“My mom’s been a faithful reader of World Magazine for as long as I can recall. When one of her favorite columnists first mentioned loving A Praying Life, she passed along the recommendation,” shares Will. “I copied so many quotes into my journal as I read it that I like to joke that I probably broke copyright laws!”
Will Peycke, his wife, Kay, and their four children
Will grew up in the Kansas City area, stayed for Bible college, met his wife Kay, and went to seminary. He was serving as a pastor in Mokena, IL, in the outer Chicago suburbs, when he read A Praying Life. “I reached the end of the book and saw that there was a seminar offered on the same material. When I looked online I saw there was one happening near us in the not distant future, so Kay and I made plans to attend.”
At the seminar, they met then director Bob Allums. “We were in a needy season of life,” says Will. “Kay was pregnant with our third child, we were serving a struggling church, and I was feeling a need for mentoring and input from someone older and wiser than me. Everyone who knows Bob knows that he is just the kind of guy you’d want for that!”
Will began meeting with Bob and seeking to grow in doing life through prayer. With Bob’s coaching, he started teaching the material to others in small groups and seminars. Will and Kay moved to Lafayette, Indiana in 2015 for Will to take a position in family ministry, with Will leading occasional seminars on free weekends.
The first A Praying Life cohort Will led started just two weeks before the Covid shutdown. As he says, “It was a good time to learn to pray!” Over the last five years, facilitating pastor’s cohorts has become Will’s favorite part of the week.
“The ministry of A Praying Life is not really about teaching people to pray, because prayer itself is not the point. Intimate relationship with God is the point!”
Along the way, Will discovered something surprising: “The ministry of A Praying Life is not really about teaching people to pray, because prayer itself is not the point. Intimate relationship with God is the point!”
“During 17 years of pastoral ministry, the place where I most experienced being a part of ‘transformational discipleship’ was in these prayer cohorts. Multiple pastors have told me that while they had read the book and attended the seminar, they didn’t really start to do life through prayer until they joined a cohort.”
By 2023, Will and Kay began to seriously consider the idea of raising support to work with A Praying Life. They spent a year praying, seeking counsel, and waiting on God to direct their steps before making the decision to move forward. “Leaving pastoral ministry was hard,” shares Will, “but we have come to believe this is the work he has been preparing me for and is calling us into.”
“My greatest desire is not just to ‘go through the motions’ of the Christian life but to walk with God. I want to live as a child of the Father, in fellowship with Jesus, through the power of the Spirit, and help others do the same.”
Will sums it up: “My greatest desire is not just to ‘go through the motions’ of the Christian life but to walk with God. I want to live as a child of the Father, in fellowship with Jesus, through the power of the Spirit, and help others do the same.”
“I could not be more excited about Will joining our team,” shares A Praying Life Director Adam Barker. “It’s all the more meaningful to me because Will led the cohort that introduced me more deeply to A Praying Life. Will is a wonderful listener and a thoughtful teacher whose care and attention will add strength to our whole cohort system!”
Will Peycke will coordinate the A Praying Life cohort ministry by training and coaching leaders, developing the curriculum, and helping equip churches.
You can donate to Will's work here, and learn more about the latest A Praying Life offerings here.
