Tex Sample is a specialist in church and society and a much sought-after lecturer, storyteller, workshop leader, and consultant. He is a pastor and the Robert B. And Kathleen Rogers Professor Emeritus of Church and Society at The Saint Paul School of Theology.  He has published 12 books. His provocative forthcoming book with Abingdon Press is Working Class Rage: A Field Guide to White Anger and Pain. He lives in Kansas City, Missouri.

An ordained elder in The United Methodist Church, Sample served on four occasions as a delegate to The General Conference of the UMC. Sample was born and grew up in Brookhaven, Mississippi, and as a young man drove a cab, worked in construction, and was a roustabout in the oil field. Sample is married to Peggy Jo Sanford Sample. “Tex” is his real name, not a nickname. His father named him after Texanna Gillham, an African-American woman who lived near Shelbyville, Texas.