Our Story

From a World in Crisis to a Platform of Peace

It began during one of the most uncertain times in modern history.

The year was 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic had swept across the globe. Cities were locked down. Hospitals were overwhelmed. Supermarket shelves were empty. Fear gripped the world in a way few had experienced before. People masked their faces, avoided eye contact, and distanced themselves not just physically—but emotionally.

News outlets ran endless loops of death counts, riots, political clashes, and a growing cultural divide. Anxiety surged. Division deepened. And hope seemed to shrink by the day.

While many turned inward, consumed by the fear and noise, one man felt a different kind of stirring.

Matt Angerer, a tech innovator who had recently sold his previous SaaS company in real estate, was now working in Customer Success for a software quality engineering company. But something bigger was calling him. He couldn’t ignore the collective ache he saw in the world—a deep spiritual hunger beneath the headlines.

Matt knew that pain intimately. As someone who had lived with generalized anxiety disorder, he understood what it meant to live under the weight of fear. But he also knew a way through it: writing. Reflecting. Praying. Journaling. For years, putting pen to paper had helped him reframe anxiety and turn his heart toward God.

So as the world drowned in noise and division, Matt had a simple but powerful idea:
What if we built a digital refuge where people could process, pray, and heal—through journaling?

JournalOwl: The Beginning

Matt reconnected with his long-time friend and former business partner, Jeff Pierce, to bring the idea to life. In mid-2020, the two launched JournalOwl, a platform designed to help people cope through guided journaling.

The app offered classic literature, therapeutic writing prompts, and exercises to help users make sense of anxiety, trauma, and uncertainty. From Aristotle to C.S. Lewis, JournalOwl invited people to learn, grow, and reflect. And it worked—people came from all over the world to write their way toward peace.

But something beautiful and unexpected began to happen…

The Rise of Bible Journaling

As JournalOwl grew, Matt and Jeff noticed a trend:
A significant number of users weren’t just journaling about stress or relationships—they were journaling about scripture.

They were reading the Bible, highlighting verses, and using JournalOwl to reflect, pray, and grow spiritually.

It wasn’t a small trend—it was the majority. More than 80% of new users were Christians, using JournalOwl for Bible journaling.

That discovery changed everything.

A New Name. A Deeper Mission.

By late 2023, it was clear that JournalOwl needed to evolve into something more focused—more faith-driven. After much prayer and planning, Matt and Jeff decided to pause operations and reimagine the platform.

The result is HolyJot.

Rooted in the power of the written Word, HolyJot is a Bible journaling experience built specifically for Christians who want to grow closer to God through reflection, study, and personal writing.

Backed by intuitive AI, HolyJot helps you explore scripture verse by verse with thoughtful prompts, deep insights, and a growing suite of faith-based tools—all designed to make your quiet time more meaningful, more guided, and more Spirit-led.

Introducing FaithAI

One of HolyJot’s most powerful new features is Faith, your built-in companion who helps you dive deeper into scripture. Faith provides context, encouragement, journaling prompts, and answers to your Bible questions—right inside the app.

Each morning, Faith can send you a customized "Verse of the Day"—not a cookie-cutter message, but one tailored to what you journaled the day before. It’s like having a Bible mentor and spiritual encourager in your pocket, always pointing you back to truth.

What Drives Us

Matt and Jeff still work their day jobs in the tech industry. But HolyJot is more than a side project. It’s a calling. A mission. A digital ministry born out of a time when the world was unraveling—and God was drawing His people back to Himself.

We didn’t build HolyJot to go viral. We built it to go deep.

Because we believe the world doesn’t need more noise.

It needs stillness.
It needs truth.
It needs a place where people can write, reflect, and grow with God—one verse, one journal entry, one prayer at a time.

What’s Next?

HolyJot officially relaunches in August 2025 with Bible study journeys for all 66 books of the Bible, an ever-growing library of features, and a global vision to help believers everywhere engage with God’s Word like never before.

We’re just getting started.

Join the journey.
Write your faith story with us.
Welcome to HolyJot.