Kraig Kleeman is the founder of The Zoé Life and Speak to Zoé, two complementary spiritual formation platforms designed to help believers grow in intimacy with God, develop spiritual discernment, recognize the ways God speaks and works throughout everyday life, and respond more intentionally to His leading.
Kraig’s Christian roots began in a small-town Baptist church, where as a young person he prayed the sinner’s prayer, was baptized, and was confirmed. He later attended Judson University in Elgin, Illinois, an institution with historic Baptist roots. Many of his closest college friends went on to attend seminary and serve as pastors in Baptist churches, giving Kraig an early and enduring connection to the broader evangelical and Baptist tradition.
Kraig’s ministry journey spans more than three decades. In the early 1990s, he joined Youth With a Mission (YWAM), completing its Discipleship Training School in Kona, Hawaii. As part of his outreach, he served among impoverished communities in Southeast Asia, an experience that deepened his understanding of discipleship, compassion, and the global Church. He later served as a board member of Children of the King Mission in João Pessoa, Brazil, an outreach serving abandoned and vulnerable children in the slums of northeastern Brazil.
For several years, Kraig served as the founding pastor of a Vineyard church in Chicago and was ordained in the Vineyard movement under the leadership of Steve Nicholson. The church plant was also deeply influenced by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Kraig has often said that the church likely would not have gotten off the ground without the faithfulness, prayer, service, and commitment of college students from DePaul University’s InterVarsity community, many of whom played an important role during its formative season.
Kraig later served as Area Director, providing pastoral support, encouragement, and leadership development to pastors throughout the Chicago region.
Across decades of Baptist formation, campus ministry influence, missions, pastoral ministry, leadership, and personal spiritual formation, Kraig observed a recurring pattern: many sincere believers love God, attend church faithfully, study Scripture diligently, and participate actively in ministry, yet still struggle to cultivate a vibrant, deeply personal friendship with Him.
Today, Kraig’s work is centered on helping believers move beyond spiritual stagnation into a deeper, more responsive friendship with God. At the heart of everything he teaches is a simple conviction: the Christian life was never intended to be merely about knowing more about God, but about learning to know Him.
