Who is Papa Dave?
by Jessica G. (information sourced through online searches, social media, public records, personal experiences of Jessica G. and Quinn)
Dave Cottrell is a resident of Phoenix, AZ. He began volunteering with Campus Crusade for Christ (aka CRU) in the late 1970’s and joined CRU staff with his wife Kathy in 1999. Within CRU, Dave worked for Transformational Leadership Movement. He moved to the Family Life ministry in 2023. Dave started the ‘Friday Night’ group in 2006 as a small group through Scottsdale Bible Church.
Dave claims to be a prophet and appointed himself to the role of elder in the Friday Night group he established. He calls himself a “chauffeur for the Holy Spirit”, a “big dead rock” (a reference to one of his teachings that he reflects God’s glory like the moon reflects the sun), a “heart surgeon” for God and most frequently “Papa Dave”.
Dave’s Friday Night group usually meets at his house with 15-40 people. The meeting runs from 7pm until late, sometimes after midnight. It includes fellowship, worship and prayer. Its most unique feature is the unstructured group discussion, where someone asks a question and the group attempts to answer it together, with Dave providing a summary or teaching at the end. Some would describe it as spirit-led. It should be noted that little preparation is done in advance, in that teachings and passages are not pre-selected as in many small groups. Dave says that as of 2025, 1,200 people have visited the group.
Dave also meets with many members outside of Friday Night, including
“Church at Canes” (Began as a 1-1 meeting at a restaurant. The gathering evolved into a bible study of young men and a few women. They meet at a restaurant to discuss scripture, usually lasting 3+ hours)
Discipleship meetings with his followers (meetings usually include 2-5 people and last for 2-3 hours)
There is also an off-shoot of Friday Night called “Saturday Night” in Chandler. It has a similar format as Friday Night. Dave attends occasionally. The leader of Saturday Night is a former disciple of Dave’s.
Dave is known to have attended the following churches at some point in the last twenty years: Scottsdale Bible Church, Citizens Church, North Phoenix Baptist.
Dave and Kathy state in their emails to their supporters that they have a counseling ministry that includes providing marriage seminars. They share stories of counseling married couples and “saving” marriages. From 2010 until 2025 Dave officiated at least 21 marriages.
Dave and Kathy make their living as CRU staff. This means that Dave and Kathy must collect a certain amount of donations through CRU from their friends, family and supporters each year. CRU uses the donations to provide salaries and benefits to their staff. According to CRU’s website, the salaries they pay are above the median household income for the country. Dave and Kathy own two homes. Dave is also involved with seven non-profit organizations, including three where he is a director. He also accepts donations outside of CRU through Zelle as well as an organization called “Church of Phoenix”, that does not appear in public records.
Dave and Kathy’s CRU page is screenshot below in case CRU takes it down.
