Small Church Seeks Return of Apollo Prayer League Assets It Claims Were Confiscated by State of Texas

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Pen-L Publishing

Dec 29, 2025, 08:43 ET

Book "Undaunted" by Oklahoma author follows life of legendary NASA scientist and chaplain to the Apollo astronauts who landed first Bible on the Moon.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark., Dec. 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Pen-L Publishing reports that members of Faith Presbyterian Church in Pasadena, TX are protesting the Texas Dept. of Aging and Disability Services' (DADS) lack of oversight of what they claim are their church assets, along with the impoundment of an elderly ordained Presbyterian pastor, a decorated WWII disabled veteran.

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"Undaunted" is the story of Rev. John Stout, ordained Presbyterian minister, missionary, NASA scientist, chaplain to the Apollo astronauts, and Director of the Apollo Prayer League, a 40,000- member nonprofit group made up of NASA employees and supporters around the world whose primary goal was to land the first bible on the moon.
"Undaunted" is the story of Rev. John Stout, ordained Presbyterian minister, missionary, NASA scientist, chaplain to the Apollo astronauts, and Director of the Apollo Prayer League, a 40,000- member nonprofit group made up of NASA employees and supporters around the world whose primary goal was to land the first bible on the moon.
The tiny microfilm scriptures, measuring just over 1.5" x 1.5" were developed by NCR in 1966 and contain all 1,245 pages and 773,746 words of the King James Bible. In 1971, a Packet of 100 were carried by Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell to the surface of the moon, while 200 more circled overhead in the command module. The bibles became known collectively as the "First Lunar Bibles."
The tiny microfilm scriptures, measuring just over 1.5" x 1.5" were developed by NCR in 1966 and contain all 1,245 pages and 773,746 words of the King James Bible. In 1971, a Packet of 100 were carried by Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell to the surface of the moon, while 200 more circled overhead in the command module. The bibles became known collectively as the "First Lunar Bibles."

Rev. John Stout, a former NASA scientist and chaplain to the astronauts, helped form the 40,000-member Apollo Prayer League (APL) made up of NASA employees and supporters around the globe who worked with the Apollo 14 astronauts to land the King James Version of the Holy Bible on the moon in 1971. The League operated under the auspices of Faith Presbyterian Church, a 501(c)3 nonprofit where Stout was an interim pastor and Director of the Apollo Prayer League (APL). The purpose of the APL was to pray for the safety of the astronauts and the spacecraft they flew.

The League and the church feature prominently in the book about their roles in getting the first Bible to the moon onboard an Apollo spacecraft: "Undaunted: The Unflinching Faith, Audacity, and Ultimate Betrayal of Reverend John Maxwell Stout" (Pen-L Publishing, 2018) by Oklahoma author-journalist Carol Mersch.

According to court records, in October 2010, DADS took possession of Stout's assets, including various space memorabilia—dozens of valuable lunar bibles in microfiche form that had gone to the lunar surface or circled the moon. A similar one was auctioned by Heritage Auctions in Dallas 2014 for $75,000.

Based on spurious claims by their adopted son that his parents were demented and giving away family valuables, the elderly pastor, age 88, and his frail wife Helen, 86, were declared "incapacitated" wards of the state and relegated to the Heritage Villa Nursing Home, Dayton, TX, as federally-supported Medicaid residents.

In Sept. 2012, a DADS guardianship supervisor confirmed that Stout had indeed been held incommunicado in that facility. According to court documents, his computer was taken away; his mail censored; incoming and outgoing phone calls prohibited, along with stamps or writing materials, deprived of contact with close friends and associates. Nursing home staff had grown fond of the couple and lamented in private: "He is not demented."

The defiant Betty Duke

According to Betty Duke, 92, an Elder and Treasurer of Faith Presbyterian, she and a group of church parishioners went to the nursing home on Sept. 5, 2014, to visit Stout and console him in the recent loss of his wife of 71 years. However, the home's administrator, Dexter Guice, denied access to the group on the grounds "for his (Stout's) own protection."

Duke mailed complaint letters on church letterhead to DADS guardian supervisor Vicki Jones of Houston. The letter began: "How Does it Feel to Be God?" She then mounted a verbal and written campaign against DADS officials, State legislators, and AG Greg Abbott protesting the isolation of Stout in disregard of Abbott's own government website which defines isolation as "elder abuse."

DADS finally dismissed the case in 2017 when national news coverage cast a harsh light on the case and only after the couple had died after six years of isolation, deprived of visits from friends and loved ones.

Mersch's book describes Stout's friendship with the President of Brazil, Apollo astronauts, U.N. Amb. George H.W. Bush and a young then-Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson who provided Stout the coordinates to take the first clear photo of the Russian orbiting satellite Sputnik from his missionary location in Brazil. He was later appointed to head 15 space observatories in Brazil before joining NASA working on the Mercury and Apollo programs.

The battle over the millions of dollars' worth of aerospace and religious artifacts is entering its 16th year in a Chambers County probate court with, inexplicably, no further judicial action in two years.

For more information contact: APR, Kirk Public Relations, 512-940-4402, [email protected]

Available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and Pen-L Publishing.com

SOURCE Pen-L Publishing

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