Hi friends, Jean Valentino and welcome back to another episode of Jean Valentino’s Grassroots Truth Cast. Hey

folks, meet my new friend Bunny Pounds from Colorado. She is um the senior vice

president of family policy alliance and family family policy foundation uh which

was founded originally by Dr. uh James Dobson. I had the privilege of meeting Bunny in uh um Virginia recently at a conference and she was most inspiring.

Welcome aboard Bunny.

Well, thank you Jean. It’s an honor to be with you and um we are excited uh to talk about everything uh life, family,

marriage, uh leadership, Bible. It’s going to be fun. You know folks, we both have a background, a political

background, having made an um a stab at United States Congress and yet we are both anchored here in today’s discussion

on the Bible and the inspirations from the Bible uh that I think you’re going to find surprising and quite

fascinating. They say division from between church and state. Well, on one level maybe, but um it’s the principles

that have founded this nation that really came from the Bible that make this such an inspiration and something we should talk more about right after this.

Throughout history, the spirit of patriotism has prevailed. The battles may have changed, but the values remain

the same. Today in 2024, we find ourselves at a pivotal moment where the

call for unity, freedom, and a better future echoes louder than ever. For more

than 10 years, Patriot Mobile has been committed to supporting the values that make our nation great. With affordable

plans and reliable nationwide coverage, Patriot Mobile is not just a wireless service. It’s a call to action for those who believe in the American dream.

Because this year is not just any year.

It’s the most important year since our nation’s founding. Choose a wireless carrier that shares your values. Choose Patriot Mobile.

Hi friends, welcome back and meet my friend Bunny Pounds from Colorado. A disciple like uh like the disciple Nehemiah was in the Old Testament.

Bunny’s from Colorado and she’s been spreading the word of the Lord. Uh she was a political consultant for 16 years,

once leading a firm of about 32 clients with nine employees in her office. For years, she worked uh with members of

Congress running their campaigns. And then she ran for Congress herself in 2018, becoming the only woman to make

the Republican runoff ballot in Texas uh out of uh six open seats that year. Meet Bunny Pounce. Welcome aboard, Bunny.

Well, it’s great to be with you, Jean.

And yeah, our parent ministry, family policy alliance is in Colorado, but I actually live in the great state of Texas and work and live here and have my

kids and grandkids here. So, yeah, we all work from around the country uh trying to uh promote prayer, voting, and

engagement and life and marriage and family. So, I remember watching President Donald Trump a few weeks ago read from the

Bible. It was most inspiring. Um, but you spearheaded America Reads the Bible,

the nationwide event back in April 18th to the 25th. You want to explain?

Yeah, we got to lead what became the largest Bible reading event in the United States history. Actually, probably since Ezra did read the Bible

in front of the Israelites. Um, it was amazing. almost 500 of our national leaders, six cabinet members, six governors, the president of the United

States, uh, reading from the Oval Office, two and a half minutes of unin uninterrupted scripture, which has never happened in American history. Um, we had

celebrities, Christian celebrities. We had people from almost all 50 states, almost all denominations, demographics.

Uh, 84 hours, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. for seven full days. It was broadcast and produced by Great American Pure Flick.

And all of the archives, Jean, are at americasthebible.com.

And at purfix.com, people can watch um the entire Bible. And it was the most powerful thing I’ve ever been involved

in. Yes, I had this crazy vision to have us read the Bible in front of the American people for the 250th birthday

of the country. Yes, it was the hardest thing we’ve ever done and I have ever done over 14 months if you can imagine

scheduling 500 people to show up on time and read the right translation and do what they were called to do. Um, but it

was one of the most powerful things I’ve ever seen. The Bible is really the equalizer. and to see a prayer and

worship pastor uh named uh Jason Hershey at David’s Tent read right next to the president of the United States. To see

Steve and Jackie Green, billionaires with Hobby Lobby reading right next to a farmer in Virginia. Um it was so

amazing. No fanfare, just people’s titles and their names flashing up on a

screen. No introductions, no preaching around the the Bible, just the Bible.

And it was beautiful. And I hope people will check it out and see what God did for our country. It was amazing.

You know, I was working out this morning with my buddy and I said to Scott, you know, Scott, one of the big issue, he says, why don’t you get back into

politics and run again? I says, I don’t know. I think I’ve got a different path that I’m on that might have a better

purpose in getting the message out to people. Uh uh we all find our niche to be more effective. But one of the things

you that remains indisputable uh is the fact that leadership

is based on political leadership in fact is based on the good political leadership is based on wellfounded

principles and standards that are imbued in your character, your family’s culture, and your religion from which

you were raised. And I’d like you to delve into

why this is so important and uh how it became the theme of your uh soon to be

um well just released book uh that I’d like you to talk about as well.

Yeah. Well, you know, family was orchestrated by God, church was orchestrated by God, and government was

orchestrated by God. All of us are shepherds. And I really think that government officials are shepherds in

government. They are to pasture. They are to protect. They, you know, the whole role of government that we see in our constitution is to protect and defend the people of the United States.

That’s the real role of government. Um, and so we should hold our leaders to high standards. You know, Proverbs 29:2

says, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. When a wicked man rules, the people groan.” There is a direct reaction to how it affects us body, soul, and spirit.

Affects our families, affects our livelihoods, affects our churches and our communities based on who’s in leadership. It’s critically important.

Um, at Christians Engaged, the ministry I founded that is now a part of Family Policy Alliance, we’re their church and civic engagement ministry. We help teach

people about prayer, voting, and engagement. That’s it. Uh, everybody should be praying for our nation and our elected officials. Everybody should be

voting and showing up and choosing our leaders well and loving our neighbors well um by electing righteous leaders

and everybody should be engaging in some form. Jean, you did that so well when you ran for Congress. Um, we we have to

get out there in the fray and we have to get involved and it’s difficult. It’s hard. It’s a mudslinging uh situation as

we all know. I actually wrote a book on that. Jesus and Politics. one woman’s walk with God in a mudslinging profession, but we have to do it for the

sake of other people. Other people. And so that’s what leaders are called to do.

You know, your current your current books uh stepping up to lead rebuilding a nation in the footsteps of Nehemiah.

You want to talk about the book for a minute?

Yeah. This is a Bible study I’ve taught for over 15 years to congressional staffers, state representative, and

Senate staffers. Um, the book of Nehemiah, it’s only 13 chapters. It is just full of an amazing character study

of this mighty man named Nehemiah who was a simple cup bearer in a Persian kingdom. And he stepped out and was

obedient to follow the call of God on his life, to follow a burden that he received. when they came and told them that the walls of Jerusalem had broken

down, the remnant was in disarray, his people were suffering, and he stepped up and went to prayer and fasting, which is

something, Jean, we never do as leaders, but we should. He went to prayer and fasting, and then God opened favor and

wisdom and strategic thinking over his life and he got the favor. The king went back to Jerusalem and helped mobilize

the people of Israel to rebuild the walls in 52 days. Like that is

mindblowing. All of us as leaders know you can’t get one or two people to do what you’re called. They’re you’re trying to get them to do, let alone, you

know, 75,000 people or however many people were there. um and to get them to repair each section of the wall in in

front of their family, in front of their community um and to get the job done.

So, this book is a chronological study of the whole book of Nehemiah. It also goes through the 16 characteristics of Nehemiah I think every leader needs to

implement. And then I have discussion questions for Bible studies for each chapter and also highlight a current

American hero or some of our heroes that have just gone on to be with Jesus. Dr.

James Dobson, James Robinson who we just lost last week. um Beverly Leah Haye, David Wilkerson, and others that have

been instruments of God’s grace on our nation, but also current leaders like Scott Turner, our HUD secretary, Kelly

Shackleford of First Liberty Institute, Patricia Heaton from Everybody Loves Raymond, um people that are in our culture today that are changing the

world one heart at a time and really exemplify the leadership of Nehemiah.

It’s a real fascinating read and and Nehemiah just didn’t complain about broken walls or rebuilding walls.

He actually picked up the stones and start he he was a man of action, not u not just words.

Exactly, Jean. Um we love to pray, which is good. We need to be praying, but we have to actually live out our prayers

and become prayer. Become prayer. And that’s what we’re trying to get Christians to do. Like you can’t just stay within the walls of the church.

Like your chamber of commerce needs you.

Your school board needs you. Your city council needs you. Your congressional district needs you. Um it’s amazing what

God can do through one person’s life if we step out and then we lead to mobilize and galvanize others to do the same

thing. Uh we saw that with America Reads the Bible. I was literally living out this book while I was doing America Reads the Bible. Um because you had to

stay focused and we had to be strategic and we had limited funding and we had to you know you know communicate with all

these people. We had to get everybody 122 ministries to work together. That was near impossible.

Um but God did it. I’ve never seen it in my lifetime. And God got 122 ministries to work together. And then government officials with ministry leaders and

educators and universities and churches and and all of it. Um, but the Lord showed me through that that if you go

with a vision, you’re strategic in your thinking, and then you keep everybody focused on what’s important in the midst of suffering and persecution that

Nehemiah experienced. He had Tobias and Sam Ballot and all these guys yelling at them, calling them feeble Jews. What are

they going to produce? It’s all going to be for not. And he just said, “You know what? I don’t have time to talk to you people. Like, I am staying on mission.

I’m staying on the wall and I’m going to keep these people focused. And I’m telling you, Jean, I’ve learned a lot from Nehemiah’s life of how we actually

get this stuff done. And I I think this his story will really encourage people.

I used to tell the folks when I was county commissioner in the county that came up to me. Uh not all were happy with everything I was doing. And I said,

“Well, look, the politician’s going to tell you what you want to hear. the leader is going to tell you what you need to know. And sometimes those two

points are different. And I see Nehemiah as that’s how I’m connecting not only to Nehemiah, but to your book because uh

Oh, by the way, how can they reach your get your book?

Yeah. Everywhere. Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Christianbook.com. Just go find Stepping Up to Lead under my name, Bunny

with an I. It’s my real name. Bunny like a rabbit. Bunny Pounds. Um, stepping up to lead rebuilding a nation in the footsteps of Nehemiah. Just stick it in and buy it.

Buy multiple copies. Do a whole Bible study with it.

Good. Good. And your focus today is um uh uh is with the family policy alliance

as well as outreach the way you’re talking.

Yeah. Christians engaged. Uh we are the church and civic engagement ministry for family policy alliance. We work on several things. We’ve built a 50-st

state get out the vote system. So Christians across the country take our commitment and pledge to pray, vote, and

engage. And you’re going to get prayer reminders, videos every Monday to teach you how to pray for government. You’re

going to get four texts and four emails with a simple guide to print off your ballot, research your ballot around every election in the country. We track

every election in the country, and we protect the data of the body of Christ.

As we do that, we have over a million Christians we’re serving in that system now. Uh and then we’ve developed amazing ondemand video curriculum. Gene uh

on-ramp to civic engagement, local government curriculum, biblical worldview, biblical justice, biblical economics, um the leadership of

Nehemiah, all these video curriculum classes to teach Christians how to go out and do this stuff. We’re not going

to tell you what political party or candidates to vote for. We’re going to give you the tools to research those from a biblical perspective and to go

out and show up every time the doors or the polls are open um to serve and steward our nation. Well, so that’s what

we do every day. And we just started Christians Engage in Spanish as well.

My words, that’s a big footprint. You’re nationwide, I take it.

We are nationwide. Uh we have a young adult program as well and a church outreach program. over 185 churches and ministries partner with our programs.

So, we’re thrilled about that. And we just want to help every pastor connect his congregants to simple disciplehip uh

related to prayer, voting, and engagement in civics. Um, and then we’ll push them into if they have a a passion

for the sanctity of human life or marriage and family or saving kids from transgender surgeries or human trafficking or whatever they want to do.

We will push them to action through our family policy councils and through family policy alliance nationally to help each Christian engage in the fight that we’re facing today.

And I presume they can subscribe or contact you on your website. Your website is Christiansengaged.org.

Christiansengage.org or americaadthebible.com.

Well, today must be a very busy day for you. Uh it’s June 2nd, 2026 and California’s got a primary going both in

the Los Angeles city and the governorship as well. What I bet in terms of engagement, you’ve been busy in California.

We have we um everybody again gets their four reminders to vote and to show up.

So everybody in California that’s in our system is getting those reminders. We’ve also been doing marketing in California.

Um and we do it marketing within um the battleground states specifically as we’re in the midterms. So we need to be reaching every Christian in battleground

states and in uh key congressional districts um where Christians can make a difference uh in those races. We need to

be engaging Christians across the country, which we do all the time um in churches uh grassroots level through our

area leaders, through our volunteers, but also online in in these online spaces. And so wherever we can find

Christians, Gan, we are finding them and telling them that America needs their participation. America needs your

participation. And if every Christian would do that, if we could get millions of Christians praying, voting, and engaging ongoing, it would literally

shift our country. I believe what happened, buddy. In the last what decade or two, we’ve seen a disintegration

uh both moral and otherwise in the way we look at our leaders in government.

Now polls show that elected officials are their popularity is less than a used car salesman. If there’s if that’s a bad

thing the bottom line is is that it’s not good. And I’m very concerned with why when I was going to school in social

studies, civics class, political science, they were always talking about the honor of serving your nation the way

our forefathers and mothers did. I have a problem today with it being disparaged

and castigated as um as oh, they’re not going to do anything for me. They’re in

it for their own gain. Uh I hear all the negatives coming out. In your exposure, especially on the political side when

you were a consultant, did you see that it had gone that it had winnowed away to

such a compromising degree? And to what extent has our has our constitution our constitutional republic been impacted?

It’s been impacted, Gan, but we have a lot of amazing hopefilled, faithfilled people serving in government. You know,

we take a a a trip with young people every summer. We take about 50 young people a year to Washington DC for a

three and a half day trip. And they get to experience members of Congress who love God and love their country. You know, they’re working in a broken

system. I can tell you the federal system is very broken in a lot of ways.

But, you know, a lot of look at the states that are thriving. Look at the people that are serving in those states.

Look at um again, I think we underestimate the power of one believer showing up even having one vote of 435.

We were kind of talking about that before we went live. Um how hard that is to just be one vote. But man, if we had

200 of those people, 250 of those people, that shifts everything. When you have a speaker of the house who was born

uh to an unwed mother, you know, and his parents got married when she was 16, she chose life and he was uh he grew up, you

know, knowing that the sanctity of human life was important, becoming a constitutional attorney. Um and then, you know, passed legislation and and

made the House of Representatives the most pro-life it’s ever been. Um that’s how one God can use one person. So, we

need to have hope and we need to get involved, but we need to turn off again like Nehemiah said, you know, don’t look at the whole wall. Don’t look at

Washington DC to solve your problems, people.

Look at your school board in your community. Look at what your church can affect in your city council. Look at your Rotary Club and your Chamber of

Commerce and how they’re spewing ungodly things because it’s coming from the National Chamber of Commerce and nobody in your Baptist church or your

charismatic church is pushing back on this crazy that’s happening in your community. Stand up and be a voice in your community and watch God use your

life. And we have to build a bench of leadership in the local level that can go up and run for state representative

and run for Congress and run for governor. You know, you can’t just run for governor. You’ve got to build a bench of leadership. And the left is

very good at doing that. And we’ve got to do better at it.

Well, the left has done good at getting a bench of followers that um have no

individual expression of their own. The bench on the Republican side seems to say there’s room here for your indiv

your opinion, but let’s agree on a consensus. you touched on a point that I re that really triggered me and that was

um all you know grassroots and it’s kind of the reason for the name of our our podcast show called the grassroots

truthcast podcast. I named it that because uh leadership starts with folks

like you at the grassroots level innovations in the cities and the town halls and the uh local county um

governances. Uh I I remember a a level of decency that existed in politics that

I haven’t seen lately. Uh a Tip O’Neal, a Democrat from Massachusetts, Speaker of the House going back into the 70s.

Reagan is uh attempted assassination on President Reagan and his good buddy, a Democrat, Tip O’Neal uh swaner swanders

into the uh hospital room to spend time with his buddy Ronald Reagan. Uh they uh

still cut up and uh gave each other a hard time tongue and cheek, but um they they had differences

of political opinion, but somehow there was a level of decency that they both had for each other uh

that crossed um these political uh lines. today you don’t um get to express

yourself in the Democrat party without um uh without castigation. Uh case in

point, John Federman, the only Democrat on the uh uh in he’s in the Senator John Federman who’s who’s been pretty uh much

a standalone maverick and uh has run up against the criticism of his Democrat party. But he reminds me of the good old

days. I didn’t think much of him when he first got in office. I was I don’t care about his dress code these days. He seems to he seems to stand out as a

pretty good leader in his thoughts. And um I I ask you I bring this up and take the time to mention it because um we’ve

we seem to have gotten away from it. And I sense that the readings of Nehemiah

and what’s in your book uh uh stepping up to lead rebuilding a nation in the

footsteps of Nehemiah. I sense that your book kind of weaves a relationship

between uh biblical integrity and political behavior. Yes. No.

Yes, it does, Gan. Um, yeah, it’s definitely more of a Bible study than my previous book, but in my previous book, Jesus in Politics, one woman’s walk with

God in a mudslinging profession, I dive into my 20 year career in politics on

the on that level that we have to deal with how are we going to handle this kind of stuff as believers? How do we deal with our heart? How do we deal with

our soul? How do we deal with our integrity? How do we deal with a system where social media is created to just have us yell at each other and we don’t

see each other in the spirit that we are all created beings whether we agree with each other on an or not. Um I I have a

very confrontational chapter chapter 11 or chapter nine in Jesus and politics about uh an unlikely relationship I had

with Bado AOR from Texas who is a Democrat and how I got to pray and minister to him. Um, and you know, was he was he receptive?

He was. Yes. And uh, and that’s him knowing that I’m very close to Ted Cruz and they ran against each other in 2018

and I’m very close to Ted’s father Raphael and his cousin BB.

But it was a it was a moment of repentance for me as well, Jean, because we don’t understand some of the prejudice we have in our own hearts.

And we we have a system here that pits us against each other. And and and what we try to do with Christians is do this.

We have to know our Bibles. That’s why we just did America Reads the Bible. We have to know our Bibles. We have to know that every issue is covered in the

Bible. We have to be bold and courageous and stick up for biblical truth and we’re going to suffer persecution and

we’re going to suffer because of it um in in this culture right now. But we have to see people as people that Jesus

loves and that he’s after their heart and he is calling them into himself. And you know, one of the greatest honors of

my life was April 18 to preach the gospel and to preach on God in front of the American people on Fox News,

Facebook, and on Pure Flicks and see millions of people um listen to the testimonies of our national leaders sharing about the importance of the

Bible and to get to preach the gospel to them. But we have to see people every conversation is this is a person that

God wants in relationship with him. And if we can see people like that, we can build bridges. We can we can bring truth

into their life. But we’ve got to break down some of those walls. And it’s the hardest thing to do in politics. Hardest thing to do. And I’m not perfect at it.

Um but it’s something that God’s calling us to do. And we have to be steadfast in it. You’re water in the desert.

And I appreciate I appreciate you joining me here today on Grassroots Truth Cast. Um, you know,

it’s not you make it pretty. It sounds simple, but you know what it is? It’s being a good person. Being decent to the

to your fellow man and woman is not to me um uh so hard. Uh but when you get

into this mudslinging you’re talking about, I believe it’s a consequence of of a wall of an arena

a pin of bad behavior that um has been allowed to brew and ferment calling in other words aka United States Congress.

I I really believe, Bunny, we’ve reached a point where we need through intervention

uh uh constitutional amendments that now put into place rules of the road, if you

would, uh a balanced budget, a firm definition of what an American citizen

is, integrity of protecting our borders, uh integrity of supporting um uh the

through the supremacy cl expansion of the supremacy clause to make it absolutely clear that state and local

law enforcement uh and those administrations administrations related there too need

to get behind the supreme rule of this land the United States Congress the more I see we talked about um uh the the

overturn of Row which is great news but It it was a push off to 50 states, each

carving out new role rules for themselves at the state level. I’m okay with a strong national leadership as

long as it’s consistent across the board. What say you?

Uh 100%. Yeah. I mean, the the Constitution has a real role for the federal government to protect people,

you know, to fund our army, to make sure that people are not suffering, to protect our borders. Um, we’ve got a broken immigration system that we

absolutely have to reform. Um, I mean, we’ve got a lot of problems, as you know, Jean, there’s a lot of things people don’t want to touch. social

security, you know, uh our national debt. You know, my former boss, Jeb Henserling, um

was financial services chairman and conference chairman in the house. He spent 16 years of his career trying to get rid of ear marks. I mean, can you

imagine 16 years? He finally did it. He finally did it.

He got a moratorum on eararks, which was he kept saying was a culture of spending in the house. And then two years after he left office, they brought him back.

Yeah.

You know, I mean, this is the brokenness of what we’re dealing with in the House of Representatives in the Senate specifically. But just I I just want to

leave people with some hope. You know, we can look at all these problems, but our c we our country, think about this,

Jean, we are about to celebrate the 250th birthday of our country. No republic in world history has ever outlasted 250 years.

We’re the oldest.

And as we read the Bible over our country and we said, “Lord, we want to establish this foundation again. We want

on the airwaves of our nation to realize the reasons behind uh us standing here in this libert land of liberty and

justice and freedom and equality is because of the word and the fabric of scripture in our land. Um, we really

have to just rededicate ourselves, Jean, that we’re going to be the people that are going to sustain this country in the future and we’re going to be those

Ezraas that, you know, know the word and those Nehemiah that will rebuild the walls of our country and uh and serve

where we can where we can serve. And I think if every American Christian would stop just living on a 20-minute sermon

at our local church and get back in the Bible and then realize that God’s called them as leaders, we can really see a

shift in our country. And I believe God wants to do it. I believe revival and a great awakening is on our horizon.

I wish I was in Congress with you.

Me too, Jean. We would have had a good time. Use an old expression, not not as kind.

And if you’re going to light a match in the gas tank, don’t scream about the explosion.

Hey, the Lord had a different plan for us. We got to mobilize Christians and get involved.

Bunny Pounds, I’m so glad to have you with me today and I I invite you back again, especially if there’s something transformative or gamechanging in your world that you’d like to come back on.

Our subscriptions folks go out to people all over the world and our our viewership is is expanding daily. Um if

you um in if you actually sign up and become a subscriber with um Bunny’s organization

uh Christians Engaged, I would encourage you to do so. Send me a note through this uh website portal and uh I’ll take

your word for it. You engaged with Bunny’s operation. you’re engaging with me, I’ll send you a Grassroots Truth

Cast coffee mug, compliments of the Grassroots Truthcast team here in Pensacola, Florida. We’d love to have

you uh on as our subscri part of our expanding subscriber base as well.

Bunny, in our last few minutes, any closing comments or thoughts?

I know that God is speaking to people even listening to this podcast, Jean.

And and I believe he’s trying to break off complacency and apathy off our hearts and and a lot of what the enemy does is he puts fear on us. He tells us

there’s no hope. And so that keeps us immobilized. And I want to tell you there is hope. And the hope is found in

Jesus Christ. The hope is found in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. He’s coming back. But also the

hope is found in you as you submit your life and your heart and your time to reading his word. Um he wants to

transform you into his likeness and he wants you to be a leader like him. Um to transform your community and and know

there is hope and let the fire start with us. Let the start fire start with you.

I’m inspired by your good words. I thank you for joining us here today.

Oh thank you Jean. Thanks for having me and thank you for all your efforts. It really is a lot.

I appreciate you as well and I thank all of you as well for joining us again for another episode of Gene Valentino’s Grassroots Truthcast.

Let’s hear from you. Let’s hear your comments. Subscribe with Bunny.

Subscribe with us. I got a coffee mug coming your way. Genevalentino.com.

That’s where you’ll find us. And thank you for joining us again for another episode on Gene Valentino’s Grassroots Truthcast. Take care. Relationships

matter because people buy people. And that’s why I buy Eddie Xarin Insurance

of the Xarin Insurance Agency in Pensacola, Florida. A family-owned business with over 50 years in the

business, and they treat people the right way. from homeowners insurance to contractor’s insurance, condo insurance, commercial insurance, all the different

coverages that are out there, and of course, auto insurance. They’ve got you covered. They worry about you first.

You’re more than a policy number. You’re a person who they’re watching out for, not when the sun is shining, but after

the hurricane has left. If you want real service with real savings, contact Eddie

Zuran at the Eddie Xarin Insurance Agency. www.zarinins insurance.com.

Give them a call today. You’ll be glad you did when you do.