As church attendance skyrockets in congregations across America and Bible sales increase around the globe, there is growing evidence that a spiritual shift is taking place. Now, a popular daily Bible reading podcast has jumped into Apple Podcasts’ Top 10 for the third year in a row.
Tara Leigh Cobble, host of the popular “The Bible Recap” podcast, says that the fact that so many people are flocking to her podcast reveals that more people are “coming home” to their Christian faith, which they once abandoned.
“We’re seeing a lot of people who are returning to the faith,” Cobble told Fox News Digital. “Those who walked away or deconstructed — for whatever reason — some of them are coming back home.”
Cobble told CBN News that it was her own journey of faith that set the backdrop for her podcast. Despite growing up in a Christian household, Cobble says she lacked a hunger for God’s Word. It wasn’t until her pastor challenged her to dig deeper that she discovered her love for the Word, as well as a deeper love for God.
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“I fell in love with God through this conduit of his words,” said Cobble. “So, something that I always knew and admired and respected and knew was true, I then fell in love with.”
She shared in 2024 that she also came to a startling realization: “The Bible isn’t about me.”
“I was looking for the character and the person of God instead of my to-do list, my takeaway, my action step, my application points. The Bible isn’t about me. It’s for me. It’s not about me. It’s about God. It’s about who He is,” she explained.
That revelation led Cobble to launch her podcast in 2019. “The Bible Recap” is a daily program that takes listeners through the Bible in about 10 minutes a day, along with some commentary. When Cobble began the podcast, her goal was to reach 300 listeners on her mission to “equip people to read, understand, and love the Bible.” It has catapulted to a global community, reaching over 500 million downloads. At the beginning of January, “The Bible Recap” ranked in the top five Apple podcasts across all categories, Fox News reports.
Cobble’s podcast has expanded to children 12 and under. “The Bible Recap Kids,” hosted by “Miss Emily,” debuted at No. 1 on Apple Podcasts in the Kids & Family category in January.
“We are blown away that people want to read and understand and love God’s Word and that they’re finding this resource to be helpful to them,” she told CBN News when the podcast had reached 300 million downloads and 800,000 new subscribers.
“My prayer when I started was that 300 people would do it with me,” she added. “I mean, Ephesians 3:20 ‘exceedingly more than you can ask or hope’ re-imagined.”
Cobble offers encouragement for people who start their Bible reading off strong at the start of the New Year, but then taper off.
“If you fall behind, just pick back up,” she said. “It’s a 365-day plan. When you do the Bible Recap, the book, the podcast, the YouTube, none of it says January one, January two. It says day one, day two. And if there’s four days between those, it doesn’t matter, pick back up. You’re right on time. Lean back in. God is ready and waiting for you and has beautiful things for you in that space.”
“For some people, it takes them two years to do it, and that’s OK,” she told Fox about the daily reading plan. “Every download represents a person engaging with Scripture, so every download will always matter to us!”
Cobble says the goal isn’t perfection, but developing a relationship with God, which takes time.
“Remember: every day that you’re in God’s Word, you’re right on time,” she shared in an interview. “Don’t let your perfectionism steal your enthusiasm. Don’t expect to do it flawlessly or understand it completely. That’s not what this is about. This is about looking for God and His character in the pages of His Word—and every day is a treasure hunt! And He promises that if you seek Him with all your heart, you will find Him! So keep digging!”
WATCH HER STORY – The Bible Recap’s Tara Leigh Cobble on Loving God’s Word: ‘It’s Not About Me’
