Notes on our Approach and Intentions

While the stories that were submitted to us paint a consistent narrative and we believe them to be true, we have no way of guaranteeing that each one is 100% factual.  We considered the believability of each account before posting it, in light of our extensive experience with Dave.

Opinions expressed on the website, including within the context of individual testimonies, essays, and other writings, do not necessarily reflect group consensus.

None of us are perfect.  People other than Dave have engaged in spiritual abuse and/or other harmful behavior at Friday Night, including some of us who worked on this project.  While any spiritual abuse is a serious matter, Dave is the one person who has continually demonstrated himself to be unteachable, and to engage in deception and slander to avoid being held accountable for his actions.  As such, the purpose of this website is to expose Dave’s sins. 

It is not our intent to expose anyone else, and we have gone to significant lengths to protect others’ reputations.  At the same time, we recognize that those with insider knowledge will find certain pseudonyms transparent, and that reputational harm may result.  We have attempted to balance the main goals of accountability and protecting the flock from future abuses with a concern for protecting third party reputations where feasible.  As such, we have not taken every precaution.  Were we to do that, this website would not exist.

When it comes to Kathy herself, she is simply too woven into the stories to avoid suffering collateral reputational damage.  Attempting to censor her involvement would severely damage the testimonies against Dave, which would endanger the body of Christ, and also inaccurately and unjustly shift 100% of the blame to Dave.  We do not know exactly to what extent she drives abuse, enables it, is aware of it, or is even manipulated by Dave into perpetrating it.

We hold Dave to a much higher level of responsibility for three reasons:

(1) He is a self-proclaimed prophet and elder.  Kathy is neither.

(2) Dave teaches that wives must submit to their husbands. This does not excuse wrongdoing, as Dave does not teach that a wife should follow her husband into sin. Yet when confronted Dave consistently denies committing sin. This puts Kathy in a difficult position.

(3) The witnesses testify to far more abuse perpetrated directly by Dave than directly by Kathy.

We are confident that we have done our best to protect people by exposing Dave’s abuses. We also recognize our own limitations and that there may have been some situations we could have handled better. We also believe that all too often, great leeway is given to abusive church leaders while victims who come forward to expose the abuses are subjected to intense scrutiny.  When this happens, it runs contrary to 1 Timothy 5:21, where Paul severely warns Timothy against partiality when handling accusations against church elders.

We do not condone harassment, threats, intimidation, or violence of any kind against Dave, Kathy, their family, or anyone who continues attending Friday Night or other events led by Dave.