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Welcome back to Fierce Calling! In today’s episode, Doris sits down with her friend and powerhouse leader Bunni Pounds—founder and president of Christians Engaged, senior vice president at Family Policy Alliance, and author of Jesus in Politics: One Woman’s Walk with God in a Mudslinging Profession. Together, they dive into Bunni Pounds’s incredible journey of faith, leadership, and calling, including her bold vision for “America Reads the Bible”—an unprecedented, nation-wide Bible reading event set for 2026 at the Museum of the Bible. Bunni Pounds opens up about what it takes to step out in obedience, the importance of unity in the body of Christ, and how each of us can take up our unique, “fierce” calling.
Whether you’re interested in mobilizing your community, deepening your understanding of Scripture, or simply seeking to walk more intimately with Jesus, this episode is packed with encouragement and inspiration. Plus, get a sneak peek into Bunni Pounds’s upcoming book, Stepping Up to Lead: Rebuilding a Nation in the Footsteps of Nehemiah. Get ready to be challenged, uplifted, and reminded that God uses those who are willing to say “yes”—no matter how big the task. Let’s jump in!
Here’s what you’ll find in this inspiring conversation:
✨ America Reads the Bible: Vision and Execution
Unifying multiple denominations and organizations
Origin and inspiration of the event
Connection to the stories of Ezra and Nehemiah
The spiritual and cultural importance of public scripture reading
Objectives of the event
National Bible reading from Genesis to Revelation
Involvement of diverse national leaders and influencers
🌱 Organizing a Large-Scale National Bible Reading
Inclusion of art installations and interactive experiences at the Museum of the Bible
Logistical challenges and planning
Scheduling, time management, and using AI for organizing the reading
Securing participation across ministries, worship leaders, and universities
Outreach: hundreds of Zoom meetings, onboarding over 100 ministries
Enhancing the experience
Use of worship leaders and filling event gaps with prayer and worship
🤝The Event’s Broader Impact & Community Involvement
Reinvigorating biblical literacy and unity within the Christian community
Invitation for public participation
Encouraging families, churches, and individuals to attend or follow the live stream
Creative ideas for involvement: hosting the stream in churches, businesses, and homes
Vision for generational and spiritual impact
The lasting significance of the event for America’s 250th anniversary
✍️Spiritual Lessons from Ezra, Nehemiah, and Personal Calling
Overcoming complacency and taking radical, faithful action
Learning from biblical leaders
Leadership principles from Nehemiah
The need for a modern-day “Ezra moment” in America
Encouragement to listeners
Recognizing and stepping into one’s calling
🎨 Overcoming Obstacles and Obedience in Leadership
Practical advice on saying “yes” to God and carrying vision forward
The process and perseverance required in large vision projects
Stories of resistance, skepticism, and eventual breakthroughs
🎧 Plus a whole lot more encouragement!
Let us know what touched your heart most—we’d love to hear from you!
We’re talking about this amazing event, book, and More!
Connect with Bunni!
You can connect with Bunni at bunni@christiansengaged.org
Website: christiansengaged.org and check out americareadsthebible.com for more info on this epic event!
Bunni Pounds is the Founder and President of Christians Engaged as well as a Senior Vice President for Family Policy
Alliance and Family Policy Alliance Foundation – founded by Dr. James Dobson. She is the author of Jesus and Politics:
One Woman’s Walk with God in a Mudslinging Profession and the upcoming book releasing in 2026 – Stepping Up to
Lead: Rebuilding a Nation in the Footsteps of Nehemiah.
As a political consultant by profession – Bunni spent over sixteen years running the campaigns of Members of
Congress. She started her career as the campaign manager for U.S. Congressman Jeb Hensarling then launched her
own firm, Bunni Pounds & Associates building a top Texas consulting firm with nine associates and thirty-one clients –
including Sean Duffy, Lee Zeldin, and Michael Cloud.
She then ran for Congress herself in 2018 becoming the only woman to make the Republican Runoff Ballot in Texas
out of 6 open seats. It was after this race that God called her to start mobilizing the Church.
Bunni’s experience doesn’t just stop at politics. She has been bi-vocational and active in Christian ministry since she
was 16. Bunni is a Bible teacher and motivational speaker who church-planted with her husband Tim for over 10 years.
Speaking to the church and the culture, she is a regular contributor to The Christian Post, Washington Times, Charisma
News and has also been published in the Wall Street Journal among others.
She has a Bachelor of Arts & Sciences degree in Political Science from Dallas Baptist University and an associate
degree in theology from Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas.
Married Tim Pounds since 1996, they have 2 young adult sons, Israel and Ben, two daughters-in-law, and three
precious grandchildren.
Bunni loves to motivate people to pray, vote, and engage their hearts to impact America and the world. She believes
that people are called to walk in intimacy with Jesus and be salt and light to a dying world.
What Threatens to Steal Your Joy?
Check out Surrender the Joy Stealers: Rediscover the Jesus Joy in You 6-week Bible study rooted in John 15. You can find more info at https://dorisswift.com/book/
Let’s Stay Connected!
Find my free resources including Fear Fighting Bible Verses, Simple Tips for Sharing Your Faith, Surrender the Joy Stealers, Step Out of Your Doubt and Into Your Calling ebook, and more on my dorisswift.com homepage!
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Thanks for Listening!
I hope this episode encouraged, inspired, and challenged you to cultivate community, live and walk in the value, purpose, and worth God gave you, and take action where your passion, compassion, and conviction intersect.
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Let’s have a chat about your next event!
Stay tuned for more amazing content and remember to check the show notes for all the links mentioned.
Thank you for being a part of our community. We are grateful for your continued support and encourage you to embrace the unique gifts that make you magnificently you.
I hope you’ll join me next time when I talk with another guest who is taking action where her passion, compassion, and conviction intersect …
Until then friend, have a blessed week, and I’ll talk to you soon.
With love and joy,
Doris
Transcript
Doris [00:03:00]:
Welcome back to the show. Today I am really excited to introduce to you my friend Bunny Pounds. I our mutual friend Misty Phillip introduced us and so this is just a blessing. Bunny is the founder and president of Christians Engaged so we’re going to hear more about Christians Engaged and she’s also the senior vice president for Family Policy alliance and Family Policy alliance foundation which was founded by Dr. James Dobson and she’s the author of Jesus in Politics. One Woman’s Walk with God in a Mud Slinging Profession. Amen. And the upcoming book releasing in 20 which is very exciting.
Doris [00:03:41]:
Stepping up to Lead Rebuilding a nation in the footsteps of Nehemiah. She has a Bachelor’s of Arts and sciences degree in Political science from Dallas Baptist University and an associate degree in theology from Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas. She’s married to Tim Pound since 1996. They have two young adult sons, Israel and Ben, two daughters in law and three precious grandchildren. And Bunny loves to motivate people to pray vot and engage their hearts to impact America and the world which is very powerful. Such a fierce calling. She believes that people are called to walk in intimacy with Jesus and to be salt and light to a dying world. Welcome to the show Bunni.
Doris [00:04:25]:
It’s so great to have you.
Bunni Pounds [00:04:26]:
So great to be with you Doris. And I’m so excited to get into the fiery callings that we all have.
Doris [00:04:34]:
Yes ma’, am, we do. And so I just am excited about all the things that you are doing and have done and are going to also one of the things is America Reads the Bible, which is very fascinating, intriguing, and something that all of us should be, you know, engaged in, in some way, shape, or form. So I would love if you would share with the listeners how you’re taking action, where your passion, compassion, and conviction intersect your fierce calling.
Bunni Pounds [00:05:06]:
Well, I ran for Congress in 2018, and I like to say in my book and in speeches that I got addicted to going on an adventure with God, living way outside of my own talents and gifts, and really asking God to extend the kingdom through me. And that means you’re dependent. You’re dependent on God for things that you can’t produce. Right. And I’m actually living in a similar season right now as I was living in that season in 2018, which is I’m leading what could be one of the largest Bible reading events in United States history next year. From the Museum of the Bible, April 18 through 25 of 2026. And it is huge. We’ve got a hundred national ministries, over 100 national ministries signed on to be a part of this.
Bunni Pounds [00:05:57]:
The Bible being read from Genesis to Revelation from our nation’s capital, Cabinet members, members of Congress, ministry leaders, Hollywood folks, you know, Christian influencers, business people, so many people. It is a lot to handle. It’s a massive production. We are thankful for Great American Pure Flix coming alongside of us and doing the production and distribution with us on this. But it’s a $2 million project and 420 or 450 leaders reading the Bible. So you can imagine the stress of trying to organize and get everybody in gear. So I. I think God allows us these opportunities to learn to be stretched beyond what we think we can do physically through our mental fortitude, through our emotional ability.
Bunni Pounds [00:06:51]:
And he puts us out in the water and says, walk with me and depend on my grace. And I’m absolutely in that season right now. Yeah.
Doris [00:06:59]:
Wow. And, yeah. And then doing things that are beyond ourselves, so we know that it’s not us at all. It’s him, you know, but we’re partnering with him in that kingdom work. So that is really fantastic. So I know that because I watched the video, too. So at the end, when we tell the listeners how to connect with you and find all of this, they can watch the video about it. It’s really, really fascinating.
Doris [00:07:22]:
And so in the video, it talks about Ezra and how he would read aloud, because that’s how they used to communicate back in the Old Testament days. Right. They used to read read aloud to the crowd. So how did this actually come about? Like, what was the driving force behind it in getting this going.
Bunni Pounds [00:07:47]:
Well, I’ve been studying the book of Nehemiah for years. I think Nehemiah is such a fascinating leadership study because he shows up, comes back from the Persian kingdom, he was a cup bearer for the king, and he catches this burden that the walls of Jerusalem are broken down, his people are in rubble, and he is burdened. And he goes to prayer and fasting and then gets favor from the king to go back and rebuild the walls. And he shows up in Jerusalem. And again, this is before text messages, social media and cell phones, right? And he shows up. And in 52 days of him showing up, they have rebuilt the entire wall. I mean, what an amazing leader that is, that he can mobilize thousands of people to get it done. And he was brilliant because he put everybody on their section of the wall.
Bunni Pounds [00:08:35]:
You know, so many times we look to Washington, D.C. or issues in our nation and we’re like, this is too big, the problems are too deep. And all we have to do is look in our neighborhood. What is God doing and commissioning you to do in your area, in your community? And if we all did our part, you know, this nation would be deeply impacted and rebuilt in the same manner. I’m trying to commission people to be Nehemiah’s for our realized that it took Ezra standing up with the Torah, reading the book of Moses and reading it to the children of Israel because they had forgotten who they were. They had been in captivity, right? And they had forgotten the miracles and the promises of God. They had forgotten their identity. And I’m thinking, you know, we need an Ezra moment in our nation, because if we don’t, we’re not going to have Christians that have a biblical worldview.
Bunni Pounds [00:09:28]:
We’re not going to have Christians that understand who God is. We’re not going to have Christians that understand, you know, God’s big story and their part in God’s story. So often we. We think about. We go to the scriptures looking for our scripture of the day that’s going to pull us out of our depression, right? But you know what? It’s more than that. We, we’re not just to go to Scripture looking for our. Our need for the day. We’re to go to scripture going, God, what are you doing in the earth? How can I be a part of that? And I think we need an Ezra moment.
Bunni Pounds [00:10:02]:
So I was wandering around the Museum of the Bible having this encounter with the Lord about Ezra after I just watched him hold up the scroll and read Genesis 1 at the museum of the Bible. And I thought, man, wouldn’t it be awesome if our national leaders from all spheres of influence, all demographics and denominations would humble themselves and say, you know, we’re some of the highest performing people in the country, but we have to have the Bible every day to make it. You need the Bible every day to make it. American people. And call the American people back to daily Bible reading discipleship for the purpose of raising up the next generation of leaders that are going to stand on Scripture, have a foundation, know who they are in God, and walk out there and change the world. And so that’s kind of where the inspiration happened two and a half years ago. And we started walking it out in force in January of this year when we realized that nobody was leading. A national Bible reading event for the 250th.
Bunni Pounds [00:11:00]:
And this is the perfect backdrop to establish that because of Scripture, we have a nation where our Constitution has outlasted every Constitution in world history because of the foundation that the founders gave us in this nation that was founded on liberty, law and justice in the Bible.
Doris [00:11:21]:
Wow. That’s all you can say to that? Wow, wow, God, that’s a lot.
Bunni Pounds [00:11:25]:
I know.
Doris [00:11:26]:
Look what God’s doing. Like, look what he is doing. And I love how you referred to it as we. We have to have an Ezra moment. Like, that could be the title of.
Bunni Pounds [00:11:34]:
Your next book after Nehemiah. It’ll be the Ezra book.
Doris [00:11:39]:
Yeah, exactly. And so how this came about, and that’s often how things that are very big beginning. So, you know, it started like this thing in your heart that he was kind of going, okay, you’re going to be building some of these walls or whatever. So was it very, like, time consuming or difficult to kind of get all the message and get people all on board, or how did that look to figure out how this would be broken up in these different parts?
Bunni Pounds [00:12:11]:
Oh, Doris, you have no idea the depths of this project. It is really big. And for context, I’m running a $2 million ministry on the side, right. A year. So we have a 50 state get out the vote system. We have curriculum, we have a young adult program, we have a church outreach program. And then you’re like, oh, let’s lead this ginormous Bible reading event, and let’s put that on our team to try to do while we’re doing everything else. It has been a really incredible process to walk it out.
Bunni Pounds [00:12:46]:
You have to depend on God every day, and you have to depend on your team to figure out the issues. So we had to first of all divide up the Bible. And we decided Audiobooks are like 72 hours, 74 hours for a Bible in audiobooks. So we’re going to schedule 84 hours. So we make sure that we have enough time because we have to actually schedule people right in certain time frames. Then we thought, okay, we’ll schedule about 50 minutes per hour. So what are we going to do with that last 50 minutes? Well, we should have national worship leaders pay their own way to D.C. and fill in these 10 minute gaps of prayer and worship.
Bunni Pounds [00:13:26]:
So we’ve got now 14 national worship leaders from Meredith Andrews to Kim Walker Smith to upper room Leland, Danny Goki, all paying their own way to come fill in for six hour time frames. Whatever’s at the end of each hour. We had to divide up the Bible with AI. We had to figure out what difficult passages there were and genealogies that no normal person can read. How are we getting people to read those? So we had to start outreaching to Christian universities and say, can you send a Bible professor? We’ll feature your university, Arizona Christian University or Dallas Baptist or Colorado Christian and we’ll have you read that and you know, highlight your university for doing that section. Yeah, it’s, I think I did about 250 to 300 Zoom meetings with ministry leaders over the course of six months to get 100 plus ministries onboarded. And they’re all financially coming, they’re all supporting the event financially and all signed marketing agreements to help us push this out. And that was really important for us.
Bunni Pounds [00:14:36]:
But we wanted unity in the body. And then we also wanted to check off the boxes of denominations and get the charismatics with the Baptists and the Catholics with the Protestants and the Reformed with the Messianic Jews. I mean, we have done everything we can to try to unify the body. And I’m really living in an amazing moment, Doris, of seeing John 17, which is my favorite chapter in the Bible of God, Jesus, prayer to the Father that we would be one. I really have seen that more demonstrated in the last six months than I could have ever imagined.
Doris [00:15:11]:
Wow, that is so fantastic. And yeah, I’m thinking about it because we are all the church. You know, there’s really one church of Jesus Christ. And so to bring everyone like that together in a unified way for this purpose, that is just going to impact so many people and so many unbelievers that really are going to go, wow, wait a second, you know, what is this all about? And so that is really fantastic. I, I was gonna ask too like, so you used then AI in a positive way. Because we can use it in positive ways. I know our friend Misty who introduced us. Her and her husband go all around, talk all about AI and all of that.
Doris [00:15:51]:
So that was a good way to use it, right?
Bunni Pounds [00:15:54]:
Yeah. We’re also using it because this is going to be an audio and video Bible on the back end. So, you know, over 400 people are going to read from the Museum of the Bible from the stage. But we’re also having them pre record videos of them reading so in case they mess up, we can correct it, the audio or video with AI and you know, get the best product we can. And also, you know, you don’t think about people getting sick or some emergency happening. So we had to do. We’re all doing videos ready for TV so that it’s ready for pure flicks if we have to stick somebody in at the last minute. It’s a huge project.
Bunni Pounds [00:16:39]:
Again, a lot of moving parts, but we have an opportunity for 14,000 people to come to the Museum of the Bible. So we want to encourage people who have never come to D.C. or never come to the Museum of the Bible. You should absolutely come for the 250th birthday of America. And oh, by the way, there’s no hotel rooms left for July 4th, so you can’t get any hotel rooms on July 4th. So come April 18 through 25, three weeks after Easter, six weeks before the 4th of July, all the Smithsonians are going to have incredible displays for the 250th. The whole city is going to be festive. And then we’re going to have affiliate events going on around the city.
Bunni Pounds [00:17:23]:
But you can get a three hour ticket for the Bible reading. Sit in the theater, let the word of God just wash over you. Come experience our own private art gallery. We’re doing with my friend Mindy, Odin’s amazing 666 paintings of the Messiah showing up in all 66 books of the Bible. We’re going to have an interactive experience happening on the walls and the ceilings while the Bible’s being read. But then you get free access for the whole Museum of the Bible all day, which is like four stories of amazingness. So we want to encourage people, bring their families, bring your church, bring your youth group, come experience this national moment. Really, as the Americans, we center ourselves around the Bible, but also experience all the things that are happening in the city.
Bunni Pounds [00:18:11]:
And then the second way people can get involved is, you know, this is going to be live streamed on from Great American Pure Flix. And it’ll be on every phone. You can download it for free. Free people can pre register right now@AmericaWets the Bible.com and get the instructions. But can you imagine if every pastor in the country would host the live stream of Bible reading happening for 12 hours a day in their sanctuaries? If Christian business people would put it on monitors and TVs all over their offices right as their employees get washed with the word of God. If oil change places had the Bible reading going on in our living rooms on our phones, I believe some people, Doris, are going to be called to take off work for a whole week and actually read the Bible all the way through. Many people in America have never read the Bible all the way through. So what an incredible opportunity to do that with 420 of our national leaders reading it publicly for you as you follow along.
Bunni Pounds [00:19:14]:
So we’ve got such an opportunity for God to breathe on this and then think about 420 social, social media clips of national leaders reading the Bible that can go crazy over years to come, and then an audio and video Bible on the back end commemorating the 250th birthday. So we, we’ve got a lot of plans for God to just breathe on this. Let the Holy Spirit move on it. And people sharing it can impact their whole communities and their, you know, people for the gospel and for the, the importance of scripture in our nation.
Doris [00:19:50]:
Yeah.
Bunni Pounds [00:19:51]:
Wow.
Doris [00:19:51]:
What a fantastic opportunity. And it’s just really groundbreaking. I mean, for this kind of a, an event to take place that is so powerful, but yet it’s also something that can go for generations to come, you know, from this work and fruit that we wouldn’t even see down the road what God wants to do with that and what a great trip it would make for families to take that trip and do this together. Small groups and different people that, you know, maybe they’re planning something, you know, looking for something really cool to do for a family trip or family reunion or something like that. That would really be a memorable time to do that.
Bunni Pounds [00:20:34]:
It will be a memorable time. And I do want to encourage people. We’re never going to have this moment again. You know, we’re never going to have an opportunity like this to drill down on the importance of our nation with our children and our grandchildren. And so parents, take this opportunity, use it to show your, your kids and your grandkids how important our nation is for the world, how important our nation is for liberty and justice, but also the center of scripture in the fabric of our nation. Right. And we have an opportunity as believers dedicated to Jesus, to rededicate our lives back in this generation for such a time as this. You know, sometimes we look and we, you know, if you ever watch the movie, the shows, the chosen right, and we were like, oh, man, I wish I lived there with Matthew and John and Peter.
Bunni Pounds [00:21:31]:
And we’re like, I wish I walked with Jesus. And we forget, you know, we have been born in this time, in this generation with our family, you know, in our location. Why? For the purposes of God’s story. And we get to walk with God in even a fuller way than the disciples did. You know, Jesus said, you know, even greater works than this will you do. So if we understand that we’ve got God inside of us, the Holy Spirit inside of us, that when we walk into the room, the presence of God goes with us, we can literally shake the world. And I hope that people understand their fierce calling and will grab ahold of it and go for what the Lord has for their life. Because so often, Doris and I know I’m preaching right now, but so often we sit back and we wait for somebody to tap us on the shoulder and tell us it’s okay to be radical, Right? But it’s okay to be radical.
Bunni Pounds [00:22:35]:
Like, the problem is that most American Christians right now are stuck in complacency and apathy. And so if you look like you actually care, if you look like you actually want to seek the Lord, then you’re going to look radical to the culture, even the church culture, but those. The people that grab ahold of God. He says, if you seek me, you will find me, if you search for me with all your heart, Right? So if we seek the kingdom of God, we will find the kingdom of God, and those who hunger and thirst after righteousness will be filled. And we’re the ones that have to lead the way and be forerunners to take the presence of God into places that, frankly, most people don’t want to go.
Doris [00:23:18]:
Yeah, that’s for sure. And what a fire this will ignite for people, you know, to take action where their passion, compassion, and conviction intersect and to just have a newfound love for the word of God, you know, to. And hear it audibly. Because some people don’t listen to the Bible audibly. You know, they don’t do the. You know, a lot of people do, but there’s a lot of people who’ve never really thought about doing that. And it’s a whole different experience, you know, when you hear it verbally spoken and read. And so that’s, that’s very powerful.
Doris [00:23:54]:
And not only will people hear it and it’ll just go to the corners of the earth, but also the enemy, you know, the enemy is gonna see something really powerful moving and that he can’t stop, so that’s.
Bunni Pounds [00:24:13]:
That he’s not going to be able to stop it. Doris. And yeah, I, you’re right. We underestimate the power of, of reading scripture. You know, so often, you know, in the Jewish synagogues, they read the Torah portion every Sabbath, every Shabbat. That’s the center of their whole gathering is reading the Torah, reading the word of God. And we are so used in our modern American church of just, you know, the pastor commentating around it. Right.
Bunni Pounds [00:24:43]:
But we’re not really reading scripture. I have a podcast called Jesus for America where I actually read a section of scripture, teach people how to meditate on it, and then teach people how to pray it. And that’s kind of a lost art, you know, that scripture can be read out loud. And it’s most important if it’s read where you can hear yourself read it. If you’re reading it and you can hear yourself reading it, scientists actually say that it impacts you deeper and goes deeper in your life. But then when you pray the word of God, it takes on a whole nother level, right? And so we want, I really am hoping this is what I’m praying into that when cabinet members and members of Congress and you know, governors, which we have all these people confirmed. Candace Cameron Bray is one of our national spokespeople from Full House and Great American Family and Cameron and BJ Arnett from the Forge movie and, you know, actors and actresses read she scripture and people see, you know, even if they’re reading some what we would think is boring chapters, right, or boring sections, but it starts coming alive. I believe that apathy and boredom really with the body, with the word of God is going to break off of people.
Bunni Pounds [00:26:01]:
And they’re like, maybe that book of Leviticus or that book of Job has something in there that I might be able to get something out of. Maybe there’s something in that for me. And I hope it causes people to rethink places that they think are boring or not, not relevant to their life. And they see the whole counsel of the word of God as critically important for their life. Because it is.
Doris [00:26:25]:
Yeah, it is. And that, and that’s so true because oftentimes people kind of want to just bypass the Old Testament because they don’t understand some of it or it just doesn’t make sense or they don’t see how it all connects when in essence isn’t a whole. The whole big picture story. It’s one big story that goes together. And reading it this way is. And, and like you said, when we say things out loud, we hear it ourselves. And it just, you know, hiding the word in our heart, you know, and just hearing it and praying it is powerful. So I love that you have a podcast that helps people to do that because sometimes people want to do it and they just don’t know how to start or get started with it or, or how to keep it up.
Doris [00:27:06]:
But anyway, that’s so amazing and I know we have some time left, a little time left. So I would love if you would also just touch a little bit about your book that’s coming out. Tell us the title again and how that came about.
Bunni Pounds [00:27:21]:
Yeah, my new book coming out and it should be up on Amazon in the next couple months, but it’s called Stepping up to Lead Rebuilding a Nation in the Footsteps of Nehemiah. It’s a chronological study of the book of Nehemiah. It goes all the way through the book, but it also goes through 16 characteristics of Nehemiah and the importance of those characteristics for us as leaders. So everything from Nehemiah being a mobilizer, Nehemiah being a prayer person, an intercessor, Nehemiah being a favored person, one that was blessed, one that knew how to fight off opposition. Right. And keep moving forward, a revivalist. So I go through the characteristics of Nehemiah and then I also highlight 16 people in America that are currently alive or a few that have passed on, like Dr. James Dobson and Beverly LaHaye and David Wilkerson, that have passed on and are with Jesus today.
Bunni Pounds [00:28:22]:
But really exemplify some of the characteristics of Nehemiah so that people can connect it. This isn’t just a Bible story that is just nice for us to think about. We want to focus them in on you can be a Nehemiah, you can change your community, you can be exemplify this characteristic. And so I hope it’s a great book for pastors to use for Bible studies, small group studies. We have discussion questions for each chapter in there as well. It’s going to be a really great project. And my last book, Jesus and Politics, One Woman’s Walk with God in a Mudslinging Profession, that’s kind of my story. It was published in 2024 and it’s done really well.
Bunni Pounds [00:29:11]:
But it’s my story in politics. Walking with Members of Congress, how do we walk in intimacy with the Lord in culture? And it’s a whole bunch of how do we engage with government? But it’s also a lot of stories of bringing the gospel Frank into. Into government and letting God use our lives for his glory. So I hope people check that out too.
Doris [00:29:33]:
Yeah, that is amazing. That sounds fantastic. To just kind of see how like, you and you tell your story and it just inspires other people, you know, encourages them that God. God can do these things. When we’re willing, we just have to be obedient and say yes and then he does the rest. But not that we can sit back. Then we still.
Bunni Pounds [00:29:56]:
Doris, let me hit this point really hard. People think that again, God’s just going to work sovereignly and they just sit back, right? And you know, when I was talking about America reads the Bible, I had to do like 200, 250 Zoom meetings, right? And I had to submit a vision in front of Samaritan’s Purse and Prison Fellowship and the Colson center and Jack Graham and Alan Jackson and CBN and all these ministries, bless them that you can go on the website and look at all their beautiful names and them saying yes to this. But it was hard, okay? Can I tell you it was hard. And you’re like, okay. They’re like, who are you? I’m like, I’m this girl, Bunny. I love Jesus. And I think God gave me a vision about this and you should sign up. Don’t you want to be a part of this? And they’re looking at me, and some of them.
Bunni Pounds [00:30:51]:
I had this one pastor, I won’t mention his name, but I met him and I had like a 10 minute meeting with him and he looked at me and he goes, with all due respect, this is like the biggest vision I’ve ever heard. I don’t think you can pull this off, you know, and he was serious. He was serious and he walked away. And I figured, I’m never gonna hear from that guy again. And three months later, he was a top partner. And wow.
Doris [00:31:16]:
You know, because.
Bunni Pounds [00:31:17]:
But my point is this is nothing to do with me. This is called saying yes to Jesus. Being willing to say yes and then willing to do the hard things, you know, being willing to suffer, being willing to work like your life depends on it, but also asking God to do the things you can’t do. I can’t raise millions of dollars without Jesus showing up, right? But by his grace, we’ve raised like $1.3 million for this project by his grace. But I Had to ask and I had to beg and I had to say, you know, guys, can you support this national moment? Right? So I just want to encourage everybody that sometimes we’re sitting back and waiting, but, man, God’s saying, will you just say yes to what I put in your heart? Will you start a podcast? Will you start a business? Will you step out and lead people to Jesus? Will you lead a Bible study? Say yes. And then be faithful to that every day and watch him show up. That’s the fierce calling, right? Yeah, he will. He’ll show up.
Bunni Pounds [00:32:25]:
And he moves and he does way beyond what we could ever ask or think. Yeah.
Doris [00:32:30]:
Wow, that was so beautifully said. And that’s it. You know, get in the game. Stop sitting on the sidelines. You know, get in the game and.
Speaker B [00:32:38]:
And play.
Doris [00:32:39]:
Be a player in the game. And sometimes you’re going to be the quarterback, and sometimes you’re going to be the halfback, and sometime, you know, whatever. I’m not. I’m not big on football. I’m not really versed on how all that goes. But anyway, I know that God’s game is. Is important to be a part of and beyond the team. So that is amazing.
Doris [00:32:57]:
And you’re very inspiring with all of this. And, and I love how you bring out in your book Nehemiah, the characteristics, because that, you know, God gives us these stories so in the Bible, so that we can find out how to live for him, you know, how. How to know him. It’s a book about him, but also how do. What is he, you know, created us to do, you know, to be. And so I love that so much. So, Bunny, this has been fantastic and wonderful. I don’t know how many times I’ve said fantastic during this whole interview, but I think it’s been several.
Doris [00:33:30]:
And so I’m just. I’m just in awe of all that God is doing with this project and all the things that you’re working on. And so if you could, as we close, know how to connect with you, how to find this project and any other resources that you want to mention.
Bunni Pounds [00:33:47]:
Yeah, go to America reads the Bible.com. make your trip plans to D.C. right now. Go ahead and grab tickets, get your hotel rooms, bring your family, or sign up for the live stream, or sign up to get more information, but get in our email list on this so that you can get. Get this downloaded. But again, I want to encourage everybody, either come to DC or make your plans of how you’re using this live stream in your community. I would love you know, our team is just pushing hard for people to use this national moment for the glory of God. And we have an opportunity to spread this far and wide.
Bunni Pounds [00:34:25]:
We have prayer meetings every month. We have mobilization groups. We’re having a Gen Z summit. So if someone’s listening and they’re 18 to 30, we’re having a three and a half day Gen Z summit. Check that out. Prayer walks in the city, evangelism happening in the city. We’re taking over David’s tent and going to be doing worship and prayer on the National Mall for seven days. So join us.
Bunni Pounds [00:34:46]:
It’s going to be epic. Also, ChristianEngage.org is our normal website if you want to start praying, voting in every election, engaging for the nation. We would love to mentor you and join over a million Christians that are doing that every day.
Doris [00:35:02]:
Amen. Nice. Well, thank you so much, Bunny, for being on the show and I hope to have you back because I know you’re gonna have lots more to talk about.
Bunni Pounds [00:35:10]:
We would love that, Doris. We’ll have lots of testimonies this year.
Doris [00:35:13]:
Yeah, we can’t wait to hear them, really. So thank you so much again for being on the show and God bless you and everyone listening. Just be in prayer for this amazing event that’s taking place because the enemy is certainly not wanting this to happen, but it’s gonna happen. So thank you so much. God bless you and we will talk soon.
Bunni Pounds
Thank you so much, Doris
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