Hi! I’m Sam and this is my family. Beth and I have been married for twelve years and we have four children. I am lead pastor of a new church in Tallahassee, FL called GraceWorks. I attempt the unnatural and daunting task of being a pastor and an academic.I named this blog “Purging My Soul One Blog at a Time” because it was the first thing that came to mind. I thought the hyperbole was funny. But many times, the first thing that comes to mind is the most accurate. I needed an outlet – a way to share what was on my heart and mind on a regular basis. This is my outlet. As such, this blog involves a host of topics including ministry, theology, and family life. I hope you enjoy what you find here.
thanks for the link…now i can get my daily sam dose and not actually have to talk to you…great posts so far…keep em comin…
Sam,
I am so glad you sent this to us. I have really missed hearing your great insite into what God truly wants for us and our family. You never cease to amaze and no one “thumps” the way you do. Wherever you end up preaching those that will hear God’s words through you will be blessed. I can’t wait for the next blog….
Sam,
I just clicked on your photo, now I now what you look like. You have a very beautiful family.
Uh oh. Now I’m in trouble – a face to match the comments! Thanks – we have our girls trained that when people tell them they are pretty to say, “Thank you – it’s genetics.” It’s hilarious…
I just found your blog through Nick. I’m seriously looking forward to reading your posts – I was historical theology major in college.
Hey Mike –
Thanks for stopping by – please comment, ridicule, lambast, or encourage anytime…
I am impressed with all the linguistics stuff, man. You are a better man than me. I been trying to forget all my Greek (which I barely made it out the first time). My uncle is a prof at Auburn who is a PhD in linguistics – he did his dissertation on the evolution of articles in the book of Matthew I think. Somehow I just haven’t gotten around to reading it. He did get a research trip to Denmark out of it though
Well, I confess that I switched my major in college from H-Theo to Greek and now I’m studying linguistics. I still miss the history stuff though, may I ask what your diss. is on?
“Chasing the Spirit: A Historical Interpretation of Western Spirituality from a Pentecostal Perspective”
Basic Idea: People require experience to anchor fatih. All people have an innate desire for experience to accompany religion. The majority of church authortiy in history as marginalized charismatic expereince. My diss surveys Christian and non-Christian avenues to spirituality in hopes of supporting the concept that if the church refuses to provide spiritual experience, people will go scrambling in a thousand different directions looking for it. They do this regardless of how many times church authority tells them their behavior is innapropriate. The answer? Give Spirit chasers what they are looking for: Holy Spirit somatization.
Sam, is this book still in print, if so by who? could you give a link? thanks.
That’s the description of my dissertation, Brian. It’s not published yet- I felt the information would do better for a wider audience if I rewrote for a general readership (as much as possible). Still shopping it – no bites yet…
If you’d like a copy, I’ll forward one to you.
I’l take one!! Thanks!
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I stumbled across your website and was delighted to see your beautiful family. I loved reading your blog and I am sure I will check back in with you. Congrats on the new job.
Kim
Hi Kim!
Yep – once you’re on the ‘net, anyone can find you! Jamie’s blog is listed in my blogroll also. Thanks for commenting. I hope your family is doing well. Tell Ben I said hello. I actually thought about you last week – we had a problem with our kitchen disposal – guess who I called?
Sam
Ok so after finding your blog and reading everyone of them… I really misss the Bible Study nights at your house. Being a stay at home mom, I too find everything you say true.. boredom… finding things to do etc…. anyway I enjoyed reading all the entries adn will continue to read from now on!!
Hey Courtney!
What’s up, stranger? Thanks for reading. I’m glad you’ve enjoyed it! Though the “great experiment” is over, I’m sure I’ll keep writing about stay at home life as well.
Hope things are going well for you. Feel free to comment anytime…
Sam
Hey Sam! Wow, Jamie gave me this blog of yours…wondered what you were up to after all these years (I am Melanie from Samford)….intersting articles…you probably are not surprised that I am Reformed….we never did agree on much did we? Anyway, you have a beautiful family!
I am on Facebook, but like Jamie said…you probably won’t be! I told him I still have y’alls Last Flight Out tape…wondered if y’all were still together singing…but found out that was a NOPE!
Hey Melanie!
It’s great to hear from you – yeah, I knew it might be difficult to hide in cyberspace.
No, I don’t have a facebook page – my wife ridicules me about it. But alas, I get distracted enough without having a Facebook page. I don’t need any extra “help” in that department. 
I’m glad you contacted me – I hope you and Robbie are both doing well. Sorry you came in on the Reformed rants – there’s plenty of light-hearted stuff on here too. Christianity certainly spans all theological “systems” – I think it’s great that you know what you believe.
Thanks for commenting – feel free to do so anytime you’d like.
Sam
Sam,
Just stumbled across your blog in a desperate attempt to see does anyone else think like me or am I that off the wall!
I think we have many things in common.
Be blessed in your ministry and know that your blog is VERY encouraging and a great read.
Peace.
Ferg
Hi Ferg –
It’s good to know that there are like-minded individuals out there who value your opinions. Besides, “off the wall” is just another synonym for “genius” right?
The pictures on your blog are beautiful – great list of music on your profile too! Feel free to comment or drop a note anytime. Thanks again for the encouragement -”positive” comments aren’t near as common in the blogosphere as “negative” ones.
Thanks,
Sam
Sam, I just read your blog today on God’s discipline and I really enjoyed the simplicity with which you made it so clear that God does not inflict pain on us to encourage us to make the right choices. I would ask where you got this wonderful insight but I already know the answer to that question. You had/have wonderful Christian parents as well as the best Heavenly Father ever. I am so proud of you.
Hi Beth!
It’s so great to hear from you! I hope you are doing okay -Mom usually forwards us your “update” emails from time to time. Yeah, I’m really blessed to have a great family. Our Father is everything we could ever hope for and more. Thanks for reading – you had a tremendous impact on me and I have fond memories of our time together – I am so thankful for the unconditional love you showed us as children. It takes a special person to let two young boys rummage through your record collection.
Please comment anytime you’d like – your insight would be greatly appreciated. Love you!
Sam
Check this out!
http://ourhappysong.blogspot.com/
Wow! That’s Rebecca and RJ! Cool! I’ll have to get in touch with them. Thanks for the link courtney!
God bless you and your family.
dayofwrath
Thanks.
Thanks for this great website!!
I love reading the articles, interesting and inspiring.
The only article I didn’t like is “Does God “Need” Jesus to Forgive?”. I believe God always forgave and forgives because He is love, He wants to forgive, He loves us!!
However, breaking the law does require someone to pay. If someone steals, kills or rapes in our society, nobody would be happy if we JUST let him or her go, without any punishment. In the bible we can read that God punishes sin and that Jesus paid for our sins. The bible clearly says that Jesus’ blood cleans us from guilt and sin. There are so many texts in the bible where God speaks about sin, penalty and Jesus’ sacrifice, just a few:
“Who his own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree [cross]” (1 Peter 2:24).
” For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” (Romans 5:10).
(Galatians 3.13 and 2 Corinthians 5.21: “Christ became a curse for us”; and “God made him to be sin for us”).
Isiah 53:
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief; [7]
when his soul makes [8] an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see [9] and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, [10]
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, [11]
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
So how can you say that Jesus didn’t die for our transgressions and sins? The bible seems quite clear on this. If God would let His son be tortured and killed and punish Him for no reason other than to proof that He loves us, that would be nutts and cruel. There was a good reason, a purpose and that makes everything much more profound and beautiful: God Himselfs, steps down from His seat as judge (He is love and righteous and thus must punish and get rid of evil) and takes upon Himself our punishment. God payed the price for us, the price we could not pay. Because He loves us! And in the old testament He forgave for the same reason as He does now: He loves us. But He knew there was a huge price to pay, in the old testament you already see that. When Abraham was going to sacrifice his son God told Him to stop, God Himself would provide a sacrifice. And indeed, much later God did provide a sacrifice in the exact same spot, Golgotha, Jesus the lamb died for us, instead of us. God wanted to forgive in the old testament and He could because He knew the price would be paid in full… Even starting in Genesis you see the first promise of Gods plan to send His son into the world to save us.
In the old testament God had already planned how He would save us. There are many examples of that (blood on the doorpost for instance). God paid the price for everyone, in the old and new testament. And just like a loan, God can give something in advance whilst paying for it later.
Kind regards and God bless,
Menno
Thanks for your coments Menno – I’m glad you enjoy the site. I wish things were so easily discerned where the cross is concerned. It’s my experience that there are other viewpoints that interpret these passages in a different light, one you may not have had the chance to be exposed to. When we adopt a particular stance (penal-substitution for example) we all tend to read our own preconceived notions into it. There’s plenty to admire about your view of the cross…but there are also some difficult things about that position, namely how it divides the character of God for the sake of upholding a belief that God’s honor has been violated in some way. That implies that we can change God’s ontological nature – and that gives humans a little more credit than they deserve, in my opinion. I don’t have all the answers where the cross is concerned, but I know that I am the object of God’s affection even in the midst of my ignorance. That’s something we can all be thankful for.
Thanks for commenting,
Sam
Hi Sam, thanks for responding
God bless you and keep up the good work!
Maybe it’s best to agree that we disagree on this and have different points of view. But the last part we certainly do agree on!
Kind regards, Menno
I love your post “The “Holiness” of Johnny Cash”, so true, I experience this myself again. Thanks!
Thanks – I’m glad you enjoyed it…
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Pingback: Interview with a Wiccan « Purging my soul…one blog at a time.
So how can you say that Jesus didn’t die for our transgressions and sins? The bible seems quite clear on this. If God would let His son be tortured and killed and punish Him for no reason other than to proof that He loves us, that would be nutts and cruel. There was a good reason, a purpose and that makes everything much more profound and beautiful: God Himselfs, steps down from His seat as judge (He is love and righteous and thus must punish and get rid of evil) and takes upon Himself our punishment. God payed the price for us, the price we could not pay. Because He loves us! And in the old testament He forgave for the same reason as He does now: He loves us. But He knew there was a huge price to pay, in the old testament you already see that. When Abraham was going to sacrifice his son God told Him to stop, God Himself would provide a sacrifice. And indeed, much later God did provide a sacrifice in the exact same spot, Golgotha, Jesus the lamb died for us, instead of us. God wanted to forgive in the old testament and He could because He knew the price would be paid in full… Even starting in Genesis you see the first promise of Gods plan to send His son into the world to save us.In the old testament God had already planned how He would save us. There are many examples of that (blood on the doorpost for instance). God paid the price for everyone, in the old and new testament. And just like a loan, God can give something in advance whilst paying for it later.
+1
really nice new blog header!! I like it.
Hey Howdy Hey!
Stumbled across your blog while searching for something else. Enjoyed what I have read so far. I too am a spiritual Mutt! As I like to say in response to some of the questions that are posed to me…”none of the above!” I know you have a full life but here is a link to a friend of mine’s ministry that I think you would appreciate as a fellow mutt… http://www.lifeonthehill.org/?page_id=10
Your fellow bond-slave of Christ
Chris
Sam, I’ve been working on developing my own understanding of Heb 12.6 following yesterday’s sermon entitled “discipline – the flip side of Love”. I too had thoughts very similar to yours which you posted on your blog and am presently corresponding with my pastor on the subject. From what you have said and from my own study, I am leaning in the direction of calling paideuo an element of sanctification.
A Brother in Christ,
Charlie