The @biblesummary Twitter account passed 30,000 followers today. I'm quite surprised about that because I posted the final summary to 29,085 followers and I've been very clear that there will be no more tweets.

To mark the occasion, here are a few final stats for the project...

The whole summary came in at 164,176 characters (including spaces and punctuation) and 29,078 words. That’s seven words less than the number of followers over the course of the project.

I averaged 138.1 characters per tweet out of a maximum 140. I'm pretty pleased with that figure, particularly considering that I posted a couple of extremely short summaries. (e.g. "Ps117: Praise the LORD! For great is his love towards us.")

I had a total of 18,957 retweets over the course of the project (and counting!)

The most retweeted chapter was the first (Genesis 1, 130 retweets) and the second most retweeted was the last (Revelation 22, 92 retweets).

The least retweeted chapter was a tie between Job 18 and Ezekiel 39 (3 retweets each).

People found the Bible Summary website via 71,031 different search terms.

There were 636,555 visitors to the Bible Summary website over the course of the project. That includes people from almost every country in the world.

It amazes me that every digit of these dizzying numbers represents someone engaging with the project. Thank you once again for your interest!

The project is over. The media attention has pretty much faded. So how has life changed now that I don't summarise the Bible every day?

For the first few mornings I felt a nagging sense that there was something I ought to be doing that I'd forgotten. It was both disorientating and a huge relief when I realised each day that it was Bible Summary and that it was finished.

Then I began to notice having energy to spare as I started my work. I realise again how much the effect of summarising every day has added up, and I'm thankful again for the support of my family.

Right now I'm mainly feeling surprised at how easily I've adjusted. Ten days after the end and I'm fairly unmindful of the absence of the deepest of habits.

I've been shocked to rediscover how difficult it can be to know what to read in the Bible. I decided to read Romans, which I'm obviously benefiting from. But it's hard to feel the same urgency as when I knew I needed to summarise my reading for tens of thousands of Twitter followers.

I actually went a whole day without reading Scripture a couple of days ago. Lots of things were going on in life, and without the obligation of the project I simply didn't prioritise it. It's strange to think how many consecutive days of reading that brought to an end.

Of course, it's possible to end up going through the motions with any habit. Summarising chapters has greatly helped my focus and understanding, but it has also became a technique that I can perform without my whole heart being in it. It's healthy to ask again why I'm reading the Bible at all. There are profound answers to that question.

Bringing my private reading into the public sphere has been an interesting and helpful experiment. But there's risk in it. Having finished the project I wonder how much it has in common with the Pharisees praying on street corners in Matthew 6. In the end I don't think that's a valid criticism, but it does make me think.

Summarising the Bible on Twitter was exactly the right thing to do when I started. And now it would be exactly the wrong thing to continue. It's time for me to reconnect with devotional reading as a private habit.

Three-and-a-half years ago, just as I was coming up with the idea for Bible Summary, my wife and I were invited to write some study material for a new version of the Youth Bible.

The original Youth Bible was the version that I read as a teenager, so it was an amazing and slightly terrifying privilege to get involved. I wrote studies on Ecclesiastes and Colossians (which in fact I mentioned in a previous post).

The months passed, Bible Summary took off, my wife and I had our sons, and the new Youth Bible remained forthcoming. Out of sight, out of mind.

But other folk were clearly working hard behind the scenes. A week ago - just a couple of days before I finished Bible Summary - a large package appeared at our door. Two copies of the finished ERV Authentic Youth Bible!

It's very gratifying to find that much of what we wrote has made the cut for the final version. (Although they did omit what with hindsight I accept was a slightly dark study on Death from Ecclesiastes.) And the coincidence with the start and end of Bible Summary is very pleasing.

I've flicked through some of the rest of my copy, and I would definitely recommend the new version for youth leaders and young people who want to get to grips with Scripture.

You can buy it directly from Authentic Media in your choice of red or teal.