Tex Sample

Born in Brookhaven, Mississippi, Sample received a BA from Millsaps College, an M.Div. and Ph.D. from Boston University, and a DD from Coe College. A former cab driver, laborer, and oil field roustabout, As of 2015^[update] he is a freelance speaker and consultant based in greater Kansas City, MO.^[1] A much sought-after lecturer,^[2] storyteller, workshop leader and consultant, Tex is a contributor to the DVD programs in the Living the Questions series.^[3] His most recent books are Earthy Mysticism (2008),^[4] The Future of John Wesley's Theology (2012), and Human Nature, Interest, and Power: a Critique of Reinhold Niebuhr's Social Thought (2013).

His father named him after Texanna Gillham, an African-American woman who was born in slavery and helped raise his father near Center, Texas.^[1]

• Blue Collar Ministry: Facing Economic and Social Realities of Working People, Judson Press, 1984, ISBN 0-8170-1029-7
• U.S. Lifestyles and Mainline Churches: A Key to Reaching People in the 90's, Westminster John Knox Press, 1990, ISBN 0-664-25099-8
• Hard Living People & Mainstream Christians, Abingdon Press, 1993, ISBN 0-687-17931-9
• Ministry in an Oral Culture-Living With Will Rogers, Uncle Remus, and Minnie Pearl, Westminster John Knox Press, 1994, ISBN 0-664-25506-X
• White Soul: Country Music, the Church, and Working Americans, Abingdon Press, 1996, ISBN 0-687-03293-8
• The Spectacle of Worship in a Wired World: Electronic Culture and the Gathered People of God, Abingdon Press, 1998, ISBN 0-687-08373-7
• The Loyal Opposition: Struggling With the Church on Homosexuality, Tex Sample and Amy E. Delong, editors, Abingdon Press, 2000, ISBN 0-687-08425-3
• Powerful Persuasion: Multimedia Witness in Christian Worship, Abingdon Press, 2005 ISBN 0-687-33901-4
• Blue Collar Resistance and the Politics of Jesus, Abingdon Press, 2006 ISBN 0-687-33502-7
• Earthy Mysticism: Spirituality for Unspiritual People, Abingdon Press, 2008 ISBN 0-687-64989-7
• The Future of John Wesley's Theology: Back to the Future with the Apostle Paul, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2012 ISBN 978-1-61097-629-9
• Human Nature, Interest, and Power: a Critique of Reinhold Niebuhr's Social Thought, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2013 ISBN 978-1-62032-626-8

• Personal website
• Indigenous Ministry in the Context of the United States - originally published 1991
• Pentecostals on Motorcycles book review by Sample of Riders for God: The Story of a Christian Motorcycle Gang by Rich Remsberg, in The Christian Century, March 7, 2001 p. 18–20
• TexMix - Stories of Earthy Mysticism with Tex Sample on DVD (from Living the Questions)
• "Baseball: A Spiritual Reminiscence", by Tex Sample on Patheos