Remembering John Chapman Samples
John Chapman Samples, 93, died peacefully on the morning of October 6, 2026, at his home in McCordsville, Indiana, and made his way to his eternal home. He was born September 1, 1933, in Millers Creek, Kentucky (Estill County), in a section house built by the L&N Railroad. His father ran the nearby store that also housed the Millers Creek post office. John was named for his mother’s brother, John Chapman, a section hand on the same railroad. He was preceded in death by his wife of 72 years, Eda Joyce Estes Samples. While their paths crossed a few times growing up (she accidentally killed his cat when they were four), it was in 1950, at a revival at the Bethel Christian Church in Fox, Kentucky (still Estill County), that they met as adults (sixteen-year-olds). She was the daughter of the evangelist Cornelius Estes and his wife Minnie Dell. John and Joyce married five months later (after they both turned 17) at the Christian Church in Liberty, Indiana.
Also preceding him in death were his parents, Floyd Byrd and Zona Chapman Samples; his older brothers, Floyd Byrd Samples, Jr. and Walter Roscoe “Buster” Samples; and his eldest son, Dr. A. Dain Samples.
John is survived by his son, John Wayne Samples, and daughter-in-law, Bobbi K. Samples, of Fishers, Indiana; and so many of the souls he served, baptized, married, comforted, and pointed toward Jesus. He is also survived by his grandchildren, Shayne Samples (Joelle) and Galen Samples (Darcy) of Noblesville, Alain Samples of Indianapolis, and Ehren Samples of Columbus, Indiana; and by his great-grandchildren, Bennett, Callen, Easton, Leighton, and Naomi Samples, of Noblesville.
John survived polio during the national epidemic, and by 1952 he became the nation’s youngest Registered Public Health Sanitarian. In 1955, he was working for the Estill County Health Department when he was tasked (with an armed guard) with picking up the first doses of the Salk vaccine and delivering them for distribution in and around Irvine, Kentucky.
Ordained to the Christian ministry in 1963, John attended Kentucky Christian College (now University) and completed his undergraduate degree at Milligan in upper east Tennessee. His first full-time ministry position was at the Hales Chapel Christian Church in Gray, Tennessee, after serving multiple churches in Kentucky on a part-time basis and earning a reputation as an engaging revival preacher. John’s post-graduate studies included work at Emmanuel School of Religion, Christian Theological Seminary, and Purdue University.
In Indiana, John served as senior minister at Fairfax Christian Church in Indianapolis, the Mount Pleasant Christian Church in Greenwood, and the West Lafayette Christian Church. It was in West Lafayette that he got the nickname ‘Rabbi’ due to the unique arrangement in which the new church—not yet having a building of its own—rented the Temple Israel facilities from the Jewish congregation, holding their Sunday services and classes there for several years. He then became Senior Minister for the Garden Grove (CA) Christian Church in the late 70s and early 80s.
John spent fifteen years as the Director of Christian Ministries at Standard Publishing in Cincinnati before he retired the first time. A few months later, he accepted the call to return to Indianapolis to serve as the Senior Adults Minister at East 91st Street Christian Church, where he continued to lead in various positions, including as an E91 Foundation board member, before retiring on his 80th birthday, fifty years to the day since his ordination. He continued to serve the church as Minister Emeritus until his death, teaching various classes and speaking from time to time. Among the items found near him after his passing was a communion meditation that he had written and was scheduled to share with the church the week before he died.
For nearly 40 years, he and Joyce also worked with the Christian HolyLand Foundation, serving Arab Christian churches of the Galilee and the West Bank of Israel—walking, as he loved to say, in the Land Where Jesus Walked. His motto was simple: “Love God, love others.”
John was active in numerous ministries within, and without, the Restoration Church movement (Christian Churches and Churches of Christ). He served on boards and committees of his alma maters, including the Board of Trustees at Emmanuel School of Religion, where it was his motion that led to the merging of Emmanuel into Milligan University. Besides being on the American Committee of the Christian HolyLand Foundation, he worked with multiple international ministries, including in Ukraine, Romania, Brazil, Austria, Egypt, Jordan, Mexico, Hungary, and Italy.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions to the Christian HolyLand Foundation (CHLF.org), Remember the Children , the East 91st Street Christian Church Commons, and the E91 Foundation.
John requested that his body be donated to the Indiana University School of Medicine, so he will be teaching there into 2028. He was born with a condition known as situs inversus totalis, a rare congenital condition where his internal organs are completely reversed, forming a mirror image of normal human anatomy, making him a strong candidate for study.
The family expresses their gratitude to the incredible staff at Traditions of Brookside Senior Living and Enlight Hospice for their love and care during the last season of John’s life.
Celebration services for the life of John C. Samples will be held on Sunday, November 1 at 4 pm in the Worship Center of East 91st Street Christian Church, with visitation from 2-4 p.m.
