Tex Sample is a native of Brookhaven, Mississippi. He received his S.T.B. from Boston University School of Theology and his Ph.D. from Boston University Graduate School. He has worked as a cab driver, laborer and roust-about in the oil fields. He pastored churches for eight years and served as Director of Social Relations of the Massachusetts Council of Churches, working actively in the civil rights movement. Since 1967 he has been on the faculty of the Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City where is he Professor of Church and Society. His books include: Blue Collar Ministry (Judson Press 1984), U.S. Lifestyles and Mainline Churches (Westminster/John Knox 1990), Hard Living People and Mainstream Christians (Abingdon 1993), Ministry in an Oral Culture: Living with Will Rogers, Uncle Remus, and Minnie Pearl (Westminster/John Knox 1994) and White Soul: Country Music, the Church and Working People (Abingdon 1996).