Warriors of Ethiopia

Richard (Dick) McLellan trained at the Sydney Missionary & Bible College where he met Vida Scott. He joined SIM (then Sudan Interior Mission) and went to Ethiopia in 1954. Vida followed several months later and they were married in November 1955 in Addis Ababa and also in Debre Berhan (twice on the same day!). They served with SIM for 23 years, opening up new areas with Ethiopian evangelists in the Omo River area before they had to leave the field with their family. They continued in missionary service with Gospel Recordings for another 24 years, Dick as the Director of GR Australia. During this time he visited missionaries, evangelists and national church leaders in many countries across Asia, Africa and the Pacific region. This included several three-month visits to Ethiopia during the seventeen long communist regime which ended in 1991. He held secret teaching seminars for prayer and encouragement of God’s people. There have been eight more such visits for ministry since 1991. Dick and Vida gave three years’ service in the Baptist Churches of New South Wales and Dick was the President of the Baptist Union from 2003-2004. He often returns to southern Ethiopia to visit isolated evangelists and to speak at conventions and training seminars.