From Unplanned Pregnancy to Digital Ministry: The Providential Story Behind PRAY.COM

Key Takeaways

1. Divine Orchestration: Potter's life began when a 15-year-old girl chose adoption over abortion after stopping at a church. The pastor connected her with a couple who had been trying to have children for ten years, demonstrating God's providence from the very beginning.
2. From Tech Success to Spiritual Emptiness: Despite building a successful tech company that created 8,000 apps for major real estate companies, Potter felt deeply unfulfilled—"coming to work every day feeling empty inside" despite having enough money to never work again.
3. A Providence-Filled Meeting: The day after Potter prayed about his pastor's suggestion to help open a new church campus, he ran into his friend Steve Gatena at a coffee shop. Gatena, who had recently become a Christian following the tragic death of his business partner, wanted to create "the ESPN for Christians."
4. Digital Ministry During a Mental Health Crisis: Potter notes that while traditional church attendance may be declining (similar to movie theaters), Christian media consumption has increased by 52% in the last 24 months, highlighting the importance of meeting people where they are—on their phones.
5. Stories of Transformation: Potter shares powerful testimonials, including one about a woman with stage 4 cancer who found solace in PRAY.COM content during chemotherapy and a police officer who chose life instead of suicide after a friend shared the app with him.
6. Science and Faith Together: Through their "Pray Science" department, the company is conducting research with PhD scientists on the physical and mental health benefits of prayer, with their meditative prayer content now published in three scientific journals.‍
7. Lowering Barriers to Prayer: PRAY.COM helps users develop consistent prayer habits through features like daily prayer streaks, making spiritual growth accessible in small, manageable steps that fit into modern lifestyles.

The Providential Beginning

What would become one of the world's largest prayer platforms began with a desperate 15-year-old girl walking to an abortion clinic. As Matt Potter explains, "She was on her way to an abortion clinic because she's 15 and she's pregnant. And on her way to that clinic, she popped into a church because she was feeling guilty and ashamed."

The pastor she spoke with didn't know what to say, so he called a friend who had planted a small 20-person church in Los Angeles. In what Potter describes as "providence," this pastor had been counseling a Christian couple who had been trying to have children for ten years without success. The pastor suggested asking the young girl if she would consider giving her baby up for adoption.

"I was the baby the girl brought into the church," Potter shares. "And I got adopted because of these two pastors that were friends. And my adopted dad, because he got me from the church, was so inspired by the pastor that he ended up becoming the head elder of this little 20-person church."

This church would eventually grow to become one of the largest in Los Angeles, with attendance of around 15,000 people each weekend.

The Tech Journey

Growing up, Potter was drawn to technology from an early age. "I was the kid building robots in the garage by myself," he recalls. While his adoptive brother and father excelled in sports, Potter was taking apart phones and fax machines to understand how they worked.

A pivotal moment came in high school when Potter had the opportunity to visit Pixar and meet Steve Jobs. Learning that Jobs was also adopted inspired him: "I was like, I'm not weird. There's computer guys that are adopted."

Later, when Jobs announced the launch of the App Store, Potter made a bold decision. "I called my mom and dad...and I said, 'You know what? I'm going to drop out of school, and I am going to get into apps.'" Despite his parents' concerns, Potter founded a company called HomeStack that would go on to build over 8,000 apps for major real estate companies across the United States.

Finding Purpose Beyond Success

After ten years building a successful company, Potter found himself at a crossroads. "Homestack was doing really well. Everything was working great. Customers were super happy. But I was coming to work every day just feeling empty inside."

He had reached a point where he "didn't have to work anymore" if he didn't want to, but material success left him feeling hollow. "I just felt like I lost my purpose. I felt like I wasn't on track with God's plan for my life."

Seeking direction, Potter called his pastor to ask how he could help and give back. The pastor suggested Potter help open a new church campus in Santa Monica for veterans. As an "introverted tech entrepreneur" who hadn't attended seminary, the idea terrified Potter. After praying about it, however, a divine appointment was waiting.

The Divine Collision

The very next day, Potter encountered his friend Steve Gatena at a coffee shop. Gatena had recently experienced his own life-altering moment when his business partner died in a plane crash while filming a movie in Colombia. In his grief, a former Navy SEAL who worked with Gatena shared an audio sermon from a pastor in Texas that changed Gatena's life and led him to become a Christian.

Gatena, who grew up with a single Jewish mother on welfare, had never been exposed to Christianity before. His newfound faith led him to ask: "Why don't we have the digital destination for Christians? If I want sports, I go to ESPN. If I want kids' content, I go to Disney. Why is there no digital destination for Christians?"

When Potter ran into Gatena at the coffee shop, Gatena had just been told by a developer that he couldn't build what Gatena envisioned. In what Potter describes as "God's providence," their paths crossed at exactly the right moment.

"Steve tells me, 'PRAY.COM, the digital destination for Christians.' And so I stepped down as CEO of my company the next day. Steve and I linked up and our two other incredible cofounders. And we went up to Silicon Valley... and raised about 37 million dollars to start PRAY.COM."

The Impact

Eight years later, PRAY.COM has accumulated 2.5 billion listening minutes—the equivalent of 1,700 years of content consumption—and the app's content has been shared over 152 million times. These numbers represent countless lives touched and transformed.

Potter shares the story of Mary, a woman battling stage 4 cancer for the second time who had outlived all her family members. In the early days of PRAY.COM, when the founders were working from a tiny closet-sized office in Santa Monica, Mary called the customer support line with an issue accessing the app while sitting in her chemotherapy chair.

Potter, who answered her call, spent an hour helping her gain access to the app. Years later, while speaking at a church in Sacramento, Potter was approached by Mary, who gave him a hug. She was still alive and still finding comfort through PRAY.COM.

"That's the fulfillment," Potter explains. "People like Mary who have nowhere to turn."

He also shares the story of a police officer from Ohio who was planning to commit suicide when a friend shared the PRAY.COM app with him. The officer later wrote to thank them for saving his life, to which they responded: "We didn't save your life. God did. We just made the connection for you."

Faith and Technology Meeting Modern Needs

When asked about spiritual hunger in today's culture, Potter notes that while traditional church attendance may be declining, this doesn't mean people are less interested in faith.

"We have a mental health crisis in America. It's not a secret. People are dealing with a lot right now. And they're coming back to their faith more and more than ever before," Potter observes. "If you listen to big media, they would say that church attendance is going down and that we're becoming less of a Christian nation. But I liken church to movie theaters. Movie theaters have less attendance. Are people watching fewer movies? No."

Potter's team has found that Christian media consumption has increased by 52% in the last 24 months. "People are coming back more than ever before. They're just going to their phone. And they're opening their phone how many times a day, and that's where they're consuming the content."

Innovation at PRAY.COM

One of PRAY.COM's most popular features is their daily prayer—a one to two-minute devotional featuring a Bible verse and prayer, accompanied by calming visuals and professional voice acting. The app includes a streak system to help users develop consistent prayer habits.

Perhaps most groundbreaking is the company's "Pray Science" department, where PhD researchers study how prayer affects physical health. "We've hired some PhD science researchers to prove the efficacy of prayer on your physical body," Potter explains. "Wouldn't it make sense that if you pray and connect with your creator, the one that you're created in his image, that would affect your physical body?"

Their research on meditative prayer has been published in three scientific journals, demonstrating how prayer can help reduce anxiety and stress while improving sleep quality. "People try to separate science and religion," Potter notes, "but God is the creator of the universe. He wrote all the rules that we use in science."

Invitation to Experience PRAY.COM

As Potter's conversation with Matthew West concludes, he extends a special invitation to listeners: "If you go to PRAY.COM/matt, you can get the entire app for free. No credit card, nothing. You just log in. You'll get the whole app for free."

This generous offer reflects the heart behind PRAY.COM—to remove barriers to prayer and make spiritual growth accessible to everyone. In a world filled with mental health challenges and digital distractions, PRAY.COM stands as a digital oasis offering hope, connection, and a pathway to a deeper relationship with God.

As Matthew West summarizes, "Look what can happen when you commit the unique giftings and skill sets you have to the Lord. You seek His plan. He knows the plans He has for us, and He knows that He's wired us accordingly to fulfill the plans He has for us. And your story is living proof for that."