Nelson Wesley Trout

Nelson Wesley Trout ( born 1921 in Columbus (Ohio ), USA, † September 20, 1996 in Inglewood ( California), United States ) was the first African-American bishop in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Trout was known in his whole Church as moving and powerful preacher. Initially he had pastorates in Alabama ( where he became a friend and colleague of Martin Luther King was ), California and Wisconsin held; He also worked as executive director of Lutheran Social Service in Dayton (Ohio ). In two cases, he served the American Lutheran Church (American Lutheran Church, ALC) on directorships: As Assistant Youth Director ( 1962-67 ) and as Director of Urban Evangelism ( 1968-70 ). 1983 Trout was elected bishop of the South Pacific District of the ALC. He held until 1987 this position. At the time of his election, he was Professor and Director of Minority Studies at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. He died in 1996 at the age of 76 years. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America remembers with a Memorial Day in their calendar of saints on 20 September at him.