A Year-End Update from Christians Engaged
Dear Friends,
When I think of 2020 and the foundation that we have built at Christians Engaged in the midst of coronavirus, I smile. Now more than EVER, Christians need to be mobilized to vote regularly to impact Texas and America for the future. We are creating a test model here in the Lone Star state that we believe can impact all 50 states into the future.
I want to share our 2020 milestones and our future plans with you in this report. To put this in context, we were able to accomplish ALL of this with only one full-time paid employee and a team of volunteers. Can you imagine what an increase in our budget for more church outreach could accomplish for our future and the state of Texas?
When we launched this nonprofit in December of 2019, four months before the world went crazy, I knew we had a flexible, dynamic instrument to impact the state of Texas - awakening, educating and empowering - building habits of prayer, voting and engagement into the lives of believers in Jesus.
We started out with a simple tool—our PLEDGE, which when Christians opt in, they begin receiving weekly text messages to pray, to vote in EVERY election, and semi-monthly emails that empower them with biblically-based resources to help them engage and make a difference in the culture.
Our flexibility and submission to the Lord’s plans were tested, but our obedience combined with His faithfulness yielded amazing results.
Even with the mass interruptions brought on by the pandemic, since our launch, our team has spoken at 100+ events—including media interviews, outside events, and events that we hosted. This includes 27 churches where we have conducted our church programs in person and/or partnered with in 2020. Doors have been swinging open without much push from us.
This summer we launched a Spanish-language version of our website, a Spanish-language version of our “Take the Pledge” program and conducted our first Spanish-language church service, complete with a headliner and panelists. We are excited to actively grow this side of our outreach and ministry in 2021. Latinos are key to the state of Texas and who are more important for our future than God-fearing Hispanics to develop habits of prayer, voting, and engagement?
We created and taught an eight-hour paid Zoom course, Onramp to Political Activism for Christians with over 100 students joining us and over 60 graduating (graduation included a report that each student had to present to us during the final class). We have professionally recorded and are editing the entire Onramp course for release in January to the masses, so that we can expand our outreach and continue offering this important resource without being bound by time constrictions that a live class brings.
If at our December 2019 launch, you told me that in March 2020 our organization would be hosting statewide video prayer calls on Zoom with special guests including former Gov. Rick Perry, Railroad Commissioners Wayne Christian and Christi Craddick, Congressmen Van Taylor and Chip Roy, among other state officials, I don’t think I would have believed you. This was not part of our original plan or vision, but these online prayer meetings provided an oasis of HOPE to thousands of individuals throughout our state during a scary year.
If you had told me that at the onset of the pandemic we would be initiating a letter writing campaign called "Letters of Blessing & Hope” to our mayors, county judges, and the Vice President and the Coronavirus Task Force, which would culminate in a personal phone call from Vice President Mike Pence, I definitely wouldn’t have believed you. Those projects were not even on our radar when we launched, but they were in the heart of God and we are thankful for the hearts that were touched and encouraged through our efforts.
In 2020, we have been invited into 27 churches throughout our state, building relationships with pastors and their congregations (even co-branding our PLEDGE with Watermark Plano and UPPERROOM Dallas...AND REGISTERING NEW VOTERS). This is only just the beginning - we are just getting started...
We need YOUR help in 2021 as we awaken the Church in these areas. We need more people working full-time on this mission--so that we can dedicate the time needed for church outreach, fundraising, and resource development. Our practical outreach tools are connecting with Christians in such a powerful way.
We want to expand our influence by increasing the numbers of Christians being educated on practical political engagement methods, biblical values and how these values connect to our votes and efforts in politics. The way that we take these objectives into overdrive is by us having the financial resources needed to push this organization past the foundation building into greater impact. I am confident that with your support we can take Christians Engaged to the next phase of growth—this includes future plans for field directors who will organize volunteers and area leaders around our state to talk to Christians both inside and outside the church.
Our methods are working - we just need to put them into overdrive. Will you help us? Would you commit to a monthly recurring donation of $500, $250, $100, or $25 that would enable us to plan for 2021? Or a one-time gift to help us with our yearly budget - helping us to build upon this foundation?
Since our launch, we have received over $125,000 in donations without us actively fundraising. God sovereignly moved upon the hearts of people to help us. Can you imagine what we could do around this state if we can triple that now for 2021? Please help us fulfill the call of the God on our lives for TEXAS. We are missionaries to America. Thank you for joining arms with us and pushing this message of prayer, voting and engagement forward into the future.
For the furtherance of America and the awakening of the Body of Christ around Texas.
Bunni Pounds,
Founder and President of Christians Engaged