“We never stop finding out who we are”
[Nunca paramos de descobrir quem somos]
John Maxwell Stout was born on December 6, 1922, in Handley, in the United States (USA), a location that is currently in the city of Fort Worth, Texas. He passed away on December 8, 2016, at age 94, in Katy, also in Texas.
Stout was married in April 1943 to Mary Helen Jernigan, who was renamed Mary Helen Stout. The ceremony was at the Baptist church in College Station, where Stout swore to love her “forever and ever - and a little more”. Helen, who graduated from Texas State College for Women in 1946, accompanied him throughout his life, passing away on May 8, 2014. She was strongly active as a missionary and, during the period in which she remained in Lavras, precisely in the years 1955 and from 1957 to 1960, he taught Sacred History at the Gammon Institute.
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Military Life
John Stout served as an artillery captain in the American Army, serving in the Pacific Campaign during World War II. He enlisted in 1942 and rose to the rank of lieutenant, but was injured at the front by an explosive bomb, and the medical diagnosis was that his vertebrae would fuse within ten years, likely paralyzing Stout for life. He was discharged from the army in 1946 as a Disable Veteran.
Even when he was in Kumalaya, Japan, he sent his wife the photograph below as a declaration of love.
Kumalaya, Japan
3rd anniversary
To my darling wife
Though we might be separated on this, our third, we have one consolation. That our love & affection toward each other is perfect as God had wished it to be.
We have many happy & glorious thoughts turned all upon this most wonderful day, each in our own way and the chaos on that they are the same because we think alike.
I like to love & beloved, tease & be teased, play & be played with, by you my darling sweet wife. As the years have passed our contents have changed from “heartbroken a pie” to more realistic/fantastic things & happiness.
I enjoyed every minute with you both with you in body & spirit. A true love is one that increases with time. Our not only increases but it increases the amount of increaseness. I’ll always love my darling sweet perfect wife, always.
hubly
John
While in the army, Stout did research to develop countermeasures and minimize casualties, studying dangers behind enemy lines and developing an artillery calculator. The work was the basis for “sound ranging” technology that linked hidden underground listening devices to a data collection system, making it easier to detect enemy forces from a distance by mapping their location.
By the time he left the Army, he had received the Atlantic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the Victory Medal, the American Theater Campaign Medal, the Overseas Bar, and the Marksman Badge for Pistol and Carbine. Stout was also named Honorary Colonel in the Alabama State Militia by Governor George C. Wallace.
Since 1942 he carried out intensive studies relating to basic artillery problems. After several experiments, letters, and interviews with sniper fighters, the result was the development of a simple computer. This equipment called “Stout Computer”, filed to be patented in 1948 makes it possible to calculate the spatial angle necessary for the weapons to reach the target. In his words, “I have always believed that nothing is impossible to invent or to simplify”.
In one of the many letters sent to the American Army's artillery directorate, he complained about the fact that he had created at least 15 inventions and had not received due attention and enthusiasm. After several years of analysis, the “Stout’ Computer” equipment was not approved by the American army.
Training
John Stout was studying at the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Texas University, USA when he left the institution to serve in the army and fight in the war. He returned in 1946 and, due to his accumulated knowledge, was invited to teach subjects at the same time as he studied, accumulating credits for doing so. In 1947 John Stout completed his Chemical Engineering course, graduating in 1948, when he received his diploma from the hands of the future president of the United States - Dwight Eisenhower (1953-1961).
Furthermore, he also graduated in Petroleum Engineering from the same university.
John finished his senior year playing for the Handley football team when he also dreamed of being an Aggie player. Upon graduating, magna cum laude, he received the Outstanding Citizenship Award, and his classmates voted him All-American Boy and Most Likely to Succeed.
Stout also completed a master's degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas and the diploma was presented to him by future US President Lyndon Johnson (1963-1969).
He also studied Theology at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, USA. According to the records, he completed the 1st year in 1949, and the course was then interrupted, with the 2nd year only being resumed in 1956, and completed in 1957, with the title of Bachelor of Divinity. A few years later this title was changed to Master of Divinity. Helen also completed a Theology course, although there is no record of this, as women were not ordained.
During his stay in Brazil, he received the suggestion to qualify for a doctorate in Informology (Linguistics and Literature) at the Catholic University of Pelotas (Pelotas, RS), carrying out studies on how information and its structure are stored and interpreted in the mind, a subdomain of information science. He carried out studies on intercultural communications, specifically on how people from one culture can communicate with people from another culture, writing an article on this topic aimed at the church in Brazil. Part of his thesis on intercultural communications was later sent to American Ambassador George H. W. Bush, who presented it to the United Nations.
Languages
Due to their studies and travels as missionaries, the Stout couple ended up learning a total of eight languages. In addition to their native English, they were also able to communicate in Chinese, German, Portuguese, Greek, Hebrew, and Russian.
Missionary
Despite having grown up and married in the Southern Baptist Church, John Stout ended up converting to Presbyterianism, as he considered himself an “open-minded conservative.”
In 1949, as missionaries, he and his wife moved to China where he taught mathematics and engineering at Hangchow University. Helen, who was always concerned about getting people to read and write, had the opportunity to teach the new alphabet to adults, and English to Chinese students. With the communist takeover, they were forced to leave the country. There is a record that they were commissioned for service abroad by the Missionary Institute of Montreat, North Caroline, on August 9, 1950. Thus, they came to Brazil, leaving New York on September 21, 1950, with a commitment to study the language in subsequent months.
Once in Brazil, the couple settled in Dourados, currently Mato Grosso do Sul, as part of the Caiuá Evangelical Mission (Kaiwá) of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil. In this region, they worked in the administration of four primary schools, and, with the expansion of their responsibilities, they also took on the administration of a hospital, a clinic, three churches, and an indigenous orphanage in the Amazon Forest region. This demand was a consequence of an outbreak of yellow fever that drove many missionaries away from that region. The Stout couple chose to embark on the Amazon jungle to bring humanitarian aid to the native indigenous tribes. This action was so important that John Stout became the first “white man” to be considered an “honorary Indian” among the Amazonian tribes. After completing their work among the Amazonian Indians, “one of the most peaceful places they have ever been”, the Stout couple were directed to university work in Lavras.
Photo published in the Theologs (guide of registered students) in the year 1956 of the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. (Source: Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, EUA)
John and Helen Stout, a missionary couple licensed in Brazil. Source: Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, USA.
Professional activity in Brazil
From 1953 to 1960, except for the year 1956 when he graduated and returned to the USA to complete his Theology course), he worked at the Escola Superior de Agricultura de Lavras-ESAL (transformed in 1994 into the Federal University of Lavras - UFLA), having been hired to teach Analytical Chemistry, then Engineering Drawing and, for just one period, Geology. At the Gammon Institute, John Stout was a professor of Sacred History from 1953 to 1955 and from 1957 to 1960, leaving the school in 1961. In 1970, ESAL awarded him the title of Doctor Honoris Causa based on his scientific activities carried out during the time he worked at the institution (Minutes 213 of the Congregation, 03/03/1970).
During the period he worked at ESAL, he demonstrated several technical and creative skills, providing a new sense of learning, awakening curiosity, and implementing a new level of education for Brazilian students. After two years of experience, he was appointed head of analytical chemistry and an engineering project.
In addition to teaching activities, John and Helen formed a working group to translate the King James Bible into Portuguese.
Satellites
After following the news on the radio that the Russians would launch the first artificial satellite in 1957, the scientist calculated the likely routes. A friend, Lyndon Johnson, then chairman of the Committee on Astronautics and Space Exploration and later president of the United States, helped him by intermediating Professor Stout's contact with the American Society of Professional Photographers. American Society of Professional Photographers]. This society provided the professor with data on a highly specialized branch of Physics, called orbital mechanics, which he would use to calculate when a satellite would pass over the area where he was, in Brazil. Professor Stout saw this as an opportunity for his students to open their minds to the world of celestial mechanics and add a course in astronomy and orbital mechanics to their academic list. As an aid, Professor Stout prepared a Constellation Map
Professor Stout developed equipment capable of capturing 360º photographic images, combining a camera and a 30-inch telescope with a finely ground parabolic lens (lent by Dr. Dustin, John's friend from Bogotá, Colombia), mounted on a tripod, which was used in class assignments for his celestial mechanics students. With the camera and telescope in place, Stout built a series of wooden spinning wheels powered by a Westclox alarm clock. The wheels moved the film past the camera lens to trace an arc across the sky for about five minutes.
Stout also created, with the help of ESAL geography teacher, Osorio Alves, and his students, a “satellite predictor” made of cardboard and celluloid, which allowed him to film stars and objects that appeared to be passing Earth satellites – natural celestial satellites often launched randomly into the Earth's atmosphere. Years later, he claimed that his homemade tracker “was more accurate than Radio Moscow when it came to Sputnik.”
The Soviet launch of Sputnik was broadcast by Voice of America and captured by one of its students. Tracking Soviet announcements of its expected passage over Buenos Aires, New York, and San Francisco, among other cities, Stout used his satellite predictor to determine, precisely, when Sputnik would pass over Lavras, Minas Gerais.
An unexpected event in the city of Lavras was the power outage on the night of October 9, 1957, guaranteeing perfect viewing conditions. Thus, at 5:50 pm, and again at 7:25 pm, in the area that is currently the historic campus of the Federal University of Lavras, Stout captured the first images from the Sputnik I satellite in Earth orbit. The artificial satellite passed over Lavras at a distance of 901 km and a speed of 8 km/s.
For this achievement, for his scientific work, especially the precise graphics, showing exactly the positions and times of the satellites, Professor Stout was awarded by the National Space Commission (Registry of the newspaper O Agrário, 1961).
Enthusiastic, Professor Stout continued to photograph satellites and formed a group called the International Observatories of Satellites, of which he was president, and some students were members. He began photographing satellites regularly and publishing their passage times in local newspapers, capturing Explorer I, Vanguard, the US Explorer II, and, in May 1958, Russia's Sputnik III, the largest satellite to date. In 1960, he published an article in the International Satellite Observatory about an experimental balloon that he launched in the city of Pelotas and which functioned as a floating communications tower for transmitting radio signals.
The Observatory, which worked in connection with the observatories in São Paulo and Bauru, initially published a weekly bulletin with information, but activities were interrupted due to time constraints. They also had a consultancy service for young people interested in rocket engine design and even studied the possibility of sending a rocket to a height of 1000 km. In another experiment, they conducted a project to evaluate rocket engine pressure to prevent it from catching fire with high-temperature gases. He believed that Brazil could send a rocket to the moon in ten years if it modified the traditional design and created its model.
In late 1958, authorities in Washington granted Stout the designation of “Moon Watch,” and he was appointed by the U.S. International Observatories of Satellites as the director of fourteen observatories throughout Brazil, forming part of a global network of satellite observation stations.
He also worked in radio broadcasting, producing weekly programs aimed at a non-specialized audience, with short astronomy lessons, interviews on subjects related to astronauts, as well as a report - “Space Report”, a brief talk about religion and the meaning of the Conquest of Space, also informing the weekly schedule of satellites and those that could be seen with the naked eye, international news, as well as interplanetary news about the conquest of space, including those that were not published in Brazilian newspapers. The program was recorded and aired every Saturday night for 15 to 20 minutes.
Professor Stout had a great affection for his students, who presented him a “Diploma of Gratitude” before he left Brazil.
The Return to the USA
Upon returning to the United States, Stout was offered a position with the Pan American Airways Guided Missile Ranch Division in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Given his reputation for the work he developed, he was invited to work as a senior information scientist at NASA and as a documentation engineer for International Telephone and Telegraph (IT&T), a NASA subcontractor. In his role, Stout was credited with developing the revolutionary SDI Technical Information System, coordinating 1,200 scientists and engineers, and performing computer searches of one million technical reports per week.
Stout standardized data management and scheduling techniques so that his team could track Apollo command module components across different teams within NASA. This project involved a tracking system for Gemini rocket components and suppliers, including communication links between launch sites and descent tracking stations. In addition to working in systems programming, he also needed to coordinate people and create a system for meetings using a camera and the telephone network. It was the first form of teleconferencing. In Professor Stout’s analysis, “Maybe I was born fifty years too early.” Thus, he remained at NASA from 1962 until the completion of the Apollo program in 1972.
The position was accepted on the condition that he also served as a volunteer chaplain for the institution, forming the Association of Space Support Chaplains. Stout later transferred from NASA to Houston as an information scientist, where he conditioned his role on also being able to serve as an unofficial chaplain at NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) in Houston, Texas. He then created Aerospace Ministries, an extension of the previously created association - Space Support Chaplains.
NASA, as a federal agency, could not take a religious stance, but it respected the religious views of its members. The ministers in the association created by Stout were often close to each other and in tune with the spiritual needs of NASA administrators and astronauts. As a chaplain and information scientist at the Manned Spacecraft Center, Stout had a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by NASA employees during the Apollo program.
During this period, John organized the visit of former Brazilian president Juscelino Kubitschek and his wife to the Manned Spacecraft Center when they were traveling in the USA. John reciprocated the support that President Kubitschek had given him in Brazil, particularly during his visit to Brasília.
Apollo Prayer League
After the Apollo I launch pad fire, in which the astronauts died before the mission, Reverend Stout desired to create a larger, permanent religious organization. Reverend Stout envisioned a global organization that would not only pray for astronauts but also engage in humanitarian efforts. Thus, with the support of his wife Helen and brother James W. Stout, as well as others, including 13 chaplains, Reverend Stout, at the suggestion of his wife Helen, launched the Apollo Prayer League in 1968, which had 40 thousand members.
This league was made up of NASA employees and supporters around the world, whose purpose was to pray for the safety of astronauts and other NASA employees, but did not receive any funds from NASA, being supported entirely by private donations. APL had members from virtually every NASA location, including Pacific tracking ships and remote stations, reaching 60% of U.S. postal zones, and spanning 16 foreign countries.
The daily prayer and Bible study meetings at the space center were attended by members of different religious orientations. Helen provided administrative support for actions including the APL News Wire Service initiative to transmit information through the Voice of America program to prayer groups around the world, and the dissemination of APL's monthly newsletters. The APL organization would also serve as a source of much-needed support for the wives and families of the Apollo astronauts.
The league was also involved in humanitarian efforts, which included airlifting food to starving children in Biafra (Nigeria) and to hurricane victims in Latin America. The League also provided 25 tons of medical supplies and food to hurricane victims in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Some of the APL astronauts he knew personally, and he became very close to a young man named Edward White. In a pre-flight test at Cape Kennedy on January 27, 1967, the first manned Apollo I mission ended tragically, catching fire and resulting in the death of the young man and astronauts John Glenn and Edgar Mitchell.
In an interview before the launch, White had mentioned that his dream would be to take a copy of the Bible to the moon. He felt this would symbolize that God was not forgotten when humanity departed its earthly cradle for the cosmos. Thus, APL's major project became to take the Bible to the moon, in honor of Edward 'Ed' White, one of the Apollo I astronauts.
Lunar Bible
Out of respect for Ed White's legacy, Reverend John Maxwell Stout decided to make his desire to take the Bible to the moon a reality. But this would imply a high cost, considering the amount of weight to be taken into space. Thus, he searched for a special technology, which weighed as little as possible, and used a discovery made a hundred years earlier.
During preparation for Apollo 11, Stout learned about a photo reduction process that incorporated new microfilm technology to reduce large stacks of documents to a small slide. Thus, the King James Bible was transformed into microfilm, reducing its 773,746 printed words on 1,245 pages, to a piece of film less than 5 cm2, weighing just a fraction of a gram, and including the 250:1 reduction of the images into a small plastic microform strip. Reading could be done on a special microfilm reader.
Apollo 12 was the first mission to take a tiny version of the King James Bible to the moon. However, by accident, the Bible was left in the command module instead of descending with the lunar module to the lunar surface. Stout tried again with Apollo 13, which carried 512 Bibles funded by the Apollo Prayer League. Upon landing on the moon, the crew was instructed to leave the first lunar Bible on top of a small pile of stones, similar to the altar that Noah built when his ark landed on Mount Ararat. In addition, a small commemorative certificate folded in four would be left, containing a description of the microfilm of the Bible, its origin on Earth, and the translation of the first verse of Genesis “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”, in sixteen languages. The first was in English, followed by the same verse in Spanish, Chinese, German, and so on. However, due to an onboard explosion, this mission failed.
With the Apollo 14 mission, one hundred copies of these bibles were placed in the lunar module and two hundred were stored in the command module. And finally, the Bibles descended to the surface of the moon on February 5, 1971, at 4:18 am, via astronauts Alan Shephard and Edgar Mitchell. The APL’s goal was realized when the Lunar Module Antares touched down on the powdery surface of the moon.
To honor those who supported the effort, Stout suggested that Lunar Bibles be accompanied by a microfilm “First Lunar Bible Honor Roll.” To this end, APL members were invited to submit the names of individuals or organizations that they felt had made contributions to their own lives or to other worthy causes. In addition to the names of family and friends, other names submitted included honorees such as Jesus, Socrates, and Billy Graham. The final list of 3,569 names was pasted onto a large poster board and shrunk onto microfilm the same size as the lunar bibles, which let it fit neatly into the lunar bible packages.
The bibles re-entered Earth's atmosphere at 40,000 km/h. The 1.5 x 1.5-inch microfilm containing the King James Bible or "NCR Bible" (named after the National Cash Register company that created the microform), consisting of 1,245 pages and 773,746 words, was named the Lunar Bible, being framed in “shiny 24-karat gold and accented with pave diamonds and a Brazilian garnet.” All microfilms were recorded and numbered with a five-digit microscopic serial number by Stout. These copies were used to give gifts to several people, including George H. W. Bush, then ambassador to the United Nations, and President Nixon.
For Reverend Stout, taking the Bible to another heavenly world was an evangelical effort of cosmic proportions. This included a project to prepare a fireproof Bible that would be left on the surface of the Moon as part of a “sanctuary.” In addition to fulfilling the dream of astronaut White and other space travelers, there is also a missionary appeal, recording more than two thousand years of Christianity.
Stout was presented by President Nixon with the Apollo Medal Achievement Award.
The first Lunar Bible was made in memory of Edward White Jr and Joe P. Stout Jr, and the Honor Roll of the First Lunar Bible included three other lists of names and institutions: the first was special selections made by the group of leaders in the APL. The second was made by APL members and the third included churches or religious organizations with connection to APL activities.
The Apollo Prayer League thanked those who were personally involved in helping place THP First Bible on the moon. The committee: John Stout, Harold H. Hill, Brandford Jackson (Apollo 12), L.A. Xiecox? (Apollo 13), John Elder (Apollo 14), Melvin Haas and James W. Stout (Apollo 12 presentation), George Bush (Apollo 13 presentation). The Bible Society thanked the Brazilian Bible Society. Among the institutions, mentions of the Escola Superior de Agricultura de Lavras and, as publications, the newspaper O Agrário stand out.
Mary H. Stout mentioned Brazilians Iolanda Bueno, Inaya Mendes, Orlando and Loide Andrade, Regina Manninga, Damaras Moreira, and Maria Fonseca, among other names.
Stout thanked Jerry (Mary Helen's affectionate nickname) and his son Jonathan Stout, Joe O. Stout, and a few other relatives and friends. Also mentioned were the 1939-1941 Regis Boy Scolts and Texas A&M Football Souad and their coach, Homer Norton, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon B. Johnson (US presidents). Juscelino Kubitschek, The Brazilians Carlos Alvis, Eduardo Gonsalves Andrade, Orlando Andrade, Pe. Celso de Carvalho, M/M Marcelino Pires Carvalho,
Francisco Prado Margarido, Uriel de Almeida Leitão, Sophia Teixeira, as well as professor James T. Shaw and the institutions Instituto Gammon, and Igreja Presbiteriana Bom Sucesso/MG.
A copy of a list of signatures, and the names of his students were included, who we can identify as belonging to the 64th Agronomy class at ESAL, who graduated in 1961/2, as well as two others. The following names were registered, according to the order of the list: Carlos Gomes dos Santos Cortês, Álvaro José dos Santos Neto, José Carlos da Cunha Teixeira, Rúbio Rodarte, José Arthur de Oliveira, João Eugênio (not on the list of graduates) Hélio Corrêa, José Santiago Nogueira, Mário Alves (Telinho?) Malafaia, Washington Cornélio (graduated in the 1963/2 class), Pedro Tonelli Junior, Nobor Haga, Justino Vicente da Silva, Hélio Lopes dos Santos, Saul Pereira, Erycson Pires Coqueiro, José Barbosa Netto, João José Moreira Muylaert, Adir Carlos de Carvalho, Juareztovam Lamim de Carvalho, Paulo Carlos Moreira, Dalton Dias Heringer, Danilo Pereira Correa, Alfredo Scheid Lopes, João Márcio de Carvalho Rios, Luiz Eduardo Maciel Epaminondas, name not identified, Ivanildo Moniz Santiago, Gerson Pereira Rios, Sylvio Nogueira de Souza, not legible - Fernando?
After the great feat
In 1972, with the end of the Apollo project, NASA began a process of dismissing several of its employees, including John. He left behind a legacy of work that helped take twenty-four men to the Moon, including the one who landed and left a copy of the Bible there.
John was invited to serve in a position with the Alaska Department of the Interior as an Information Transfer Specialist, Chemical Engineering Environmental Coordinator, and Biological Information Technical Officer. At the same time, he served as pastor of a small church, creating the Alaska Wilderness Ministry for Native Indians, and holding annual Easter sunrise services in the Eagle River Valley. After approximately ten years of work in this region, he returned to Texas, where he remained until his death.
Nobel Peace Prize
For all the achievements he accomplished and the legacy left by his life story, Stout was nominated, in 2013, for the Nobel Prize by the group of then US Vice President Lyndon Johnson.
Vision
Stout viewed science and religion not as two separate and conflicting entities, but rather as a unified system. He once reported that he felt perfectly comfortable with God looking into a test tube alongside his students. At NASA, along with Reverend Carl McIntire, he believed that technology would be crucial to the survival of faith. They ran a religious campaign at the space base to encourage Christians not to focus on debates involving old science versus technology, but instead to embrace a future dominated by space travel. Both believed that the American space program declared the glory of God and celebrated humanity's scientific innovation.
In his Master of Theology thesis, Stout discussed how to communicate God's message among the divergent and conflicting peoples of the Earth. This thought-provoking thesis by Stout was later adopted by the United States ambassador to the United Nations for his diplomatic insights.
In one of his reflections in which he asked himself where he could find God, he made the following mention:
“What an incredible life plan. Amazed, I saw the beautiful yellow ipe trees with their golden crowns of life, and I touched the ancient tree of life in Brazil. I saw the beauty of the animals, the birds with parrots in their thousands in flight. I admired the spider monkeys, leopards, and wildlife big and small as they talked to each other, sometimes talking about fear, sometimes not. In the New Testament, Paul talks about how we are not excused for not knowing God in nature. If I knew God, wouldn't I find Him in my jungle? Why can’t I find God in myself?”
References:
CHUNG, G. His Cosmic Ministry: John Stout, Aerospace Ministries, and the Lunar Bible Project. Princeton Historical Review, 2022-2023. https://history.princeton.edu/undergraduate/princeton-historical-review/issue-22-23/his-cosmic-ministry
JONES, G. Bless Thou Astronauts: A Short History of Faith in the American Space Age 1957– 1971. Journal of Space Philosophy, 11(2), 2022. Available at: https://keplerspaceinstitute.com/bless-thou-astronauts-a-short-history-of-faith-in-the-american-space-age-1957-1971-by-grace-jones/
K, DAVID. John Stout: The Missionary who Joined NASA. Presbyterian Historical Society Blog, 2018. Available at: https://www.history.pcusa.org/blog/2018/06/john-stout-missionary-who-joined-nasa
______John M. Stout. Former Student, Now Missionary. The Battalion, January 05, 1951. (image 4). Texas A&M Newspaper Collection. Available at: https://newspaper.library.tamu.edu/lccn/sn86088544/1951-01-05/ed-1/seq-4/
______ John M. Stout - 1922-2016. Obituary. 2016. The Baytown Sun. Available at: https://baytownsun.com/obituaries/john-maxwell-stout/article_9814f886-c62f-11e6-8a76-df60a9c0ce71.html
VAN CLEVE, N. Into the heavens: the lunar bible - grand prize winner. 2015. Available at: https://hc.edu/publications/museums/Dunham_Bible_Museum/2015PiecesofPast_VanCleve_IntoTheHeavens.pdf
Apollo Prayer League: remember the Stouts. Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063545529531
Suggested bibliography:
MERSCH, C. The Apostles of Apollo - The journey of the Bible to the Mon… and other untold stories. Fayetteville, Pen-L Publishing, 2013.
MERSCH, C. Undaunted: The unflinching faith, audacity, and ultimate betrayal of an American legend, 2019. 237p.
Acknowledgments:
Despite the importance and global repercussions of Professor John Stout's work, the information available in the archives of the Federal University of Lavras was very limited. Thus, in addition to extensive research, we also count on the collaboration of Mr. Gary Mathews, Director of Alumni Relations at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and Ms. Lora M. Gilmore, administrative associate at the Texas A&M University Records Office, to whom we appreciate it.
We also thank the journalist Mr. Diego Nascimento, prof. Mrs. Vandinha (Pró-Memória, Instituto Gammon) and Ms. Ênali Paula Paiva for their special contributions.
But our great emotion came from contact with the
American writer, Mrs. Carol Mersch, who had the opportunity to meet the Stout couple towards the end of their lives, conducted several interviews which gave rise to the book Undaunted: The unflinching faith, audacity, and ultimate betrayal of an American legend. Many emails and files were exchanged, thus allowing us to enrich information about the life and works of Professor John M. Stout.
Other photos:
