian” who attended both public and religious schools. He cautioned voters to take a "second look" at Forging Pueblo's values.

“Forging Pueblo has set themselves up as a special interest group seeking to defund public schools. That could really harm Pueblo and I wouldn't accept funds or support from them for that reason,” Latino said.

How were the promoted candidates selected?

Forging Pueblo sent a survey to active mayoral candidates in May ahead of a candidate forum that was held at Family Worship Center on June 4.

Although Forging Pueblo sent the surveys, Friberg emphasized that the Forging the Future committee made the candidate endorsements.

Deryk Trujillo, the youngest candidate in the race and the host of a show on YouTube, went over the 20-question questionnaire live on his channel on May 31. The survey included narrative questions about crime, homelessness and leadership plans.

The survey also included statements where candidates indicated their agreement or disagreement on a scale of one to five about the abortion clinic that opened in December, saying the Pledge of Allegiance at council meetings and lockdowns during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trujillo staunchly defended the existence of the abortion clinic and noted that “hindsight is 20-20” when talking about pandemic lockdowns.

“These are going to be the questions that they're going to pull out when they kind of want to make you seem kind of undesirable,” Trujillo said.

Friberg told the Chieftain that criteria for the endorsements were focused on the priorities of the church community, “which is primarily who we are catered to.”

Not all of the candidates who were in the race at that time filled out the survey — Friberg recalled that four people responded. They were Nicoll, Randy Thurston, Hernandez before he left the mayoral race to pursue the District 2 council seat, and Trujillo through his livestream video.

“Some people don't respond because some people know that we just ideologically have very different views and it would be a waste of their time to respond — and that's fine. I'm not offended by it,” Friberg said.

Anna Lynn Winfrey covers politics and James Bartolo covers education at the Pueblo Chieftain. They can be reached at awinfrey@gannett.com and jbartolo@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Conservative Christian group Forging Pueblo seeks to shape Pueblo politics