Latest / Christian Mix 106 On Demand / Upright Christian Parenting - Treehouse Storytelle... - Is America Facing a Bible Crisis? | Bunni Pounds on Revival, Faith & the Next Generation
Transcript
- 0:10Hey friends, welcome to season five of Upright Christian Parenting Podcast,
- 0:14part of the Treehouse Storyteller family.
- 0:17I'm your host, Hannah Pru, author, homeschool mama, and fellow parent.
- 0:21This is your place for upright parenting in a sideways culture.
- 0:25We'll face the issues around us, grow in God's word, and raise our kids with courage.
- 0:30Our children are being discipled by something, so let's make sure it's us.
- 0:34What if your child's biggest worldview questions could be answered before they
- 0:38ever step foot out into the world.
- 0:40Creation Without a Bang is my brand new children's book, helping families reclaim
- 0:45the truth of Genesis once again, and God's intentional design.
- 0:49This powerful story reminds children they're not the product of random chance,
- 0:53but the handiwork of a purposeful creator.
- 0:57Endorsed by Sam Sorbo herself, this book is equipping the next generation with
- 1:02truth, wonder, and confidence in God's word.
- 1:05Order your copy of Creation Without a Bang today at thetreehousestoryteller.com.
- 1:15Hey, welcome back to Upright Christian Parenting. Today, I have funny pounds.
- 1:19Yay, welcome to the Treehouse Bunny. Well, it's great to be with you, Hannah.
- 1:24It's awesome. I've met you years ago in person at NRB, and we at least have
- 1:29that reunion every year, but I'm really glad that you are finally with us,
- 1:34in the podcast, and we get to have a deeper conversation and away from the crowds.
- 1:39I think last good conversation I had with you, It was drowning out 50 other
- 1:43people around us. And I'm glad to just have this moment with just you and,
- 1:49you know, just really hear your heart. And man, you love America.
- 1:53You're passionate about this next generation coming up, you know,
- 1:57just really setting the stage and setting the tone for what this country needs
- 2:02more of. And obviously that is the Lord.
- 2:05But I would just love for my listeners to hear a little bit about your heart,
- 2:09a little bit about, you know, you've had some really awesome projects you've
- 2:13been a part of the past year, and I'd love to dig in there.
- 2:19Well, Hannah, it's great to be with you. And yeah, we want to encourage every
- 2:22parent to raise up godly seed for our culture and for this country.
- 2:27You know, God is moving so deeply in this country.
- 2:30And I'm really just a testimony of the grace of God and the ability to say yes
- 2:36to Him and watch Him move miraculously.
- 2:40I started out actually as a two-time business owner with my husband,
- 2:45entrepreneur, raised my kids doing pest control and the restaurant business
- 2:50and then jumped into politics.
- 2:52I had 16 years of political consulting, running congressional campaigns,
- 2:57ministering to elected officials and candidates, ran for Congress in 2018, lost a race there.
- 3:04And God then redirected me into full-time ministry.
- 3:08Seven years ago, I launched a movement called Christians Engaged with the hope
- 3:13of getting every believer to pray, vote, engage, and steward our nation well.
- 3:18And by the grace of God, we have mobilized 1.2 million Christians now to do that.
- 3:25And then, you know, like I'm not busy enough, the Lord puts it on my heart to
- 3:30lead the largest Bible reading event in the United States history,
- 3:33which for 18 months, our team kind of slaved over that.
- 3:40It was amazing. April 18 through 25 of this year, commemorating America's 250,
- 3:45500 of our national leaders read the entire Bible, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- 3:53Eastern Standard Time from Washington, D.C., from the Museum of the Bible.
- 3:56And we had everybody from Candace Cameron Bray, who is my national spokesperson, to Cameron and B.J.
- 4:02Arnett from the Forge movie, Patricia Heaton, to six cabinet members,
- 4:07six governors, the president of the United States reading uninterrupted scripture
- 4:11from the Oval Office. It was amazing.
- 4:13Epic. And so, yeah, now starting a Bible revival on the top of that.
- 4:19So God is so faithful and we've got a lot to dig in there, but I've had so much fun walking with Jesus.
- 4:26Oh, that's so awesome. Do you have any really awesome, I'm sure you do,
- 4:29do you have any crazy stories from America Reads the Bible that you'd love to
- 4:33share? Like just like a huge takeaway of, oh my word, I can't believe this happened
- 4:38or, you know, some testimonies.
- 4:41Well, we had a business leader that literally was on a plane watching it,
- 4:46heading to Washington, D.C., and he said that when we were,
- 4:49bringing people back to the Bible at the opening celebration and Speaker Mike
- 4:53Johnson had just spoken and Patricia Heaton and others, and I was calling people
- 4:58back to daily Bible reading, he actually got on his face.
- 5:03In the plane, in the plane aisle and knelt down before the Lord and said,
- 5:06I'm rededicating my heart back to the Bible as a ministry leader.
- 5:11That was deeply impacting the amount of emails and Facebook messages we've got
- 5:16from families that had it on nonstop in their living room.
- 5:20One story that touched me was a 13-year-old boy who has kind of gotten rebellious.
- 5:26He was sick one day, and he just sat there on the couch and listened to Daniel
- 5:31and Ezekiel and Jeremiah with his mom and rededicated his heart back to Jesus.
- 5:36I mean, it was powerful things that God did.
- 5:39Wow, that's beautiful. I love that so much.
- 5:43Now, I've heard you talk about it, but I would just love for you to talk about
- 5:49it again here in this context.
- 5:51But, you know, you relate really that reading in the public square to something
- 5:58biblically. Can you tell us about that story in history?
- 6:01Yeah, I just finished a book. It's called Stepping Up to Lead,
- 6:04Rebuilding a Nation in the Footsteps of Nehemiah. It came out in May right after this event.
- 6:10But I've studied the book of Nehemiah for years and Ezra.
- 6:14But Ezra was such an amazing figure because he goes back to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel and the remnant.
- 6:20I mean, when we think about fervent, faithful people, I mean,
- 6:26the remnant were the remnant, right, for a reason.
- 6:28They were going back to rebuild the walls and to build the temple.
- 6:33And the remnant had forgotten who they were.
- 6:36The remnant didn't know the books of Moses.
- 6:40People are like, you've got an agenda, yeah I do, I've got a big agenda,
- 6:45I want you to know Jesus, that's my agenda, and I'm not going to apologize for
- 6:49it, because Jesus wants you to know him too.
- 6:53I would much rather confuse this world and not make any sense to it than be a reflection of it.
- 7:02As long as I remain obedient to God, the opinions of this world mean nothing to me.
- 7:13Colorado Springs, TPUSA Faith's Make Heaven Crowded Tour is coming to Karis
- 7:18Bible College Friday, November 13 at 6.30 p.m.
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- 7:26and special musical guest, Danny Gokey.
- 7:29Experience an unforgettable night of powerful worship, inspiring testimonies,
- 7:35and the life-changing message of Jesus Christ.
- 7:38And admission is free. Register today at makeheavencrowdedtour.com and I'll see you there.
- 7:43And Ezra stood up and read the entire five books of Moses, the law of the Lord
- 7:50to the Israelites and reminded them who they were.
- 7:53In Nehemiah 8, we see the scriptures being read again, public reading of scripture
- 7:58again after they had rebuilt the walls and they were celebrating and that the
- 8:02joy of the Lord is their strength and all that. They were reading the word again.
- 8:07And it hits me, Hannah, you know, we're trying to raise up leaders for our country.
- 8:11We're trying to get people to go impact culture, you know, run a business,
- 8:16go get involved with media, you know, help your children's education.
- 8:21Get involved in politics, whatever God's calling you to do.
- 8:24Yeah. But we don't have enough internal fortitude sometimes to do that stuff
- 8:28because we're sitting there binge watching Netflix all day long.
- 8:32Yeah. And it really comes back to we need to know the grand story of God.
- 8:36And we need to know our part in that story.
- 8:39And reading scripture daily and going to the Bible every day and saying, Jesus, you're alive.
- 8:44You wanna speak to me. You wanna change my life is the beginning point,
- 8:49I believe, for all that. And really the root of the problem in our American
- 8:54culture is biblical illiteracy.
- 8:57Wow. Wow. That's so good. I love the story of Nehemiah and Ezra.
- 9:02I fell in love with that when you guys were really launching America Reads the
- 9:10Bible and getting to watch that.
- 9:13I loved the heart behind that. And it's, we really are in that time where I
- 9:17think the American church, I mean, you see people like Eric Metaxas going, hey, wake up.
- 9:23You know, the American church has really, we are the remnant and we've kind
- 9:27of lost that in the same way.
- 9:31And so I just, I love the reminder going back to scripture. Like we've got to
- 9:36wash ourselves with the word.
- 9:38We have to wash this nation with the word and come back to him and draw near to him.
- 9:42And I don't know, do you feel like we're seeing like a major split where people
- 9:48are pushing into the Lord
- 9:49in a greater way, but then also people are pulling away, like really just defining
- 9:54the lukewarm is starting to divide and split. Do you see that?
- 9:59Yes, Hannah, I do see that. I see a fervency happening where people are being
- 10:04revived and they're like, you know what, we need to go back to simple Christianity
- 10:08of simply worshiping, praying,
- 10:11being in community, reading scripture, meditating on scripture.
- 10:15I mean, Christianity is not that complicated. We have overcomplicated it.
- 10:19We have made it a religious duty instead of a relationship with Jesus.
- 10:24And so I do see that there is a revival of sorts happening that's breaking people
- 10:30out of religious spirits and back into a relationship with Jesus in an intimate fashion.
- 10:36At the same time, you're seeing just a cultural Christianity that's,
- 10:40continue to take root in the American church. And I really think it comes down
- 10:45to how do you value your time?
- 10:48Is Jesus on your calendar? I mean, let's be brutally honest.
- 10:52We talk about money all the time, whether we're giving, whether we're having
- 10:58a cheerful heart, a generous heart of how we give our resources to the kingdom of God.
- 11:03But how many of us actually give our time to Jesus.
- 11:07We are so busy. We are so consumed with every other voice speaking to us, Hannah.
- 11:12And I think part of my calling is to call people back to just simplicity of
- 11:19reading the Word, of hearing God's voice, and walking with Jesus.
- 11:22Because otherwise, we will not have anything to give anybody.
- 11:26We won't have any conversation that's worth anything.
- 11:29And we won't be able to raise up godly seed and godly children that have a real
- 11:34authentic relationship with Jesus if we ourselves are not walking in authentic
- 11:39relationship with Jesus.
- 11:41And so, you know, I always said when I was a mom, when my kids were small,
- 11:46I'm still a mom, but they're older.
- 11:48Always a mom. No, I'm a grandma.
- 11:51That I wanted my boys to see in my husband and I, we were not perfect.
- 11:57We needed Jesus every day to make it, right?
- 12:00Um, but we wanted to show them that you can have an authentic,
- 12:05real relationship with God and he can touch your life every day and you can touch his heart as well.
- 12:10That's so good. I love the word authentic. I think of, you know,
- 12:15the world that our kids are being raised in and grandkids are being raised in.
- 12:18And there are very few things that are real and that are true and that are authentic and genuine.
- 12:27And I know with my kids, they can spot a mile away when something is fake or
- 12:34something is AI generated or, you know, before I can.
- 12:38And they crave it. They crave authenticity. And I really do believe this next
- 12:45generation is only going to survive if they push into the authentic and they learn.
- 12:52You know, you mentioned that relationship, just going back to the simple worship with the Lord.
- 12:57And we've made, you know, 90s and early 2000s, the church was just all about.
- 13:06The bells and the whistles and the light shows and everything.
- 13:10And all of that's fun. It's not bad. It's just that we have lost sight of that
- 13:16genuine, true faith and, you know, just restoring back to our roots and having
- 13:23that simplicity that you said.
- 13:24And that it really is, I think about the Lord, we're coming back to the heart of worship.
- 13:30And just really, it's such an oldie, but it's a goodie with,
- 13:34you know, the lyrics because it really is, I think, what our nation is being called to do.
- 13:39I think we really are just being called to come back to the heart of worship
- 13:43and what that really looks like. And that it's not for the hype,
- 13:47it's for the true connection with the Lord and with the Father.
- 13:50And so, yeah. And I'll say something about that, Hannah. I was shocked at,
- 13:57The comments on social media, on the emails that we got in response to America Reads the Bible, just,
- 14:04I said at the end of the book of Revelation, we discovered over seven days,
- 14:08there is an absolute famine in the land for the word of God.
- 14:13When we are, you know, when a pastor, bless them, but most pastors will spend
- 14:18maybe a minute or two reading scripture in a 30 minute message, maybe a couple verses.
- 14:27We don't esteem the capacity of people to take in the Bible and it's really to our own detriment.
- 14:35So one of the reasons why we've launched a new ministry, Bunny Pounds Ministries, real unique, but.
- 14:41We're starting a new Bible initiative after America Reads the Bible called The
- 14:44Whole Bible Live is we want to actually take people through the Bible that we
- 14:50just created with America Reads the Bible in partnership with Great American Pure Flix.
- 14:55So we're cutting up the content in 30-minute segments.
- 14:58We're literally going to mentor people, meet with them on Zoom once a week,
- 15:02walk them through the Bible 30 minutes a day, six days a week.
- 15:06You can go through the whole Bible in 24 weeks. So just a half a year it takes
- 15:11to go through the entire counsel of God.
- 15:14But we also wanna do regional events in churches where we just read the whole book of Acts.
- 15:20We sit around and discuss it every five chapters and get people back into realizing
- 15:25they can read the Bible. They can read it in their families.
- 15:29They can read it in their communities. We can read it in our local churches.
- 15:32And then we just announced that we're gonna do another large event in 2028 with
- 15:3718 to 30 year olds reading the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation from
- 15:41college campuses across this country.
- 15:44From our very first days, America has been driven by the idea that hard work
- 15:49could lead us to the life we always envisioned.
- 15:52And today, honoring that legacy, College of the Ozarks does more than just provide an education.
- 15:59We're reawakening the American spirit.
- 16:03You know, when I thought about college, I knew that I wanted to do something
- 16:06that I was ambitious. CVO opened my eyes to the opportunities that were out there for me.
- 16:12Our model of providing a Christian liberal arts education to those facing economic
- 16:16hardship hasn't wavered since 1906.
- 16:20Our students graduate debt-free through our work education program.
- 16:24They learn how to live a life guided by their faith.
- 16:28And as they begin their careers, they've learned how to take their seat at the
- 16:31table of influence and open the door of opportunity for others.
- 16:58We want to pour gasoline on a Bible revival that we believe is happening,
- 17:03but it really starts with a commitment from each of us to simply turn off everything
- 17:09and go back to just simply reading Scripture.
- 17:13It literally can change our life.
- 17:16Oh, so, so good. Okay. So you're telling me that you guys will actually meet
- 17:21on Zoom with like real people that have skin and they're not AI bots. Yes.
- 17:26Real community, real discipleship. Yes.
- 17:30What, what a concept. I mean, it's just, it's just wild.
- 17:34I mean, there's so many, you know, Bible apps and, and Bible resources,
- 17:38and I use some of them and, and they're great, but they do not replace humans.
- 17:44They do not replace meeting together in fellowship with an actual person.
- 17:49And that is amazing. I am beyond excited for this. When I heard that you were,
- 17:55a part of this, it was just like, oh, I cannot wait to talk to you more about it and hear your heart.
- 18:01And we'll have two times a week that people can meet with us,
- 18:04Hannah, and it'll start January 1. So people can sign up right now at bunnypounds.org
- 18:09to go through the whole Bible with us.
- 18:12It'll be on the Bible app. It'll be on PureFlix as well and other places for
- 18:16people to go on their own.
- 18:17But what I've discovered, and you probably know this as well,
- 18:21is we really thrive when we're in community and we feel like we have to show
- 18:25up somewhere and we've got to do something that helps encourage us.
- 18:29And we want to break off kind of just the religious mindset and people,
- 18:33you know, if they don't get through numbers, you can still start in Deuteronomy.
- 18:37You know, this is about just being and showing up every day and saying,
- 18:41Jesus, I want to interact with you. I want you to speak to me.
- 18:44And, you know, it's not a religious thing. It's a Jesus thing is what we're
- 18:49trying to break people into.
- 18:51Yeah, no, that's good. I mean, we live in, you know, the most connected way
- 18:55possible with all, you know, access to anyone in the world through the Internet. And.
- 19:01Yet we are very isolated and, you know, people do not have community,
- 19:06like a true sense of community.
- 19:09And so what you're bringing to the table is just beautiful.
- 19:12I also think about the idea of accountability. When we don't have people to,
- 19:17you know, worship and pray alongside of us and, you know, study alongside of
- 19:22us, we lose that piece of accountability that is so vital.
- 19:27And that's when we fall into the enemy's snare is when we don't have people
- 19:33to hold us up. And I think this is gonna be an incredible thing that you're
- 19:38gonna see a lot of fruit from.
- 19:39So I think it's really cool. Well, and I wanna encourage families, do it together.
- 19:45Pick a 30-minute segment during your breakfast hour and just let the national
- 19:50leaders or 122 ministries read scripture to you every day.
- 19:55It's fascinating to just hear people that we know in culture,
- 19:59in church culture, reading the Bible, and it's a highly entertaining way to do it with your kids.
- 20:05So I'm hoping that families as a whole sign up to do the Bible together.
- 20:10It will be a really beautiful thing. Yeah, that's awesome.
- 20:13That's awesome. That's really cool. These are incredible resources.
- 20:17I'll definitely put all of that in the show notes so people can easily just
- 20:20click and find out everything they need to know.
- 20:24So from your perspective, because you've been in politics, you've been in business,
- 20:29you've been really everywhere,
- 20:32what do you see in culture that you feel like, oh man, this next generation
- 20:39is really going to need fill in the blank?
- 20:42What is it that you're noticing from the front lines that we really need to be mindful of as parents.
- 20:51I think I'm really seeing a huge need for just conversations.
- 20:55I'm going back to the authentic word, authentic conversations.
- 21:00I was just on a plane Thursday, Hannah going to a conference and a kid walks
- 21:03in with an ACDC t-shirt and sits right next to me and he's in his early 20s.
- 21:08And I just struck out a conversation with him. I mean, I'm not the youngest
- 21:12person on the block, but I just start talking to him. I find out he's a military kid.
- 21:17He's had a kind of a strange relationship with his father. He was named after
- 21:22Ronald Reagan. He's a political science major, but, you know,
- 21:25not so conservative, you know.
- 21:27And we just started talking. And for an hour, I talked to this young man.
- 21:31And I just realized again, every time I have a conversation like this,
- 21:36it reminds me again how desperate these 20-year-olds are for a real friendship, a real relationship.
- 21:43And he actually emailed me just the other night to continue the conversation.
- 21:48And then randomly, the lady that was sitting in front of me with her husband
- 21:52found me on the internet and emailed me yesterday about how blessed she was by this conversation.
- 21:59And she was just listening in, just listening. And then I guess I said my name
- 22:04or told him that I would get my book to him or something.
- 22:07And she found me. And it just, again, I think we are so full of noise and all,
- 22:14you know, whether it's, and we love podcasts, you podcast, I podcast.
- 22:19But there's so much stuff going on constantly in our souls that,
- 22:24you know, when you have authentic relationship with God and you're sitting there
- 22:27and he's talking to you, it's significant.
- 22:30When you have a relationship with somebody in your life that just feels authentic
- 22:35and real. It's significant.
- 22:37And I believe that those that are, you know, 16 to 30 right now are desperate for that.
- 22:43They're full of the most loneliest generation ever, which shouldn't be happening,
- 22:50but it is. And we've got to turn off our phones and turn off the social media
- 22:55and get back to real conversations.
- 22:57Yeah. Yeah. That's so good. Yeah, I think of, you know, really our.
- 23:03The way you and I were raised is so different. And, you know,
- 23:07you had to actually like go knock on someone's door or call them on a phone
- 23:11with a giant spiral cord and it was connected to the wall.
- 23:15And, you know, it's just that it is such a nostalgic thing looking back at it.
- 23:21But, you know, I remember being really so sad, like when my when my friend Kelly
- 23:27across the street couldn't play with me and she was busy and like,
- 23:30who am I going to play with?
- 23:32And and then, you know, I would be creative and do some creative project.
- 23:35And then we'd play probably like two hours later or the next day.
- 23:40And, you know, I thought that was devastating when someone just couldn't see
- 23:43me for that one moment in time.
- 23:46And now we look at where, you know, the next generation, that 16 to,
- 23:50you know, 30s, they have never known life without social media, without cell phones.
- 23:58And it's interesting to me that kids want to,
- 24:03They'd rather just sit there and talk on their phone to a friend than get in the car and go drive.
- 24:09It's like you can really touch and feel and see in person and look in each other's
- 24:14eyes and laugh together and share the experience together.
- 24:23It's so bizarre to me. Really, for the first time in all of humanity,
- 24:28we have this weird lack of connection.
- 24:32Um, so, yeah. And so I want to encourage those about, and you don't look that
- 24:37old, Hannah. Oh, thank you.
- 24:39There's gray. Look closer. Look closer. Yeah. I mean, I was thinking about that
- 24:43too. I mean, in third grade, I snuck out my window to go hang out with a friend,
- 24:47right? I was so desperate. And of course I got in serious trouble for it.
- 24:51Um, but we really need to, um, be intentional about pulling these younger people
- 24:59into situations that they might rebel against initially, but,
- 25:04they will find value in, you know?
- 25:07I had to, I've had to take my two sons that are 29 and 27 now.
- 25:14I've had to take them into, you know, situations that they didn't want to go,
- 25:18but they found value in it.
- 25:20My son was, Israel was 18 years old and I put him on a plane and said,
- 25:24you're going to go help me lead worship in Romania.
- 25:26And he spent three years there and came back with a beautiful wife,
- 25:30right? Because God touched his life so much and he did not want to go on that
- 25:34trip, right? He did not want to get involved there.
- 25:39But that's exactly what he needed. And so, you know, I grew up in an age where,
- 25:44You know, we did street evangelism. We went to Mardi Gras and shared the gospel,
- 25:50from Christ for the Nations. And, you know, we had real relationships and real
- 25:55experiences that created leadership in us.
- 25:59And I just want to remind us as some of the older people, let's look for opportunities
- 26:04to generate that in our kids and our grandkids.
- 26:08And it might force them into an uncomfortable situation, but that's OK.
- 26:12That's what they really need.
- 26:14Yeah, I think that's such a good reminder. I think you hit the nail on the head,
- 26:18you know, really talking about pulling them into something that they might not want to do.
- 26:22And the easy thing is to go, oh, they don't want to do this.
- 26:25I don't want to push them.
- 26:27But as a parent and, you know, when you see those kind of red flags or you notice that.
- 26:34You have that discernment. The Lord has given you that, you know,
- 26:37discernment about your own kids of like, oh, we need to, I really want them
- 26:42to do, you know, whatever this is, you know, whether that's going with you somewhere,
- 26:45like a trip, like you said.
- 26:48Or whether it's like, hey, I just want you to like sit here with me or,
- 26:51hey, let's go to the store together.
- 26:53So I love talking to my kids in the car because they're like buckled and we're captive.
- 26:58And I've always enjoyed that and just making them go with you.
- 27:02And it's easy. Once they hit a certain age, it's easy to be like,
- 27:05oh, yeah, just stay home. It's fine. Get some more schoolwork done or whatever.
- 27:08And I'll have some alone time.
- 27:11But it is so impactful when we decide to do the harder thing and what's harder for them as well.
- 27:21And we do kind of twist their arm a little and force them into something that
- 27:24really can be very beautiful.
- 27:26And sometimes, you know, because their brains haven't developed fully,
- 27:30they don't know what's fully good for them.
- 27:32And as a parent, seeing those opportunities and taking advantage of them and,
- 27:38you know, really pushing into them when they're pulling away.
- 27:43You know, some of the best advice given to me when my kids were a lot younger
- 27:46is, hey, sometimes they'll pull away from you and that's when you have to push
- 27:49in that much harder. Yeah.
- 27:51And so just really, really being mindful of that and knowing that on the front
- 27:55end. So They're like, oh, oh, they're pulling back. This means I need to like
- 28:00grab them and pull them in and reel them back in.
- 28:04You know, we're called to steer. And, you know, I think of like the rod.
- 28:10The rod isn't just for like whopping them over the head. The rod's for like
- 28:13steering them. Like, hey, you know, come on, come back this way.
- 28:17So it's good. It's really good.
- 28:19Yeah, another example of that, Hannah, is I took my 26-year-old son to Charlie
- 28:23Kirk's memorial with me.
- 28:25And he was so deeply impacted. And it was such a bonding experience for us.
- 28:32I mean, he's a dad of two. He had two kids by that point.
- 28:35And I said, Ben, I really feel like you're supposed to go with me to this memorial.
- 28:39And number one, it made him realize what I do and all the people I know and
- 28:45all the impact I've had that he wasn't fully aware of.
- 28:50But it was also just being there and realizing that he could have a part in
- 28:55his generation's future and that God was speaking to his life,
- 29:01you know, not just through Charlie, but through, you know, just being in the
- 29:06room and realizing that God's not done with his generation.
- 29:10And that's really, really important that we try to facilitate those experiences for our children.
- 29:17That's beautiful. I love that.
- 29:20Oh, man. All right. Well, I don't want to keep you too long.
- 29:23I really want to encourage the
- 29:25audience to just find the links in the show notes and connect with you.
- 29:30And it's just like the sweetest thing when people like you've experienced connect
- 29:35with you and encourage you and say, hey, this was just so powerful.
- 29:41And I love the feedback that you received. And that guy on the plane,
- 29:44I just can picture. both of them.
- 29:48Man, people on the planes are the best, right?
- 29:52I love those conversations and those just really significant moments that the
- 29:57Lord brings us and divine appointments, as we like to say. And that's really cool. So.
- 30:07What else is a call to action that you have for us?
- 30:11Well, Hannah, I just wrote a book called Stepping Up to Lead,
- 30:13Rebuilding a Nation in the Footsteps of Nehemiah that just came out.
- 30:17Candice Cameron Bray, DJ Tanner wrote the foreword.
- 30:20He was my spokesperson for America is the Bible. And we just want to really
- 30:25encourage people to step out and be the leaders they're called to be.
- 30:28And it goes through the whole chronological study of the book of Nehemiah,
- 30:31but also the 16 characteristics of Nehemiah and highlights.
- 30:36Each chapter highlights American heroes today in different spheres of culture,
- 30:41that are doing those things.
- 30:44I mean, anybody from my friend Leland, who's a worship leader,
- 30:47to Patricia Heaton, standing up for the Jewish people, to Dr.
- 30:52James Dobson or David Wilkerson that have passed on.
- 30:55So we just want to inspire Americans that now is the time for us to be Ezra's,
- 31:01for us to be reading scripture to our families and making scripture a priority in our life.
- 31:08But it's also time for us to do the stuff and to be leaders.
- 31:12And it doesn't matter how old you are. It doesn't matter how young you are.
- 31:17God wants to use you.
- 31:19So anyway, check out that book. And then also we'd love for you to go through
- 31:23the Bible with us January 1, the whole Bible live at bunnypounds.org.
- 31:28That's awesome. Bunny, can you give us a sneak? I'm dying to know if there's
- 31:32like, I would love to hear like one hero that you talk about.
- 31:39Well, I talk about my friend Scott Turner, who's our HUD secretary in the administration
- 31:45right now. Scott was an NFL player.
- 31:47He grew up without a lot of opportunities, but God raised him up.
- 31:54He went and ran for the statehouse and became a pastor, associate pastor at
- 31:59Prestonwood Baptist Church with Dr. Jack Graham.
- 32:01And now is our HUD secretary working for the president right now,
- 32:06dealing with everything housing and, you know, poverty in our country.
- 32:10So working with the economic opportunity zones and all that stuff to provide
- 32:15more opportunity for people.
- 32:17But he's such an amazing example of a man who just literally step by step in
- 32:22his life said yes to God and allowed God to open the doors for him.
- 32:27And he's the one that leads prayer in the cabinet meetings most of the time.
- 32:31If you see Scott pray, the president's like, Scott, you know how to pray.
- 32:35He knows his God and he knows how to walk with God.
- 32:38And he's just one example. There are many examples of people,
- 32:43whether it's Patricia Heaton in the movie in Hollywood area,
- 32:47having been Everybody Loves Raymond or The Middle, that is bold and standing up for
- 32:52the Jewish people against culture right now,
- 32:56or people like Leland that's a revivalist that's just faithful to write songs
- 33:00to Jesus that impacts the world.
- 33:02So anyway, it's a great book. If you want a Bible study for your family or your
- 33:07church, I just highly encourage everybody to be leaders in their community.
- 33:12It's time for us to step out to lead.
- 33:14I just love that idea because I think there are so few heroes or role models
- 33:21that our children can have and that we can have.
- 33:24We kind of, it's like we're not in the Michael Jordan world anymore.
- 33:28Like we just, I always think of him when I think of like a role model because
- 33:31when you're, you know, when we're young, it's like, oh, Michael Jordan,
- 33:34what a great athlete, you know?
- 33:36But we have so few people that we can, you know, really point our kids to aspire
- 33:42to be like. It's like, no, like not Taylor Swift. No, not her over there. No, not him.
- 33:48You know, but we are we really are craving, you know, very true heroes that
- 33:55we can aspire to be and be inspired by and encouraged by their life story.
- 34:00And, you know, when we don't have great people to look towards,
- 34:05then we're limiting what we choose to do, I think.
- 34:08I think if we see an example of someone, whether it's in history or in modern
- 34:14time, and we go, wow, like they did that? Like, how did they even pull that
- 34:19off? That's incredible.
- 34:21And their life is a living testimony of the Lord's, you know, power in their life.
- 34:26Then then that gives us I think it it grows our faith in order to see their
- 34:31life and what they're able to do and you know I think I think that's one of
- 34:36the things that we kind of all experienced.
- 34:40With Charlie's martyrdom you know we were like holy cow like this man was able
- 34:47like for the whole world you know I was already watching but people that weren't watching,
- 34:52realized how much work he had been doing and what an impact he had and what a threat he had become.
- 35:01To the evils of this world.
- 35:03And to look at someone's life like that and go, man, look at the hours that
- 35:09he put in and the time and what he was able to do. And now...
- 35:15All right, Hannah, step it up. Like we got it. We got it.
- 35:18Come on. We got this. We got this. I can't complain about what I'm doing.
- 35:21I got it. I got to push forward for the kingdom. And I just I applaud you for,
- 35:27such an inspiring book. And I'm so excited to to read it. I haven't read it yet.
- 35:33So very awesome. And I encourage everyone to go get it. I think it's it's fantastic.
- 35:38Thank you, Hannah. Well, it's a call to us in a leadership crisis that we need
- 35:42to be different and we need to stand up to lead.
- 35:44And I love to tell our young people when we have leadership retreats,
- 35:49we always start with, what do you want people to say at your funeral?
- 35:52It sounds so morbid, but I mean, really, we have to live from that eternal perspective.
- 35:58What is your life going to count for? Yes.
- 36:02And then that has to impact your daily decisions.
- 36:05What do you do with your body, your soul, and your spirit to live out the call
- 36:10of God on your life every day?
- 36:11And so I think Nehemiah is a perfect example of that.
- 36:14Someone who was a mobilizer, someone that had favor on his life,
- 36:19was a man of prayer and fasting, a man of strategic wisdom, somebody that brought
- 36:24joy into every situation.
- 36:27And so I just want to inspire people that, you know.
- 36:31If you go to Jesus every day, you can live a grand adventure and we can inspire
- 36:35the next generations to come.
- 36:36And, you know, when I die, I hope that people that gather at my memorial service
- 36:42say, Bunny loved Jesus well and she loved people well and she lived in radical faith.
- 36:48That would be my hope. Well, I think you have nothing to worry about there.
- 36:52I think we all can see that. And, man, I think just the legacy that we leave
- 36:58is, you know, a choice we have to make.
- 37:00What do we want it to look like? And, and we, you know, every day can,
- 37:06can face the day with that in mind and just that kingdom mindset.
- 37:09And if we, if we lose sight, the second we lose sight of, you know,
- 37:15really having that eternal mentality, then we start living differently.
- 37:20We're living for the world, but if we keep on the forefront just that,
- 37:25you know, we are not, we're not home yet and we've got a lot of work to do before
- 37:30we get there and the Lord's called us to something here on earth.
- 37:35Then I think we're going to leave the legacy that, you know,
- 37:38prayerfully is one that is worth living up to.
- 37:42So thank you. Thank you, Bunny, for your work that you're doing.
- 37:46And uh man i just i love all the hats that you're wearing and and all the all
- 37:51the things that you've got going on and,
- 37:54it's um it's beautiful and it's inspiring and you know we're called to be a
- 37:58voice in the public square and you are inspiring me and you're doing that so
- 38:02i just really appreciate it thank you for having me on hannah yes thanks so much.
- 38:09If today's conversation stirred something in you, if you're craving a little
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- 38:28It's about coming home to Him.
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