John D. Amos

John D. Amos is a retired nuclear power engineer. He was the only Black engineering director during his time at global conglomerate Siemens Energy. He also was an adjunct professor at the University of Central Florida.

Amos was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, and earned a bachelor’s degree from Southern University and was commissioned in the Navy and later the Navy Reserve as a nuclear power engineer.

He married his wife, Michelle Wright Amos, in 1990 and they are the parents of three children. She had a 30-year career with NASA and the John F. Kennedy Space Center. She was a systems engineer on the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover.

He was called to preside over the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and began serving in July 2020. He was baptized his senior year at Southern University and has served in the Church as a bishop, bishopric counselor, ward executive secretary, stake presidency counselor, and ward Sunday School president.

In an interview with The Advocate, Amos was asked to comment on race within the Church. He said, "Of course, the culture is different compared to the culture we experienced as youth in our family’s predominantly African-American church and community, but our focus on service to God and spiritual growth as Christians have not been impacted because of our race," John said.

He said he doesn't see race as a "day-to-day" issue within the church.

“It's either you love me or you don't," he said. "You have that same concern no matter what church you're at. So I feel the same amount of love from my fellow brethren in this church than I would somebody that loved me in any other church.”[1]

During the February 18, 2020, landing of the Mars rover, the Amoses’ missionaries watched with them via Zoom technology and allowed them to share their feelings, which turned into a spiritual meeting.