SHREVEPORT, LA -- Theologian-Author-Activist Tex Sample of Kansas City, Mo. will conduct two workshops at Centenary College on (Saturday) March 27. He will present "The Spectacle of Worship in a Wired World" at 1 p.m. and "The Future is Here, But You Can't See It From There" at 7 p.m., both in Kilpatrick Auditorium.
Centenary's Wilson Lecture Series and School of Church Careers (CSCC) will present Dr. Sample as the college celebrates CSCC'S 25th anniversary. The Church Careers program prepares people for lives of Christian service and ministry.
Dr. Sample is the Robert B. and Kathleen Rogers Professor of Church and Society at Saint Paul School of Theology. Originally from Brookhaven, Miss., he is named "Tex" after Texanna Gillham, an African-American who helped raise his father near Center, Texas.
Dr. Sample received his B.A. in psychology from Millsaps College, S.T.B. from the Boston University School of Theology, and his Ph.D. from the Boston University Graduate School. His dissertation focused on the social ethics of Norman Mattoon Thomas, a six-time socialist candidate for president of the United States.
As an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, he has served the General Conference and the South Central Jurisdictional Conference. Dr. Sample has also worked as a cab driver, laborer, oilfield roustabout, pastor, director of social relations of the Massachusetts Council of Churches, lobbyist, and civil rights activist.
Dr. Sample received the John M. Swomley Jr. Award from Saint Paul for "commitment to God's work and preserving human rights through non-violent social action."
He has authored a number of books, including Blue Collar Ministry; U.S. Lifestyles and Mainline Churches; Hard Living People and Mainstream Christians; Ministry in an Oral Culture: Living with Will Rogers, Uncle Remus, and Minnie Pearl; White Soul, Country Music, the Church and Working People; and The Spectacle of Worship in a Wired World.
For further information, contact the Rev. Jayne Trammell-Kelly at 318-869-5156 or email jtrammell@centenary.edu.
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