Nearly 500 U.S. political and ministry leaders will participate in a weeklong Bible reading event organized by Christians Engaged, a Colorado Springs nonprofit that works to get evangelicals to the polls.
For 12 hours a day from April 19-25, leaders will read the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation at Washington's Museum of the Bible as part of America Reads the Bible, which seeks to put faith at the heart of celebrations of America's 250th anniversary and "call the nation back to its spiritual foundations."
The event opens with an April 18 church service and will be livestreamed and carried on broadcast radio, and hundreds of churches and Christian schools have signed up to watch it.
"The Bible is the textbook of our country and the foundation of our law and liberty," says organizer Bunni Pounds, a pastor's daughter and veteran Republican organizer.
The event will feature leaders of Colorado Springs nonprofits including Focus on the Family, the Colson Center, Colorado Christian University, WaterStone Foundation, and Andrew Wommack's ministry and political group, Truth & Liberty Coalition.
Participating national leaders include:
- Evangelist Fraklin Graham, "The Chosen" director Dallas Jenkins, Trump "prophet" Lance Wallnau, Lucas Miles of Turning Point USA, Mark Keefe of National Rifle Association, and Christian musicians and worship leaders;
- Members of the Trump administration, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles;
- And more than 50 Republican officials, including three U.S. senators (Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana worked for Focus), and Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick, the governor and lieutenant governor of Texas.
Pounds says she invited 60 Democrats to participate but none accepted the invite.
She hopes the event will inspire faith in both God and America while reviving churches weighed down by "complacency and apathy."
Pounds lives in Dallas, but her nonprofit Christians Engaged is based in the Springs following its 2024 merger with the Family Policy Alliance and the Family Policy Alliance Foundation. Focus founder James Dobson created FPA within Focus in the 1980s, and it now oversees a network of activist groups in 40 states. Nearly 50 leaders from FPA's office here and its state groups will read Bible passages.
Tony Perkins and other leaders of the Dobson-founded Family Research Council will also read passages.
Pounds describes herself as a believer who is "passionate about Jesus, strong in the word of God, and steadfast in my love for my country."
She said she "fell in love with Jesus" at age 13, experienced the Holy Spirit at age 14, and grew interested in anti-abortion politics by age 17.
Christians Engaged is investing $1.7 million in America Reads the Bible, an idea that came to Pounds as she visited the Museum of the Bible:
"I thought, man, it would be awesome if we had national leaders from all spheres of influence, all demographics and denominations, if they would stand up humbly in front of the American people and tell us that this is where they get their life and their peace and their wisdom is in Scripture every day as individuals," she told The Daily Signal.
Jews wrote most of the Bible's books, but no Jews were recruited for America Reads the Bible. Pounds said she wanted to keep the event Christian.
Five of members of the U.S. House of Representatives who will be reading Bible passages are members of Sharia-Free America Caucus, which claims American Muslims want to impose Sharia law in the U.S., threatening America and Western civilization.
Pounds says she expects most of the participants to appear in person at the Museum of the Bible but didn't give specifics out of concern for security. Just in case, all participants will record a video version of their Bible reading.
All will read from the King James Version Easy Read Bible, which adds contemporary English to the 1611 original.
Christians Engaged merged with FPA last July and the group worked to "sign up 1 million Christians to engage in the upcoming U.S. presidential election and local elections across the country for years to come."
Pounds says America Reads the Bible will do no voter recruitment but aims to enroll people in discipleship programs provided by partners including Wommack's ministry, WaterStone, and Family Research Council.