Log in to your Account

Dick McClain: 04/05/1949 - 09/04/2024

Yesterday evening we learned that the Rev. Dick McClain, our former TMS Global president, went to be with the Lord. We rejoice in knowing that he is with Jesus, and we praise God for his life of faithful service. Dick's passing hardly seems possible for me. For more than 30 years, he has been a mentor and friend. I first met Dick at a mission event in the early 90's. That began a long relationship of mentoring and friendship that has continued all the way into this year.

Some of you also know Dick personally. He may have encouraged you or loved you in such a way that your life now has been marked by the encounter with him. In fact, the other day, our new vice president of global operations Dustin Covington mentioned that it was meeting Dick and Frank Decker in 2009 at a "Re-think Hinduism Forum" at Asbury University that led Dustin and Mallary to explore serving with TMS Global. There are countless people whose stories of God’s leading include Dick McClain.

When Dick joined TMS Global in 1985, just a year after its founding, he served as TMS Global’s first director of personnel (which is our mobilization department today). Walking humbly alongside people, helping them discern their call and connecting them to other people and places is what Dick did so naturally. This is what he did with Shawn and me that resulted in our joining TMS Global and serving in Kazakhstan. 

Later, under the leadership of then-President Al VomSteeg, Dick would begin what is now our Church Culture division. At the time it was an innovation for a mission agency to ask, “What can we do to help the local church be on mission?” rather than “How can the local church support our mission?” So many congregations in the U.S. and around the world are meaningfully engaged in missions in part because of Dick's life and witness.

Dick ultimately took on the role of president and CEO of TMS Global until he retired in 2014, after more than 28 years of service in the organization.

Years ago, Dr. Steve Seamands, Asbury Seminary professor who had known Dick since 1966, wrote about Dick, "Ever since I have known Dick, he has always had a burning passion for two things: the Lord Jesus Christ and His Great Commission."

That passion proved true until the end of his time on this side of eternity. In a barely audible voice, a few days before he passed, Dick shared with Pam what he wanted to be written on his gravestone: "Inspiring the Church to reach the nations for Christ.”

Dick's passion and his witness are part of our DNA as a community. He has been a key figure on which the groundwork for TMS Global was laid. In that sense, we all at TMS Global are part of his legacy--even those in our community who don't know him personally.

Thank you for your prayers for Dick's wife, Pam, and for his family, including their children Heather, Josh, and Joey and their families. (Heather’s husband, Steve Wilson, serves on staff as TMS Global’s Sr. Director of International Mobilization.)

Jim Ramsay

President and CEO

Watch the Celebration of Life Service

Recorded on Saturday, October 12th at 2:00PM

Per the family, memorial donations can be directed to TMS Global.