Peter is the middle son of three boys born to Les and Joan Cottrell. Les was an aeronautical engineer who worked in the space industry and Joan was a preachers kid, trained as a registered nurse who worked as the Administrative Assistant in the Melbourne District of the UMC in Florida. Peter grew up in Cocoa, Florida. He graduated summa cum laude from Florida Southern College with a B.A. in Religion and Philosophy in 1982. He earned his M.Div. Degree from The Divinity School at Duke University in 1985.
He has served First UMC, Ft Pierce, Palm Coast UMC , Saint Paul’s UMC in Tallahassee and First UMC of Land O Lakes as well as serving as the executive director of United Campus Ministries at Florida Atlantic University. He has a passion for missions and small groups, prayer and fellowship.
Peter loves the beach, kayaking, and fishing, reading, music and the arts. He is particularly fond of Karl Barth, Deitrich Bonhoeffer, CS Lewis, Henri Nouwen, Fr Richard Rohr among many others.
Peter is married to the most wonderful woman Carla, has two daughters, one granddaughter, one dog and one cat.