Elliott was born in Listowel, ON, and first accepted Christ's awesome gift of forgiveness when he was 4 years old. A cowboy puppet at Vacation Bible School asked if anyone wanted to invite Jesus into their heart and he knew he wanted that. However, it was not until many years later, when he was in high school, after his parents' divorce and time spent far away from God that Elliott returned to the cross and truly became a follower and disciple of Christ. After spending much of his childhood and teenage years in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Elliott attended Bethany Bible College in Sussex, NB and received his B.A. in Religion in 2003. While at BBC, he met Dena, who had moved from Chicago, Illinois to attend the college. Shortly after they began dating they started working together as directors of youth ministry for Havelock Wesleyan Church in Havelock, NB. Throughout their youth and college years, both Elliott and Dena were heavily involved in short term missions.

After being married on May 24, 2003, they continued ministering in Havelock while Elliott was the office manager and executive assistant at World Hope International Canada, a humanitarian organization then headquartered in Sussex. In 2005 they left North America as missionaries and spent one year in Costa Rica learning Spanish. They then moved on to Lima, Peru where Elliott focused on training youth leaders and youth pastors as well as serving as youth pastor at the Iglesia Wesleyana Peregrina in Surco, Lima, Peru. He was ordained as a minister in the Wesleyan church, a sister denomination of the Church of the Nazarene, in October of 2007.

After a fruitful season of ministry in Latin America, Elliott and Dena felt led by God in September of 2008 to pursue a youth ministry in North America.