Rev. Janet Trout

Janet Varnado was born in Lincoln County, Mississippi, on October 6, 1937, to A.D. and Bessie Varnado. She was the sixth and youngest child.

She recognized the voice of the Lord and at the age of thirteen in DeQuincy, Louisiana, she received her call to preach the Gospel. She was licensed by the Louisiana District Board in July 1955, by Superintendent C.G. Weeks

As a fully appointed missionary to the island of Jamaica, she and her parents arrived on January 23, 1956. Her father was the pastor of Pentecostal Tabernacle and Superintendent of the United Pentecostal Church of Jamaica. Her mother was the Bible school teacher. She was the evangelist and also served as an assistant to her dad. During their tenure on the island, thirteen church buildings were built in eleven years.

Wayne Trout and Janet were married in August 1958, by Brother Howard Goss. For the next two years, they pastored the growing church in Wilmington, Delaware. In 1960, they started driving one hour south to hold Bible studies in the home of John and Ruby Hopkins.

They resigned the Wilmington Church and moved to Dover, on April 17, 1961. Their son, Anthony, was ten months old. For a year, they rented a VFW Hall and then, in 1961, they bought property and built the first building, which was dedicated on Thanksgiving 1961. On July 1, 1964, their daughter, Jeanette, was born.

In 1965, there were two families driving the long distance to Dover from Oxford, Pennsylvania, on Sunday. This led the Trouts to start Bible studies in the home of Emma Carter in October 1965. The Bible study attendance grew and they rented a Grange Hall to accommodate the growing church. When they outgrew those facilities, they moved to the Bayview Council Hall to have space for Sunday School classes.

The church grew and they bought property and built a church in the town of North East, Maryland, on Route 40, in 1972. They have enlarged the building twice and built a large Family Life Center adjacent to the church.

In 1967, the Dover church congregation had grown and they bought three acres of property north of Dover. Here, they built the second building and dedicated it on Thanksgiving 1968. Later, an educational building was added to the structure. In 1975, with an urgency to provide a Christian education for the church children, Kent Christian Academy was founded with 105 students the first year.

During the Bible college years, The VIEW (Video International Evangelizing the World) program was developed as a Biblical training tool that continues today as the core curriculum for Bible schools around the world. In 2005, Sister Trout was a major player in the establishment of the International Biblical Institute in Jerusalem and Jordan.

In 1995, Brother and Sister Trout resigned from the Dover church and their son, Anthony, was elected pastor. The church has since built a new building and continues to grow under Pastor Anthony’s leadership. Brother Trout passed away in 2019, but Sister Trout continues to pastor the North East, Maryland church.

In December 1998, Sister Trout started Bible studies in Georgetown, Delaware. The first building there was bought in 1999. After the renovations were complete, it was put on the market and sold. The church rented for three years and then bought a second property with the proceeds from the sale of the first property.

Brother and Sister Trout wrote and recorded over 75 songs, and Sister Trout has written eight books.

Brother Trout served as District Superintendent for the New Jersey Delaware District for twenty-five years. He also served as an honorary board member on both the district and national boards of the United Pentecostal Church International. Sister Trout served as Home Missions Director for the New Jersey-Delaware District and the National Director of the Amish-Mennonite Ministry. She is the Treasurer of the Board of Trustees and a founding board member for Urshan Graduate School of Theology.

In recognition of high scholastic achievement, Sister Trout was inducted into the Sigma Beta Delta, the International Honor Society in Business, Management, and Administration by Wilmington University with a 4.0 GPA.