OUR FOUNDER
BUNNI’S STORY
As a young mom and an entrepreneur with my husband, I caught a vision for America. After believing for years that I would be a missionary in a foreign country after Bible School, I was raising two boys, doing business, and leading worship in my local church.
Then God called me as a "missionary to America" - to bring people the gospel, but also to advocate for biblical values in politics and government.
After finishing my degree in political science at Dallas Baptist University - I landed a job with Congressman Jeb Hensarling (TX-05) as his campaign manager. For over a decade, I served this great Member of Congress, and then in 2015 I started my own political consulting company. God blessed our efforts, and I soon had 32 clients and 9 associates working in our office, and we quickly became one of the leading firms in Texas.
Serving Members of Congress, State Senators, State Representatives, Judges, and even a few county officials, my heart was full that I was able to walk alongside Christian elected officials and pour into their lives each day while our team served their campaigns.
Although I spent a number of years working full-time in politics, I never laid down my passion for discipleship and ministry. As part of this, my husband and I founded and led a house church ministry (Reality Community), I wrote discipleship books (Kingdom Life Discipleship Unit 1 & 2), created a prayer and worship conference (Set A Fire DFW), and led worship and wrote songs for the Church.
“If God can use a woman with a political resume for His glory - He can use anyone.”
In late 2017, Congressman Jeb Hensarling announced his retirement from Congress, and when I couldn't find a candidate to run, I jumped into what became an 8-person primary to fill his seat. As a first-time candidate, God used all of my ministry and business experience, policy understanding, and campaign expertise, which resulted in my making it into a 2-person runoff with a sitting state representative.
Although I ended up falling short during the runoff election, my campaign raised more money than any other GOP open seat candidate in Texas (nearly $1 million), and I was the only candidate across the United States who received the endorsement of Vice President Mike Pence. Out of 46 candidates, I was also the only Texas Republican woman to make it to the runoff election.
God was so faithful to meet my physical and spiritual needs during that hectic season, and in the aftermath, He helped me to overcome failure and loss while providing me with a hope and vision for the future.
After the race my heart became even more burdened for Christians who were enthusiastic about fellow believers running for office, but who didn't understand the political processes and the governmental systems to make a difference. Many Christians who I spoke to didn't know what a primary election was and couldn’t even name their local mayor. After speaking in numerous churches during the Congressional race, my heart turned toward how to empower everyday Christians who didn't follow politics and government daily to be able to make an impact in our nation. After writing extensive notes on the importance of Christians’ involvement for our nation, three key words rose to the top - PRAY, VOTE, and ENGAGE.
God spoke to me out of Romans 13:11, "Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep", and told me to go find the awakening Church and plug them into habits of prayer, voting and engagement.
With the help of some dear friends who had expertise in other areas of government and ministry, we put together a plan to empower Christians on how to take action. As part of this, we began teaching on the importance of prayer for our nation and elected officials, built a communication system to remind Christians to vote in every election, and began developing educational products to educate and move Christ followers to action for the wellbeing of their communities and nation.
On December 10, 2019, Christians Engaged was born to awaken the church and to empower Christians across America. At our core, we are a discipleship ministry with an activation component. Our heart is to mentor Christians for impact. We believe the Church is the answer to all of our society's woes.
If God can use a woman with a political resume for His glory - He can use anyone.
For Liberty,
Bunni Pounds
Founder and President of Christians Engaged
My story, Jesus and Politics: One Woman’s Walk with God in a Mudslinging Profession is available for purchase. Check it out here.