What started as a simple concept to read just a few minutes from the Bible each day as a short daily program has ballooned into one of the top podcasts on the entire Apple platform. The Bible Recap began in 2019 with a paltry goal of reaching just 300 listeners and has since been downloaded over half a billion times in a wild success story demonstrating the thirst people have for the Word of God.
Host of the podcast hit, Tara-Leigh Cobble said the show’s success clearly highlights a pattern of individuals seeking purpose and meaning in their lives through faith, as pursuits around the self or government clearly aren’t working. She also said many of her listeners are those that had previously abandoned their Christian roots but ‘are coming back home’ to their original faith.
“We’re seeing a lot of people who are returning to the faith,” Cobble, host of “The Bible Recap,” said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “Those who walked away or deconstructed — for whatever reason — some of them are coming back home.”
Indeed, it is more than just ‘some of them’ as the host stated. For the third consecutive January, the Bible-based podcast showcased in Apple’s Top Ten, and even hit as high as the Top Five in the early weeks of 2026. This places it in huge company as it shares the stage with the likes of major productions from the New York Times and Joe Rogan.
The format of the show is simple. It is a daily program that guides listeners through the entirety of the Bible in ten-minute segments at a time. The listen can easily be completed on a short commute, rounding out chores at home, or during a workout.
While many shows try to do a Bible-in-a-year approach, Cobble says the timeline for her program is more open ended. She noted a listener drop at the end of the year but realized people receive the Word at their own pace. If they miss a day, they can simply go back and listen to where they were previously. While it can be done in a year, she said many take two or more.
Addressing the slowdown throughout times of the year, she said people are adapting to new schedules or routines and are simply going ‘at their own pace.’ “That [fewer downloads] doesn’t mean people have stopped reading their Bibles; it just means they’re taking it at their own pace,” she explained. “They miss a day here and there, so they aren’t downloading it every day, but they still do the plan—just on their own schedule.
“For some people, it takes them two years to do it, and that’s OK,” she continued. “Every download represents a person engaging with Scripture, so every download will always matter to us!” she added.
As with any new habit, or with habits people intend to commit to, Cobble suggested the life hack of ‘habit stacking.’ With that practice, listening to the Bible would be incorporated into other pre-existing routines. Cobble said her own routine was to listen to audio while preparing coffee. For others, it might look like adding it to a morning reading schedule, drive, or walk.
“I like to listen to each day’s reading on the audio Bible app while I make my coffee and get my day started,” she said. “Then, I sit down with it. I’ve made it a part of my routine.” Further increasing the likelihood of success as measured by commitment to a daily listening plan was including others in the habit. Looping in a friend or family member makes the experience less isolating and adds the layer of mutual accountability. It also means the other person might have picked up something the other missed.
At the end of the day, Cobble’s main takeaway was not that every episode gets listened to, but that the relationship with God grows stronger. “Remember: every day that you’re in God’s Word, you’re right on time. 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,” she said.