Richard B. Wilke is a native of El Dorado, Kansas, son of Clarence and Pearl Byrd Wilke. He received degrees from Southern Methodist University, where he was president of the student body and Phi Beta Kappa; Yale Divinity School, where he earned the senior preaching award; and Dubuque Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa (summa cum laude). He has received additional honorary doctoral degrees from Southwestern College (Winfield, Kansas), Asbury Theological Seminary, and Dubuque Theological Seminary. Other honors include the Philip Award for evangelism, the Boy Scout Silver Beaver Award, and Yale Divinity School's Alumni Award for Distinction in Ordained Ministry.

Wilke served thirty years in ministry in Kansas, leading rural, suburban, and university congregations. For eleven years, he was senior pastor at First United Methodist Church in Wichita, a downtown congregation with a statewide televised ministry.

In 1984, he was elected to the episcopacy by the South Central Jurisdictional Conference and was assigned to the Arkansas Area. He served the state for twelve years, retiring in 1996. He currently is Bishop in Residence at Southwestern College in Winfield. He and and his late wife, Julia, established the Richard and Julia Wilke Institute for Discipleship at Southwestern.

His 1986 best-selling book, And Are We Yet Alive?, generated denomination-wide discussions on issues surrounding the membership decline in the United Methodist Church. Other books include: Signs and Wonders; Tell Me Again, I'm Listening; Our Father and The Pastor and Marriage Group Counseling. Wilke and his wife conceptualized, designed, and wrote all four studies in the Disciple Bible Study series. More than 3 million people around the world have taken at least one of the four studies.

Wilke has helped promote Disciple in South America, Africa, Europe, and Southeast Asia. He is widely known as a speaker and preacher, and he has often served as conference preacher and keynote speaker at national and international gatherings.