With more than 16 million downloads, 2 billion minutes of content consumption, 140 million shares of the app on social media platforms and 60 pastors from across the nation providing content, pray.com is the “No. 1 app for daily prayer and bedtime Bible stories.”
Even considering those incredibly high numbers, pray.com’s success is revealed more through a much smaller audience — two — because of its ability to share a daily prayer.
“We might be nervous to invite people to church. But telling them we are thinking of them and sending them a daily prayer, it’s a little easier to start the conversation,” said Matthew Potter, co-founder of pray.com.
“Even recently, a police officer in Ohio was going to commit suicide,” he continued. “A friend of his sent him the daily prayer in the moment that he was going to commit suicide. [The officer] emailed us and said, ‘Thank you for saving my life.’
“But we didn’t save his life. God saved his life. God put it on the heart of the person who read that daily prayer to send it to him,” Potter said.
Spreading hope
Describing it as another “God thing,” Potter recently found someone who was spreading the message of Christ to a new audience — fans of IndyCar.
He had no doubt of what pray.com needed to do.
“It sounds like we’re mission-aligned. Let’s bring God to motorsports,” Potter said.
So in 2024, pray.com joined with Robb to spread the hope of prayer.
“In my career, we have tried to be uncompromising in our faith while reaching for success on the racetrack,” Robb said. “The partnership with pray.com allows us a unique opportunity to do just that by connecting our purpose in life — God’s call to action — with our passion for racing.”
His manager, Kimmie Serrano, who is also his mother, agreed.
“From the earliest days of karting, Sting Ray has been on a mission to share with others about the hope we have in Jesus. He has utilized his God-given talent on the various motorsports platforms to continue planting seeds everywhere he goes.
“As his momager, I’ve been in a unique position to see how God has been at the wheel of this ride every step of the way, guiding and providing. It is no surprise that the journey led us to this partnership with pray.com. The alignment with pray.com is truly a realization of all the prayers throughout the years and brings faith into the fast lane — literally!”
God moments
The God moments that led to pray.com’s influence on the lives of an officer and an IndyCar driver originated with a 15-year-old girl walking to an abortion clinic but stopping at a church first to ask for advice. Because he was new to ministry, the pastor of the church decided to call a friend.
This more experienced pastor, who had just met with a couple who had been trying to have children for 10 years, suggested asking the girl about placing her baby for adoption.
“The girl said yes. I got adopted because these two pastors in ministry were friends,” Potter said.
Potter went from being adopted through a God moment to seeing many more throughout his life. One of those key moments happened after he dropped out of school when he learned about Apple’s new app store.
This led to starting a company with his roommate that built 8,000-plus real estate apps. But 10 years later, he realized he had lost his purpose.
After praying and asking his pastor for advice, he ran into an old friend Steve Gatena, who had just lost a business partner in a plane crash. During this tragedy, Gatena was given an audio sermon, which led him to Christ.
Over coffee, Gatena told Potter that he was frustrated. He could have learned about Jesus earlier if there were a digital format for Christians like sports fans have for ESPN.
He then told Potter, “I bought the domain pray.com, and I want to help people just like me.”
New direction
Knowing this was a God moment, Potter stepped down from his company the next day. Shortly after that, while waiting in a restaurant, Gatena ran into former middle school classmate Ryan Beck.
Gatena had played college football before owning a couple of very successful companies. Beck had been a drug dealer but was led to Christ in jail. Unable to find work, a pastor offered Beck a position as facilities manager. The church gifted Beck scholarships that led to Beck working in international missions’ nonprofits and as a computer programmer.
“It was a strange meeting because the last time Steve saw Ryan, Ryan was working on being America’s most wanted. The last time Ryan saw Steve, Steve was working on being an All-American,” Potter said.
Meanwhile, Michael Lynn was working his way up the ladder at Merrill Lynch, managing $750 million for high net worth individuals.
All four men had unique God-given gifts and were looking to “take technology back for the Kingdom.”
“We knew if God was behind it and God blessed it, it would work,” Potter said, adding that it still took years and multiple updates before pray.com got off the ground.
Potter attributes pray.com’s success to prayer, putting God first and a world-class team of people who left high-level positions to contribute to the mission and vision. These include Victor Harris, chief data officer; Max Bard, vice president of content; Brian Davi, chief business officer; and Jason Rosoff, vice president of marketing.
“We’re all just following God’s plans for our lives,” Potter said. “When we follow God’s plans for our lives, we can impact the world in a big way together.”
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