Elliots knew service in Iraq 'was God's calling'

CARY, N.C. (BP) — For some 25 years Larry and Jean Elliott had served in Honduras, but they felt called to go elsewhere.

“They truly knew that it was God’s calling for them to go [to Iraq],” Reca Davis, a friend of the Elliotts, told Baptist Press. “We certainly support that, because we know that they were people that would just do exactly what they felt was God’s will.”

Before their service in Honduras, the Elliotts were members of First Baptist Church in Cary. When in the states, they would stay at the church’s mission house.

Back in 1998 the Elliotts played a key role in ministering to Hondurans affected by Hurricane Mitch, which killed more than 5,600 people and left more than 200,000 homeless.

Larry Elliott received a master of divinity degree from Southeastern Seminary in 1978. That summer he completed a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE). Jean Elliott completed 19 hours as a non-degree student in 1977-78 and worked as an assistant in the seminary library.

The Elliotts are survived by three adult children, Gina Elliott Kim of Houston; Todd Elliott in Arlington, Va.; and Scott Elliott in Raleigh, N.C.

Larry and Jean Elliott’s memorial service will be March 25 in Cary, at First Baptist Church.

In lieu of flowers or gifts, the family requests financial gifts in their memory, designated for “missionary support” for ongoing mission work, be sent to International Mission Board, PO Box 6767, Richmond, VA 23230.