Faith and Scripture Daily

Faith & Scripture Daily

How A Tennessee Pastor's Shocking Confession About His Own Congregation Exposed The Real Reason 54% Of Christians Secretly Avoid Half Their Bible

February 12th, 2026 at 8:41 am EST

I've been going to church for 22 years. Last month was the first time the Old Testament actually made sense to me. I thought something was wrong with my faith. Turns out nobody had ever given me the one thing I actually needed. – Rebecca T.

I sat in that circle every Wednesday for nine years and never said a word.

Not because I didn't care. Because I was terrified someone would find out I hadn't read the Old Testament in six years.

I skipped it every time. Genesis to Psalms — that was my Bible. The rest I'd quietly abandoned because none of it sounded like the God I prayed to.

I thought I was the only one.

Then one Wednesday, our pastor — David St. John, 18 years of teaching in Tennessee — asked a question nobody had ever asked.

"Does the Old Testament bother you? Be honest."

Silence.

Then a deacon — 12 years in our church — looked down at his Bible and said, "Pastor, I haven't read the Old Testament in four years. Because I don't recognize the God in those pages."

Three people said, "Me too." Five more nodded. The entire room went quiet — the kind where everyone realizes they've been carrying the exact same secret.

I started crying. Not because it was sad. Because for nine years, I didn't feel alone.

But what Pastor St. John said next changed everything.

Why He Said It Wasn't Our Fault

Pastor St. John didn't lecture us. He sat down, rubbed his forehead, and said something I'll never forget.

"I owe every person in this room an apology. The problem isn't your faith. It's that nobody ever gave you the one thing you actually need before you open this book."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The Bible is 66 ancient texts written across 1,500 years, in three languages, by over 40 authors. We hand it to people and say 'just read it.' That's like giving someone a letter written in 1400 BC and expecting them to understand it cold. That's not a faith problem. That's a context problem. And every tool we've given you has been making it worse."

Why Everything We'd Tried Had Failed

Then he walked us through exactly why — and my stomach dropped.

The reading plans turned the Bible into a 365-day homework assignment. I'd started one every January for five straight years. Genesis was exciting. Then Leviticus hit — animal sacrifice laws, skin disease inspections — and by mid-February the math was impossible. Five years. Five failures. Same wall.

The Bible apps turned Scripture into a streak to protect. One woman had a 300+ day streak on YouVersion. Missed one night because her mother was in the hospital. The app reset her to zero. "That notification felt like a judgment from God." She didn't open it for months.

The devotionals left me scripturally starving. Years of daily reading — and I couldn't tell you who wrote Exodus or why. I had feelings about the Bible. Zero understanding of it.

The study Bibles — 2,000 pages of microscopic footnotes. One man said, "It didn't bring me closer to God. It made me feel stupid."

The small group itself was the one that hurt the most. Three of us had spent years nodding, smiling, and staying silent — terrified of being exposed.

Five methods. Years of trying. Every one had the same hidden flaw.

The One Thing Every Method Was Missing

Pastor St. John leaned forward. "Not one of those tools gave you the roots before asking you to read the branches."

Who wrote each book. When. Why. What was happening in that ancient world. How it connects to the rest of the story.

He'd had those roots for 18 years — seminary, historical research, decades of study. But he'd never planted them anywhere we could reach them.

So he'd spent three months working with a team of Bible teachers across Tennessee to compress that foundation into 66 single pages — one for every book of the Bible — in plain language anyone could understand in five minutes.

He rewrote each page until his teenage son could read it and say, "Oh. That's what that book is about."

He called it FaithSprout — The 66 Roots Journey.

What I Actually Saw When He Handed Me The Page

The following Wednesday, Pastor St. John set a single page at every chair. "Read the page on Exodus. Just the page. Two minutes."

I looked down. And immediately understood why this was different from anything I'd tried.

Right at the top: the author and timeline. "Written by Moses." The approximate era. Anchored in history before reading a single verse.

Below that: a chapter-by-chapter breakdown. Exodus split into three clear sections — chapters 1–18 (oppression, Moses, plagues, the exodus), 19–24 (the Law at Sinai), 25–40 (the Tabernacle). The entire shape of the book at a glance. No surprises. No getting lost.

Then: key themes — Deliverance, Covenant, Faith and Obedience, God's Presence — explained in plain language. Not abstractions. The specific threads running through every chapter.

Then the section that changed everything.

Symbolism and Imagery. Three panels: The Passover Lamb — salvation and deliverance, foreshadowing Jesus. The Plagues — God's judgment against Egypt's false gods. The Tabernacle — God's presence among His people.

My hands started shaking. This was the seminary-level insight I'd been missing for 22 years — in language I understood in under two minutes.

At the bottom: practical applications connecting the ancient text to my modern life. And a closing paragraph explaining who the original audience was — the Israelites, newly freed from slavery — and why that transforms how you read what was written.

One page. Everything I needed. Before I ever opened to chapter one.

What Happened When I Opened My Bible

Pastor St. John said, "Now open to Exodus chapter 1."

I opened it. And for the first time in my life, I wasn't staring at words on a page. I was reading a story I understood. I knew who wrote it. I knew why. I knew what the symbols meant.

Every face in the room had changed. Not confusion. Understanding.

The deacon who'd made the confession looked up and said, "Why has nobody ever told me this? I've been horrified by these books for a decade because I had no idea what I was actually reading."

That was eight months ago. What started in Pastor St. John's small Wednesday night group has since been ordered by churches in over 30 states — from 50-person rural congregations to 2,000-member megachurches. Pastors ordering bundles of 20 at a time for their entire congregation.

92% of readers reported engaging with Old Testament books they'd previously avoided. Small group participation more than doubled everywhere it was used. And multiple churches reported members who'd been quietly drifting toward the door came back.

No marketing campaign drove this. Pastors handed it to other pastors. It spread the way things spread when they actually work — one changed Bible study at a time.

The $120,000 Problem

Seminary tuition? $30,000 to $120,000. Academic commentaries? $500+. That stack of abandoned plans, apps, and study Bibles on your nightstand? Probably $200+ on tools that never gave you the one thing you needed.

The 66 Roots Journey costs $34.99.

But it's not about money. It's about the quiet doubt at night. The pretending in the pew. The 54% of Christians who remain disengaged from the book that's supposed to anchor their life.

Your Faith Deserves Better

Churches across America — from Sunday school classrooms in Georgia to home Bible studies in Oregon — are already using The 66 Roots Journey. Here's how to get yours:

🌱 3-Book Bundle — $23.33 per book + FREE Leather Cross Bookmark

Perfect for you, your spouse, and a friend who's been quietly struggling.

🌿 5-Book Bundle — $21.00 per book + FREE Leather Cross Bookmark + Bible Verse Jar + FREE eBook: "How To Study The Bible"

Ideal for families, small groups, churches, or equipping the people you love with roots they never received.

Every order includes a 30-day money-back guarantee.

No more pretending. No more guilt. No more silence.

Just 66 pages of essential context that make the entire Bible feel like one story.

Two Futures

Future One: Continue without context. Keep hitting the wall in Leviticus. Keep nodding in small group. Keep the quiet doubt.

Future Two: Plant the roots first. Watch the entire Bible connect as one story. Walk into your next Bible study and actually speak.

Our bundle pricing is a limited-time launch offer. Once this run sells through, the price returns to $34.99 per book.

[Click Here To Get The 66 Roots Journey Bundle — Starting At Just $21/Book With FREE Bonuses]

Your Bible will finally make sense.

And the next time someone asks what you thought about the passage — you'll actually have something to say.

"OK so I'm not someone who writes reviews. Ever. But I have to say something about this. I bought the 3-pack because my sister and I have literally been skipping everything between Genesis and Psalms for YEARS and just hoping nobody noticed. I read the page on Leviticus — the book I hated the most — and I actually gasped. Out loud. In my kitchen. My husband thought something was wrong. I just looked at him and said 'did you know there's an actual reason all those laws exist?' He didn't. Now he's reading it too. Just get it. Seriously."

— Tamara K., Houston TX

"My daughter (16) told me she didn't believe in God anymore because the Old Testament 'made God look evil.' I didn't know what to say because honestly I'd wondered the same thing. Our pastor mentioned this guide so I ordered the 5-pack. Left one on her desk without saying anything. She came to dinner three days later and said, 'Mom, why didn't church ever explain any of this?' She's reading Joshua right now on her own. I don't want to jinx it but I think we turned a corner."

— Donna R., Alpharetta GA

"31 years in the church. Deacon for 12. I have never once understood Revelation. Not once. I read the one page on it from this guide and it was like someone turned a light on in a room I'd been sitting in the dark in for three decades. I'm angry nobody gave me this 30 years ago. But I'm grateful I have it now. Bought 4 more for my men's group."

— Marcus J., Memphis

GET YOUR 66 ROOTS JOURNEY BUNDLE

Created by Pastor David St. John and a team of Bible teachers in Tennessee. 18 years of seminary training distilled into 66 clear pages anyone can understand.

📍 Trusted by churches in 30+ states — from small rural congregations to megachurches.

🌱 Bundles starting at just $21/book+ FREE Leather Cross Bookmark

CHECK AVAILABILITY

✔️ 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee

Click above to see if the Buy 2, Get 1 Free offer + FREE Leather Cross

Bookmark is still available

THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT AND NOT AN ACTUAL NEWS ARTICLE, BLOG, OR CONSUMER PROTECTION UPDATE

Shipping Policy • Refund Policy • Terms of Service