Well Done, Good & Faithful Servant!

Born on August 13 ^th , 1941 in Jacksonville, Florida to Leon and Edna Drummond, Richard Leon Drummond felt God's call on his life from a very young age. "Rick" formed the "Do without Club," with his friends to save money for mission's projects, and his brother Phil and sister Marilyn-his earliest "practice congregation"-were often brought into his first ministry endeavors.

As an Honors high school student, Rick continued his studies at Tocca Falls College where he met the love of his life, Beth, the daughter of missionaries in Vietnam. Together, they made plans to join the missions effort, but in his junior year he developed severe back pain and had to drop out of college for a semester. Despite his doctor telling him he could never serve overseas, he did so for over 40 years.

Rick married Beth in 1965, and they moved to New York to attend Jaffray School of World Missions. In 1967, at the height of the war, they left for Vietnam for their first overseas ministry assignment with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Shortly after they arrived, there was a military offensive and Beth's father, Bob Ziemer, was killed along with 4 other missionaries. Rick and Beth continued to serve through the conflict mentoring and serving young pastors and working in evangelism. Three of their children: Rob, Kim and Christy were born during these years.

In March 1975 they were forced to evacuate when the North took control of South Vietnam. Rick worked with Operation Heartbeat in Fort Chaffee, Arkansas assisting Vietnamese refugees, and then studied at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. In 1977 they were reassigned to Indonesia. Beth gave birth to their youngest son, Jason, while they were in language study. The Lord continued, however, to bring the Vietnamese into their life. Rick was asked to help setup an emergency refugee camp for Vietnamese fleeing in boats to the Riau islands. After establishing this work, he and Beth returned to the island of Java, Indonesia.

In Dec 1980, Rick was in a head on car accident shattering his femur. He was evacuated to Singapore and then returned to the USA with the family to recover. Following surgery, his doctor told him he would never walk again, but in 1982 he returned to Java.  He and Beth worked with a church planting initiative, trained lay leaders, and taught at Simpson Theological Seminary until 1994 when they lost their visas.

The C&MA reassigned them to Cambodia. As they studied Khmer, they learned of over a million displaced Vietnamese immigrants in Cambodia. As only God can do, He strategically placed them to help form a church-planting ministry called, "New Hope" among the Vietnamese. Under Rick and Beth's leadership, this ministry would grow to include education, medical, and anti-human trafficking initiatives. Rick and Beth served with New Hope until 2007 and then returned for two years in 2012 with International Teams to launch an outreach to the Vietnamese in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

In 2009, Rick and Beth retired and settled in Orlando FL due to health challenges but continued to make short-term trips back to Vietnam and Cambodia and to minister in Vietnamese churches.

Throughout his career, Rick enjoyed spending time with his children, nephews, nieces and grandchildren and was particularly delighted to do so when he returned to the United States.  He loved pro football, basketball and the Gaither's (in no particular order).

Over the years, he was blessed with ten grandchildren who loved visiting their "Paw-Paw" for Christmas, birthdays, or any other day of the year.  His last two years were spent in nursing care in DeLand, FL, which was very challenging after so many years of actively serving overseas and in the States.  On May 16 ^th , 2024, his family prayed and sang him into the Presence of the Lord.  He is survived by his wife, Beth, his four children and ten grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, Rick and Beth have requested that donations be given to the Great Commission Fund of the Christian & Missionary Alliance/Compassion and Mercy Associates.