Tex Sample

Biographical Information

Tex Sample is Coordinator of the Network for the Study of U.S. Lifestyles and now lives in Goodyear, Arizona. He works as a freelance lecturer, workshop leader and consultant with the church and with community, governmental, and business organizations. For many years he was The Robert B. and Kathleen Rogers Professor of Church and Society at the Saint Paul School of Theology. He now holds the Rogers Chair in Emeritus relationship. He is a specialist in the study of blue collar and poor people.

His books include: Blue Collar Ministry (Judson Press, 1984), U.S. Lifestyles and Mainline Churches (Westminster/John Knox Press, 1990), Hard Living People and Mainstream Christians (Abingdon, 1993), and Ministry in an Oral Culture: Living with Will Rogers, Uncle Remus, and Minnie Pearl (Westminster/John Knox, 1994), Over the course of his life Sample has worked as a cab driver, as a laborer, and as a roust-about in the oil fields. Sample is a frequent consultant and researcher for church and community organizations. He has conducted more than one hundred studies for a variety of denominations including the Disciples, the Presbyterians, the Episcopalians, the United Methodists, and the American Baptists.

Books