SEBTS scholarship seeks to support students aspiring to work in closed countries

Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) is seeking to make a kingdom impact around the world through providing scholarships to students aspiring to serve in closed countries.

Missionaries Larry and Jean Elliott were killed on March 15, 2004 in a drive-by shooting attack in northern Iraq. The Elliotts served with the International Mission Board (IMB) in Honduras for 25 years before God called them to Iraq in January 2004.

Larry Elliott received a Master of Divinity from SEBTS in 1978. After completing her teaching degree at Meredith College in 1977, Jean Elliott completed 19 hours as a non-degree student and worked as an assistant in the seminary library.

President of Southeastern, Daniel Akin, said, “Larry and Jean Elliott were faithful international missionaries for several decades sharing the love of Christ and the gospel. They paid the ultimate price with their lives when they were martyred in Iraq. As Revelation 12:11 reminds us, ‘they loved not their lives even unto death.’”

“This scholarship will honor the Elliotts’ memory and make it possible for others to go to the underserved and unreached nations of the word,” Akin said. “I can think of nothing more worthy of our gifts and support.”

The Larry and Jean Elliott Scholarship fund is designed to provide tuition relief for International Church Planting (ICP) students also known as the 2+2/3 program. Several of these students are working in or plan to work in the most difficult areas of the international mission field.

“These servants of Jesus Christ have paid the supreme sacrifice in serving their Lord and ministering to the needs of the hurting,” Akin said. “We are proud of them and, in the midst of sorrow, we rejoice that for the child of God, ‘to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.’”

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.

After the storm, the Elliotts helped develop a water purification process in Honduras to make drinkable water out of contaminated water. They experienced spiritual revival at the same time.

“We are in the midst of one of the most powerful revivals I have ever experienced,” Larry Elliott said. “In at least one instance, the relief effort cleared a road to an area that had no road prior to the hurricane. For the first time, a vast area will be exposed to vehicular transportation and the penetration of the gospel.”

The Elliotts’ work in Honduras uniquely prepared them for ministry in Iraq after the fall of Saddam and the establishment of the post-Saddam government 

In her SEBTS application Jean Elliott wrote: “God has called my husband and me into foreign missions,” she said. “Although I was eagerly anticipating classroom teaching in the Wake County School System next year, I now feel that a year’s biblical study will be more beneficial in view of my life’s calling. I may never have this opportunity again and I want to take advantage of it.”

During their seminary years, the Elliotts were members of the First Baptist Church in Cary, N.C., where they made their many return trips. They are survived by three adult children, their spouses and several grandchildren.

Jonathan Six, director of alumni relations, said, “With the initiation of The Larry and Jean Elliott Memorial Scholarship Fund, Southeastern hopes to provide for all ICP student costs when they reach the field. Our desire is for the over 15,000 SEBTS alumni to help fund future graduates going to difficult ministry fields in remembering the sacrificial legacy of a past graduate.” 

To give to this scholarship please click here.

For additional information contact Jonathan Six, director of Alumni Development, at [email protected] or 919-761-2349.