Biographical Sketch

Chaplain Sams wrote this brief autobiographical sketch as part of his application to the U.S. Army Chaplaincy in 1953. In it he describes his early conversion experience and his reasons for severing ties with the Christian & Missionary Alliance.

I spent my childhood in the area of Alabama around Birmingham, Gadsden, and Anniston, except for brief times when my parents moved to Perry, Georgia, and Winter Haven, Florida.

In March of 1938 I was converted in a cottage prayer meeting in the home of one of our neighbors in Gadsden, Alabama. Very soon thereafter I joined the East Gadsden Baptist church and was baptized by the pastor Rev. V. L. Wyatt. When I was about 15 years old my family moved to Birmingham, Alabama, and there I joined the Birmingham Gospel Tabernacle with my mother. Through the energetic efforts of Rev. Glenn V. Tingley I was led to become very interested in the work of the Christian & Missionary Alliance. I went to Bob Jones University in September of 1940, and graduated in the spring of 1944 with a major in the field of Religion and a minor in English. While at Bob Jones University I regularly attended the Baptist Boys Sunday School class at the college, and I moved my church membership to the First Baptist Church of Cleveland, Tennessee, where BJU was located at that time.

During the summers of '42, '43, and '44 I conducted evangelistic campaigns with the assistance of some college friends. In August of 1944 I was called as pastor of the Alliance Tabernacle in Tuscaloosa, Ala. On September 9th, 1944, I was married to the former Winifred Goodrich, of Binghamton, New York, whom I had met at Bob Jones University. While serving as pastor in Tuscaloosa I completed work for a Master's degree in the graduate school of the University of Alabama.

In the summer of 1945 my wife and I felt led of the Lord to prepare to go the mission field as foreign missionaries, and we went to the Missionary Training Institute, in Nyack, New York, for special study, as required by the Christian & Missionary Alliance. While there I was a student instructor in the English Department. I arranged my course of study so that I was able to complete requirements for the Bachelor of Religious Education degree by the end of the school year in June of 1946.

By this time we had applied to the Foreign Department of the C&MA and had been appointed as missionaries to Jerusalem, Palestine. We sailed from New York for Palestine in November, 1946. While in Jerusalem we were engaged chiefly in Hebrew language study, but I also had some pastoral responsibilities, preaching, and teaching duties. When the Jewish-Arabic war broke out in full fury, my family and I, along with most of the other missionaries of Jerusalem, were evacuated to the Island of Cyprus, where we remained for several months before returning to the USA in June 1948 as it became apparent that the situation in Palestine would not very soon subside to normalcy again. The next few months I spent mostly in traveling around Alabama and Florida speaking in Missionary Conventions.

In March of 1949 I was called as pastor of the Alliance Church in St. Petersburg, Florida. I started my ministry here on Easter Sunday, 1949, and continued as pastor through the last Sunday of January 1951.

Many times during these years things came to my mind and heart concerning the doctrine and organization of the Christian & Missionary Alliance which disturbed me very much. I was converted at the age of thirteen largely through the efforts of some C&MA people. In my youth and inexperience I was greatly impressed with the apparent spirituality and fervent missionary work of the C&MA. I was led to believe that it was an interdenominational organization, and that I could be a Baptist if I wanted to and still fellowship and work with them. Then, too, I found emphasized in Bob Jones University many principles which encouraged me to continue with a group like the C&MA rather than to cooperate with a larger denomination like the SBC. But as I learned to think and study the Bible for myself, and as I considered some of the things I had been taught in the C&MA and at Bob Jones University, I wondered why I ever dropped out of the Baptist work.

These feelings led to a climax for me toward the end of 1950 and the first of 1951. I went to a Baptist pastor here, Rev. Harris Bragan, who had been a friend of mine for the past several years, and also to Dr. Earl B. Edington, pastor of the First Baptist Church in St. Petersburg, and told them what was on my heart. I told them about the teachings, attitudes, and things in the C&MA which I did not believe to be exactly scriptural or right, and that out of sincere conviction I believed I belonged in the Southern Baptist Convention, the original denomination of my choice. I resigned my church here and finished my ministry on January 28th, 1951, and my wife and I joined the Community Baptist Church the following Wednesday night, January 31st. I returned my credentials to the District Superintendent of the C&MA, and I requested to be ordained to the Baptist Ministry. A council was formed of pastors of local Baptist churches; they gave me a thorough examination and unanimously recommended my ordination, and I was so ordained on the eighth of this month.

At the present time I am teaching three mornings a week at Trinity College, in Clearwater, Florida, where I have been teaching part time for the past two years. I really enjoy teaching and appreciate the opportunity of helping to train young people who are preparing to go out into Christian service. While I am associated with Brother Bragan and helping out every way I can in the work at the Community Baptist Church, I feel that I ought to hold up any other plans regarding taking up another pastorate until I have had some time to find out about this application to the Chaplaincy. I well realize that this is a very important time of decision and crisis in my life and ministry for the Lord, but I definitely believe that God has led so far in my re-activating my relationship with the Baptists, and I believe He will have me serve Him in connection with the Baptist ministry. I also feel led of the Holy Spirit in making this application for the Chaplaincy, and should it be God's will for me to be appointed to this position, I shall do my best to serve our service men, our country, our denomination, and our Lord to the very best of my ability.