[00:00:00] Speaker 2: The Missional Life Podcast, inspiring Kingdom-minded believers around the world to live the mission of God in their lives.

[00:00:17] Dan: All right. Welcome back to the Micheli podcast. Today we have bunny

[00:00:22]

[00:00:22] Dan: pound on the show. Bunny, the Bible teacher ministry leader and the founder and president of Christiansen engage a national nonprofit, equipping believers to pray, vote, and engage biblically in the public square. She's also the author of a brand new book, stepping Up to Lead, building a Nation in the footsteps of Nehemiah, calling ordinary Christians to lead

[00:00:41] Dan: with courage in a critical cultural moment.

[00:00:44] Dan: Bunny, welcome to the show.

[00:00:47] Bunni Pounds: Oh, it's great to be with you, Dan. I'm excited to talk to everybody around the nations.

[00:00:53] Dan: Absolutely. Glad to have you. Hey, let's just start big picture here. When you look at America today, politically, culturally, spiritually, how would you describe the moment that we're living in right now?

[00:01:07] Bunni Pounds: We're at a crossroads. We have choices to make in our individual lives. Are we gonna fully live for Christ? Are we gonna fully live on the foundation of scripture? For our families? We have choices to make. Are we gonna let the culture dictate how we run our lives? And the all the noises that we allow into , our family's existence that's gonna form our worldviews and the worldviews of our children.

[00:01:33] Bunni Pounds: And then we have choices in our communities. How are our communities gonna move and shake based on the leadership? Are we gonna be leaders in our community to make a difference? And our nation continually has choices every election, not just in elections, but as we see cultural moments. With entertainment and media.

[00:01:54] Bunni Pounds: How are we spending our money? How are we spending our time? And how are, what are the messages that , we're gravitating towards as a nation? And what kind of leaders do we want for the next 250 years or until Jesus comes back? Those are the questions of the hour.

[00:02:10] Dan: Wow. You describe it as a crossroad and for those of us that have been watching,, so much has changed in the last five, six years.

[00:02:17] Dan: Can you walk us through some of the different situations and events that you see in the last five, 10 years that have brought us to the point that we are now?

[00:02:27] Bunni Pounds: Yeah, we're, we're seeing over the last 20 years, we've seen an an increase in our divide, our political divide, our communications divides as people are starting to consume media in kind of a silo.

[00:02:41] Bunni Pounds: Right. It's not, we don't sit around and watch CBN or, or CS C-B-S-A-B-C and NBC anymore for our nightly news. For the most part, we're consuming our specific 24 hour news program or our specific podcasters or whatever. Unfortunately, that is dividing our nation into more and more silos and then.

[00:03:04] Bunni Pounds: Frankly, people are lazy. We, we consume news and we consume information based on social media clips, and we believe a lot of things that we shouldn't believe. So that causes problems. I mean, we're just, it, it is a shifting back and forth. A lot of times we're seeding that in elections. You know, president Trump won the last election after everybody said he was out and never coming back from the, the dead in a political sense.

[00:03:31] Bunni Pounds: And the midterms don't look like they're going for the Republicans right now. So there, there's gonna be shifts and, and things, but what we're trying to focus on as a Christian ministry. Christians Engage was created to help Christians pray regularly for America and for our elected officials to vote in every election and take our biblical worldviews to the polls, not only in big national elections, but our local elections and primaries but also to raise up leaders as we engage, pray, vote, engage for our country.

[00:04:04] Bunni Pounds: And we, we need to be thinking, Dan, long term. We need to be thinking generationally. We need to be thinking over decades, not just each election. And so I'm challenging the body of Christ to really be the leaders that God's called us to be and, and to ask God to develop us into those leaders and for us to raise up the next generation of leaders.

[00:04:28] Dan: Wow. You talked about just how we source our news and you know, it's, it's interesting because. You're right. It used to be, Hey, I'd watch the eight o'clock news or the 11 o'clock news. You know, , you'd tune in for that show and then all of a sudden we could begin to record the news with, you know, digital recorders.

[00:04:48] Dan: And now , we've moved into, 24 hour news and different things. And now it's like, man, I can listen to whatever news I want to from around the world, , you know, and, not only that, but I can listen to whatever voice has. , My current opinion , and , it's become so reinforcing of our current beliefs.

[00:05:04] Dan: And yet at the same time, it's also, like you said, causing us to live in such silos and, and when we live in silos and we're not , we required to interact or rub shoulders or, you know, even bump up against people with slightly different opinions

[00:05:19] Dan: what that's doing is, . It's dividing our country and causing people to really become discouraged and frustrated with our current system so I'm just wondering, , what do you see out there right now , are we at an all time low , in the confidence of our, system, our constitutional democracy, or, , where are people at?

[00:05:38] Dan: What's the data showing at this moment?

[00:05:41] Bunni Pounds: Yeah, it's, it's a mixed bag. Some people have more confidence again, if their political parties in power at the time really dictates their, their thoughts. And also how they're feeling with their checkbook and their, the economics that they're feeling around their industry or their family.

[00:06:00] Bunni Pounds: But also but yes, overall Congress has got the lowest approval rating of anybody. Because we're living in a divided government that continues to swing back and forth, or, you know, the House of Representatives is held by one or two votes. The senate's at, in a minuscule majority for the Republicans.

[00:06:19] Bunni Pounds: So it, it's really hard to live in divided government. For that. But I'll say to the other point, Dan, you know, I know we're gonna talk about my new book coming out eventually, but my previous book is my story and it's called Jesus In Politics, one Woman's Walk With God in a Mud Slinging Profession. And I've spent 20 years working for members of Congress running a political consulting firm and trying to impact leaders with the gospel and discipleship.

[00:06:47] Bunni Pounds: But what I found is. You know, people, if we really go to talk to people like they're real people, you know, I share a really controversial, I don't think it's a controversial story in the book, but it did cause some. Controversy of a divine encounter I had with a congressman from Texas named Beto O'Rourke that ran for governor here in our state and he's a democrat.

[00:07:12] Bunni Pounds: I was working on the Republican side 'cause unfortunately you have to pick sides when you're in politics. A divine encounter I got to have with him to pray for him, to minister to him and, and even text messages we exchanged after that that God sees people in a different way than we do, and sometimes we don't understand the prejudices that we have in our own souls in hearts related to other people.

[00:07:38] Bunni Pounds: So we, we fight on policy, we fight on our principles. We don't compromise on biblical truth and biblical values, but we should all be pulling to see people the way Jesus sees them with the eyes of Christ and try to love them, but also pull them into biblical truth. And we can't do that if we don't have a relationship and we don't have conversations.

[00:08:03] Bunni Pounds: And that's my biggest concern right now for our political. Atmosphere that we're seeing in the country.

[00:08:09] Dan: . You know, , there's different Christians that would say, man, . We should just let God, , do his thing. We shouldn't be involved with politics. Just let it just flow God's, orchestrating and moving everything.

[00:08:20] Dan: And so we'll just let it be and we'll just pray God's will be done. And I know that that's probably not your, your stand on things. And so , could you speak to that mindset and , how you differ and how God has called you to, to take the stand that you're taking.

[00:08:34] Bunni Pounds: I would say to those people that think that way where did you get that idea?

[00:08:39] Bunni Pounds: Because it's antithetical to everything in scripture. You know, we don't, we don't put that on any other job or any other profession or anything else related to our life. We don't go, Hey, I'm not gonna go to the grocery store today. Because it doesn't, it's not spiritual enough. We, you know, we, we tell public educators to take Jesus to their classrooms.

[00:09:01] Bunni Pounds: We tell businessmen and women to take Jesus to their boardroom and, and ask God for wisdom and discernment for how they make decisions. But if a pa, if somebody in a church comes to a pastor and goes, I wanna take Jesus to the Chamber of Commerce, or I wanna run for. School board or I, I need to, I wanna get to know a, a politician and help them on a campaign.

[00:09:24] Bunni Pounds: It's like their eyes gloss over. Right? Why is that? You know, we should be taking what the founders gave us. They gave us such an amazing opportunity in this country to elect our representatives. We are celebrating our 250th anniversary of America. Our constitution has outlasted every constitution in world history.

[00:09:49] Bunni Pounds: We, we should celebrate that as Americans and steward that well, but instead we sit on the sidelines and don't get involved. So I, I really have a call to every American Christian especially those who have never experienced the horrors that might happen in other countries, right? And are not thankful for what we've been given.

[00:10:10] Bunni Pounds: It is time for you to pray, vote, and engage and, and really believe that we have been given a gift to treasure and to steward and as followers of Christ, you know, nobody's gonna hear the gospel without you opening your mouth In the same way, leaders are not gonna get elected that share our values and share biblical truth if you don't go to the polls and elect them.

[00:10:34] Dan: So, so good. I love how you said that. You said pray, vote, and engage. And so those are . Just an incredible three, can you define that a little bit? Pray, vote and engage. What should be they be praying for?

[00:10:47] Dan: What are some basic steps that people can begin to engage in this?

[00:10:51] Bunni Pounds: Well, that's the reason why we created our ministry to help those people, Dan and I, and I'm finding that you know, the Lord spoke to me back in 2019, that he's waking up his church in the days ahead for the stewardship of America and to build in a system that would help them do exactly that.

[00:11:09] Bunni Pounds: So we have a commitment. We call it take the pledge@christiansengage.org. You can see it on all of our. Website. But we ask Christians to make a commitment to pray for five minutes a week for your nation. I mean, that's it guys. Five minutes. To vote in every election and then to start engaging in some form of civic education or involvement for the wellbeing of the country.

[00:11:31] Bunni Pounds: When you do that, we will send you a prayer video. We will send you prayer prompts based on scripture every Monday to help you pray and learn how to pray for your elected officials and for the country. We send you voting reminders around every election. We track every election in the country. We're the only ministry that does this in the whole country.

[00:11:50] Bunni Pounds: That has a data protected system only for the body of Christ. We have now serving over a million Christians in this system, but we track every c every election. We send you texts and emails to remind you when early voting starts, when early voting ends, three days before the election, and on election day with your five step guide to print off your ballot, research your ballot, and go to the polls.

[00:12:12] Bunni Pounds: And then we have an incredible Christians Engage Academy. Eight or nine classes that people can get on ramp to civic engagement. That's our signature product. Local government class A leadership on the book of Nehemiah, biblical worldview, biblical economics, biblical justice. So many classes to help Christians engage.

[00:12:34] Bunni Pounds: And we even have a full campaign school for people who wanna run for office. So we have created all of this for you, beautiful people out there that have that burden in your heart. And you're like, what do I do? Just join the Christians engaged Army and we will help you step by step.

[00:12:52] Dan: Amen. Wow, amazing.

[00:12:53] Dan: Amazing. So you've gone beyond that. You've devoted , your life to this, this is a ministry, this is what your calling is. , This is the mission that God's given you. And, , you've been orchestrating and, and helping to facilitate an event that's upcoming.

[00:13:06] Dan: Tell us about that.

[00:13:09] Bunni Pounds: Well, my goal is to raise up leaders for the country to steward the country well. But I realized if I'm gonna try to raise up Nehemiahs that will repair the walls of a nation that it's really hard to get people to even share the gospel. Dan, as you know, people have a hard time getting into leadership, walking into their community, and doing anything.

[00:13:31] Bunni Pounds: It's very safe for us inside the walls of a church. So my goal is to get people outside the walls of the church and take the presence of God into their communities. But what I discovered, and I had this divine moment with the Lord at the Museum of the Bible two and a half years ago around Ezra, that Ezra stood up with the scroll and he started reading the book of Genesis to the, to the Israelites, and they had forgotten who they were.

[00:13:56] Dan: Mm-hmm.

[00:13:56] Bunni Pounds: And it hit me. You know, we need an Ezra moment in our country. We need a Bible revival for us to have the internal fortitude for us to know who we are, for us to know the promises and miracles of God, and that we can carry those as believers. We need an Ezra moment. So I had this crazy thought. I thought that day.

[00:14:16] Bunni Pounds: Wouldn't it be awesome if our national leaders from all spheres of influence, all demographics, all denominations, would humble themselves and say, we need the Bible every day just to make it. You, the American people need the Bible every day. We need to walk with God. We need a new generation of leaders that have a biblical worldview and know their God and will do mighty exploits.

[00:14:38] Bunni Pounds: Right? And what if we did a Bible reading where we read the entire Bible aloud and proclaimed it over America for our 250th birthday? That's what we've been working on by the grace of God for over a year and a half now. And it's happening from Washington DC from the Museum of the Bible, April 18 through 25 of this year.

[00:15:02] Bunni Pounds: We've had the great privilege to steward this. We have over 110 national ministries partnering with us 475 of our national leaders. We can get more into the details, but it's just been. Unbelievable. And people can join us in Washington DC or join the live stream and use this in their community.

[00:15:22] Bunni Pounds: But we're gonna see a Bible revival happen in this country, and we believe we're gonna be. Helping spearhead that in a massive event that has consumed my life.

[00:15:35] Dan: That does sound massive and that's does sound like it could be consuming for sure. You know what you said there. It struck me that they had forgotten who they were. And , there's been such a push,, you talked earlier about how some people just don't even share the gospel. , There's been such a push for political correctness and , not wanting to step on anybody's toes , and we forget that as you.

[00:16:00] Dan: Correctly identified earlier that, , our constitution has lasted, it has endured. And that , it is a very unique thing. , This country was founded in very unique situations and, we were founded on biblical principles and, , we've forgotten that.

[00:16:14] Dan: And so , to go back to the Bible, the biblical principles that this nation was, was founded on, and to read that. Is incredible. And , we even think about how like. When we read, when we pray, we release that into the atmosphere and, . When , that word is proclaimed and released into the atmosphere, something happens, you know? And so it's exciting to think about, , the entire Bible being released, , into this nation and over this nation by national leaders

[00:16:39] Dan: because what happened is when that word was read, they were cut to the core, right? They were cut to the core. It brought about a turnaround. They went and repented immediately and , God did some amazing things. And so , what an opportunity for our nation to hear the word of God and , to have a turnaround.

[00:16:56] Dan: Absolutely.

[00:16:57] Bunni Pounds: Well, let me speak to that, Dan. It is really. Powerful. Like, when we have like four cabinet members reading right now, six governors, 20 members of Congress Hollywood Stars. We have farmers, we have police officers, we have a hospice care person. You know, I mean, we've got ordinary Americans too.

[00:17:17] Bunni Pounds: National ministry leaders, Franklin Graham's doing our welcome and the gospel presentation at the end of the book of Revelation for us, and reading the Samaritan story in Luke 10. But we're, we're getting pre-recording of from everybody. 'cause if somebody gets sick or something happens to them. And they're not in the theater.

[00:17:36] Bunni Pounds: We've gotta play the recording 'cause it's, you know, the Bible has to stay in order. But I just watched a video from our cabinet secretary, Pete Hegseth, our Secretary of War reading Romans 15. And I, I couldn't stop crying. It was the most powerful thing I think I've ever seen. And I think we're gonna realize.

[00:17:56] Bunni Pounds: As, you know, high profile people read Ezra and then they read job and they read Ezekiel and Leviticus. I mean, we got some major celebrities reading Leviticus, right? The books that nobody wants to read. But man, God speaks through every page. His voice just, just yells out of these words. And I think we come to the Bible so often with emotions, like, I don't feel like reading the Bible today.

[00:18:25] Bunni Pounds: You know, that's what we all say. Let me just say to everybody listening to us right now, nobody is special. Nobody wants to go to the Bible every day. But we do it by faith and we walk, you know, to our living room and we open the scriptures and we sit there and say, Jesus, speak to me today. And we've all had the experience of, we're believers of seeing a verse pop up or reading two or three chapters and not feeling anything, and then all of a sudden the Lord speaks to you from something.

[00:18:55] Bunni Pounds: And I'm hoping that this is the body of Christ, number one, that we wake up, that we have to have the word. To bring fortitude in our souls and our life and our families, but also that the word of God speaks and faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word, and no, no other way can we get faith than, than to hear the word.

[00:19:15] Bunni Pounds: So. America reads the Bible. Everybody should be streaming this in their churches, in their offices, in their family rooms. People should plan a trip to DC come experience everything at the Museum of the Bible. We are having our own private art gallery with 66 paintings from Mindy Oten of the Bible, Messiah, showing up in every book of the Bible.

[00:19:39] Bunni Pounds: The Dead Sea Scrolls are there historic while we're there. And it's a like a four story you know, museum if you haven't been there. It's unbelievable the museum. But come sit in the Bible reading, come for multiple days and let the word of God wash over you and your family in this historic moment.

[00:19:58] Bunni Pounds: And literally, we're never Dan, we're never gonna have this moment again. We're never gonna have the two 50th again. I, I just wanna encourage people that are listening to the sounds of our voice to come to DC or plan how you're using the live stream with your network, your family, your community, your church.

[00:20:15] Bunni Pounds: It, it's gonna be monumental and it's gonna be something we're never gonna forget.

[00:20:21] Dan: Wow. It's powerful as you were sharing. Again, faith comes from hearing, hear from the word and , how will they know unless somebody goes and how will they know unless somebody goes and preaches,, the word and you know.

[00:20:33] Dan: What also came to my mind was you're saying that that the 250th anniversary and just how there's so many people coming together and what came to my mind was . The early church, when we look at acts, we see them that they were in one heart and one mind and they worked together and they shared those things and they did things together and, there was a unity, you know, sometimes I think we forget about unity in the country 'cause we, we felt disunity for, for a long time.

[00:21:00] Dan: ? And so when they were in unity, amazing things happened. And when people are coming together from all, , walks of, of Christianity, different beliefs, but coming together under , the authority of the word and uniting around Jesus Christ, , we have so much more in common than not in common. And so when we come into unity under that, powerful things can happen.

[00:21:20] Bunni Pounds: Absolutely. Yeah. My, my favorite chapter in the whole Bible is John 17.

[00:21:24] Bunni Pounds: I'm reading John 16 and 17. As part of my reading, I'm like, if I'm gonna put this together and spend a year and a half of my life. I'm reading my favorite chapter, but I'm truly, I've dreamed Dan of a John 17 moment, and I've never seen it. But we're seeing it with this Protestants, Catholics, charismatics, reformed, we're all together.

[00:21:44] Bunni Pounds: You know, in a black, white, Spanish, you know, Asian, I mean it, it is a beau. We got Native Americans reading the Bible. I mean, it is just a powerful moment. For the American people to witness. And it's, it's done a lot of good for my heart personally because I think we all get frustrated. You know, the world does not see our labels.

[00:22:06] Bunni Pounds: They see us as Christian or non-Christian.

[00:22:09] Dan: Yeah.

[00:22:09] Bunni Pounds: And we've gotta get over it. We've gotta get over ourselves. And yes, there's doctrinal differences. Yes, we can have our personal beliefs. Yes, there are core beliefs that we all need to. To be centered around we, this is a Christian event. We are only inviting, you know, Christians that have a strong Christian foundation.

[00:22:29] Bunni Pounds: And not inviting others outside of that. But there's a lot more that unites us than separates us. And, you know, so often I think it's kind of cool now that I look back at the, the Lord spoke to me, you know, in this kinda. You know, voter mobilization, civic engagement world. We're a ministry.

[00:22:50] Bunni Pounds: Christians Engage is a Ministry of Family Policy Alliance that was started by Dr. James Dobson, so we merged with them last year, but we have 40 family policy councils around the country that work. In each state, in Virginia, in Iowa, in New York, right. And they know because they're working on saving girls sports or saving the unborn or keeping kids off of apps and saving children from pornography and transgender surgeries.

[00:23:18] Bunni Pounds: You know, basic stuff. They're, they know they need each other. They work with Catholics, Protestants, reformed charismatics, Pentecostals. They know the body of Christ needs each other because we're on the front lines of the battle for the culture. And I, I, I hope this wakes the body of Christ up at a larger level, that we need each other and it's gonna be powerful.

[00:23:39] Bunni Pounds: So America reads the bible.com. You absolutely. Help us help with funding, help with mobilization, come to dc We want you to be a part of this. It's gonna be epic.

[00:23:52] Dan: Absolutely. Of course, as always, we'll have those in the show notes. But , I wanna pivot here. I know that , you're calling this, , an Ezra moment where , the, the scripture is read and, calling people back to remember who we are and remember our founding principles.

[00:24:04] Dan: And remember that God is, the God of this country and he is the creator of the universe. And yet I believe you're, not only believing for that, Ezra moment, but you're hoping, to segue that into a Nehemiah moment too, right? And this is, , also the basis of your upcoming book.

[00:24:20] Dan: And so , can you take us past that Ezra moment into what you're believing for as kind of a rebuilding of our nation in the likes of Nehemiah.

[00:24:29] Bunni Pounds: Yeah, I feel like Dan, some of most of our apathy and complacency and inactivity to be who God's called us to be is centered around our lack of devotion to basic spiritual disciplines of prayer, worship, and meditation on the word of God.

[00:24:46] Bunni Pounds: But when we become those people that, you know, know our God. We will do mighty exploits, and Nehemiah is such a perfect leader for us. I've been studying the book of Nehemiah for 15 years now. I used to lead bible studies for members of Congress', staff and offices on the leadership of Nehemiah, and so it was a labor of love.

[00:25:07] Bunni Pounds: It's been a, a dream for me to have a book on this incredible profit. For years, but I wrote a book on, it's a chronological study of the book of Nehemiah, but it also goes through 16 characteristics of Nehemiah and how we as leaders in business or ministry or government, should implement those leadership qualities to lead organizations, to lead our families, to lead our communities.

[00:25:33] Bunni Pounds: And he was so amazing. I mean, he felt a burden from the Lord as a simple cupbearer in a Persian kingdom. He went to prayer and fasting, which we need to be remembered that that's critical for our life as leaders. And then he had favor. He asked the, the king for papers. He asked the king for resources.

[00:25:54] Bunni Pounds: He got everything he needed, and he showed up to Jerusalem. And mobilized a people that were not unified that had problems to rebuild the whole wall of Jerusalem in 52 days. 52 days. Many people don't know that how in the world, I mean, this is before social media, before he had text messages and phone calls and said, Hey, I'm coming to town.

[00:26:19] Bunni Pounds: What an incredible leader. And then he did that against enemies screaming at them. Sobi Tobiah and, and Sam Ballad and all of them yelling at them, telling them to get off the wall and stop doing this and calling them every crazy name and just like they do with the Jewish people today, you know, antisemitism and force, right?

[00:26:40] Bunni Pounds: It was epic. And, and then what they saw was revival and renewal. On the other side of that, I believe that God is calling the American people back to devotion to the Lord. And then to be leaders that can mobilize people in their community to change their cities. And maybe I'm a little naive, maybe I'm a little crazy, but I think that is a beautiful destiny for all of us to clinging to and, and I'm hoping that we see a new generation of Nehemiah's rise, and I hope this book.

[00:27:14] Bunni Pounds: We'll touch churches as they do Bible studies and touch families and to touch leaders all over this country. That's what I'm believing for.

[00:27:22] Dan: Wow. , Nehemiah, he's such a great example, like you said, , of leadership. And what always stands out to me too is that, , before Nehemiah was a leader, he was a servant, right?

[00:27:32] Dan: He was faithful in his position, and so many of us, . We want the platform, , we want leadership or, , influence, if you will, but we don't wanna go through the years , of testing the years of experience , that give us that influence that give us that positioning, you know, and Nehemiah did that.

[00:27:53] Dan: He was a faithful servant. He did what he was called to do. And, you know, he, he had this going on in his heart yet. We can surmise that he had a very, , cheerful or joyful attitude because it was only one time that, that the king, Hey, what's going on?

[00:28:07] Dan: , , You're not your normal self today. And he said, , Hey, you know, there's stuff going on that's bothering me. And he has the position to share those things with the king only because he was a faithful servant for so long. Right.

[00:28:23] Bunni Pounds: Great point Dan. And that's why I love Nehemiah as a former congressional staffer and campaign manager.

[00:28:29] Bunni Pounds: You know, he was the one that tasted the wine and made sure the king wasn't poisoned, right? He was in the chamber in the courts with the king and the queen. You can see even a reference to the queen in Nehemiah one and two. And he was looked to for counsel, for his counsel, and. He served well and he had favor with the king because of that.

[00:28:50] Bunni Pounds: You know, I love in, in Nehemiah one, like the king's, like, I don't even know if I can leave live without you. You know, how, when are you coming back, you know, is my, my paraphrase. But he, he honored the king. He was a servant first, and God elevated him in his moment. But a couple thing here is he felt a burden.

[00:29:10] Bunni Pounds: I think a lot of people see things, they see injustices, they see things happening in our culture or in their local church or in different places, and they don't move out. They, they like, Hmm, I don't know if I'm supposed to carry that. But he got wisdom from prayer. He went to prayer and fasting for three days, and he let that burden carry him to the next step, and then he had to obey and, oh, we don't like that Dan.

[00:29:37] Bunni Pounds: We don't like to actually obey. We would love everybody else to obey but us and you know, I'll just use this example of this ginormous event we're doing that hopefully is not just an event, but a movement, a Bible reading. It's been ginormous, right? Our whole team has had to sacrifice hours of their life.

[00:29:57] Bunni Pounds: You know, I've spent last year doing 225 Zoom meetings with ministry partners. Potential ministry partners meeting everybody, sharing the vision, talking through, I mean, it's painful. Raising $2 million for a project, asking God to, to do all this, and then coordinating 475 busy people that won't check their email, won't, you know, won't listen.

[00:30:21] Bunni Pounds: You know, I love them. But it, it is a it. We think that following God is easy. And, but anything that we do for God is gonna require our obedience and require some form of suffering. The thing we don't wanna hear about, but you know what the rewards are exponential. The reward. I'm telling you who I am in God 12 months or 14 months after starting this project.

[00:30:49] Bunni Pounds: Just as an example, I'm a different person than I was 12 or 14 months ago. And when we shepherd what God gives us, like Nehemiah did, he walked into Jerusalem, a different person. And I, I'm believing for that transformation for all of us, Dan, because we're all called to be disciple makers. We're all called to be leaders and we're all called to change the world.

[00:31:12] Bunni Pounds: And I see that in my own life, and I hope everybody can see the call of God on their life because. We are limiting God, we are limiting God every day in our life, and he is calling us to hire things. And if you told me, you know, 18 months ago, I would be leading what could be the largest Bible reading event in US history, I would not have believed you.

[00:31:34] Bunni Pounds: I, I wouldn't have believed that that would been possible. But I'm telling you, God can do massive things with ordinary yeses. Just, just takes a yes.

[00:31:46] Bunni Pounds: I was 28 years old when I sold my husband and I'S first company a pest control company that we built from just the two of us. He had him and his roommate and me and built it to 15 employees and nine trucks.

[00:31:59] Bunni Pounds: And then, you know, I got into politics and I worked for one campaign and one member of Congress and was faithful to that and, and raised my kids and homeschool my kids while I did it. And then I'm running multiple campaigns and I'm running 32 clients and nine people in my office. And then I sacrificed that to run for Congress myself.

[00:32:20] Bunni Pounds: Laid, laid down a whole lucrative career to start a ministry from scratch. Christians engaged and laid down everything to, to make that happen for the purposes of mobilizing and activating Christians in this awakening moment. So it, it takes steps of obedience and God grows your capacity step by step.

[00:32:41] Bunni Pounds: And you know, I'm, I'm preparing for my next season right now. I don't know where that's going, but I know on the other end of this event. And you know, we're starting, Christians engage in Spanish and you know, we've got a thousand projects going on, but it is, it is, you just say yes every day and go on that journey and God will lead you to the next step.

[00:33:02] Bunni Pounds: And you can't think about too far in advance. It's weird 'cause you gotta think long-term strategic planning, but you've gotta also think day to day, what do I need from God today? And how can I grow my leadership today for the next season of my life?

[00:33:24] Dan: You know, going back to Nehemiah, and I think it's very relevant for today, is, , at one point , they're talking to the civilians. They're talking to the people there that are rebuilding the wall, and he says, look,

[00:33:36] Speaker: we're gonna take , our sword in one hand, and we're gonna take , our tools in the other. And, , that's a prophetic thing , for today's culture we need to. , Take our weapons, , the things of the spirit , and be fighting but we also need to be building and doing the things that God has called us to do.

[00:33:51] Speaker: You know, bit ready to do those things, but also ready to fight, , for those things that God calls us to. And so I just really respect what you guys are doing as an organization, that you are standing and you're fighting for the things that need fought for, but you're also building.

[00:34:05] Speaker: 'cause it's easy to fight, it's easy to tear things down. But it's much harder , to build at the same time and I just really respect that you guys are building and fighting at the same time. And I think , , that's really remarkable. Bonnie.

[00:34:15] Bunni Pounds: Yeah, A perfect example of that is, , we have people that are on school boards and city councils that we are part of their life and we're like feeding ministry, right?

[00:34:25] Bunni Pounds: And , they have to deal with,, zoning problems and they go to these hearings, you know, on the city council and fight as a council or deal with different problems. But they, they have to know it's, there's spiritual battles happening and, and so we have to do the work. Like, you know, either we're comfortable in our prayer closet, praying for our city, and that's all we do.

[00:34:46] Bunni Pounds: But it would, what a, a powerful thing of an intercessor or a prayer person runs for the city council and they're in the mud of muck and the mire of actual policy work. Dealing with the relationships in the city at the same time that they're praying, how much more powerful is that? So we're, we're calling the, the body of Christ to get involved.

[00:35:08] Bunni Pounds: Yeah. Do it on both sides. Spirit and truth, activity and prayer. All of it matters.

[00:35:17] Dan: Amazing. Wow. Awesome. So tell us where can listeners get your new book?

[00:35:23] Bunni Pounds: Yeah, you can pre-order it on Amazon, target christian book.com. It's called Stepping Up to Lead, rebuilding a Nation in the Footsteps of Nehemiah.

[00:35:33] Bunni Pounds: Candace Cameron Bray from Full House and all the great American media Christmas movies. Did my forward for the book and I have so many great endorsements for it. Really blessed by Tony Perkins and Steve Daon. So many people, Troy Miller from NRB, endorsing the book. But yeah, pre-order it now, it comes out May 19th.

[00:35:53] Bunni Pounds: And while you're at that, get Jesus in Politics, my first book and my story as well, because that's a impactful book as well on for the Body of Christ. And join us at America reads the bible.com.

[00:36:06] Speaker: Awesome. So good. So good. Well, we wanna be conscious of your time. We just like to always end with a couple fun questions, .

[00:36:13] Speaker: So the first one of two here, if Nehemiah walked into Modern America, what do you think would surprise them the most?

[00:36:22] Bunni Pounds: He would be shocked at how Christians are not reading their Bibles and not having a biblical worldview that 4% of American Christians actually have a biblical worldview and only 30% of Christian pastors have a biblical worldview that would shock him.

[00:36:41] Dan: I would agree. We'll leave with this here, , bunny, if you, if you could speak , to those on the sidelines right now, what would be your message , to all the listeners right now? , What would you say to them as a final point.

[00:36:51] Bunni Pounds: Well, Jesus, in John 17, his high priestly prayer before he went to the cross said, father, I desire that those. Who you've given me would be with me where I am, and that they would behold my glory. You know, Jesus wants to spend time with you and he is excited every time you come to the Word, every time you ask him for anything or you wanna hear from him.

[00:37:16] Bunni Pounds: And I just wanna inspire people that he wants you more than you need him. And give him your heart. Watch him see what he will do with your life. I was a 13-year-old girl that met Jesus in a darkened auditorium at a Carmen concert, and he changed my life. And I'm only here because of the redemption and the blood of Jesus.

[00:37:37] Bunni Pounds: So go deep in God and watch him do some crazy things with your life.

[00:37:43] Dan: Amen. Well again bunny. So excited for your new book A Stepping Up to Lead and also America Reads the Bible. So excited to see how God continues to work in and through both of these. And we just say thank you for being faithful to the, the mission that God's put on your heart.

[00:38:00] Dan: And we just look forward to seeing the fruit and we'll believe that as that word is spoken over this nation, , that there will be a change of heart and this will be a, a pivotal moment for. For the us So we thank you , and , bless you in, in Jesus' name.

[00:38:15] Bunni Pounds: Amen. Thank you so much, Dan.

[00:38:16] Bunni Pounds: Appreciate you.

[00:38:18] Speaker: Amen.

[00:38:21] Speaker 3: Right. Thanks for joining us today on the Mission Life Podcast. You enjoyed this episode. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss out on future conversations. And don't forget to share this episode with your friends, family, or anyone you think will be blessed by it. We also wanna invite you to check out our free 31 Day Devotional Living and Mission, all life designed to help you step forward into the purpose he has for you.

[00:38:41] Speaker 3: Just click the link below to get your copy today. Thanks again for listening, and I'll see you next time on The Mission of Life Podcast.