Initially trained as an aeronautical engineer, Rikk Watts worked for a number of years with IBM in large retail systems engineering while undertaking a degree in philosophy, art history, and sociology. He later joined a parachurch organization engaged in Christian awareness projects in public schools and in providing crisis accommodation and various rehabilitation programs for the urban poor. He was a founding member of On Being, a major Australian Christian magazine, and supported himself and his family as a professional drummer.

Rikk Watts has served as an instructor at Gordon-Conwell (Boston), Wycliffe Hall (Oxford), Latrobe University (Melbourne), and the Bible College of Victoria (Melbourne). He presently attends New Life Community Church Burnaby where he is the main speaker at a service for university-age young adults. Rikk Watts is married to Katie, a primary teacher, and they have two adult children, Steven and Rebecca. In addition to a newly acquired obsession with sailing (he recently crewed his first Vic-Maui race), he enjoys movies, good restaurants, music, reading, and going for long walks with Katie.

Rikk Watts will be on sabbatical in 2012–2013.