Sample was born in Brookhaven, MS , received a BA from Millsaps College , MDiv. and PhD from Boston University , and DD from Coe College . He currently resides in Goodyear, AZ .
Tex is his real name, not a nickname. His father named him after Texanna Gillham, an African-American woman who was born in slavery and helped raise his father near Center, Texas .
- ''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
|