JIM SAMPSON
…. and his Godly Call
Jim Sampson has been a member of Cedardale Church for over three decades. He has held many elected positions on the Board of Management, led a 50 person weekly youth Bible study in his home, given many sermons from the pulpit as a volunteer supply- and he is most known for all the years he has been on stage as part of the worship team with his guitar."It all comes from God, not me," is Jim's answer to any praise for anything he has ever accomplished in his life. As a little boy, Jim found reading to be his hardest subject. He called himself "a dumb reader" and just worked harder at other things in his life to avoid big amounts of reading. He cannot remember reading a full book, except for one."I could always read the Bible with no problems," he says adding, "Words in the Bible I could read and understand, easily," And that is the extent of Jim's reading list as an adult, the Bible from cover to cover, many times.Jim was a father to four sons when he was watching a tv program on learning how to read. He could not believe that the documentary was describing "his" reading problem. He never shared his struggles with many because it was "his problem" he always believed. One of his siblings watched the show too and called him, very excited. It turns out that Jim, like many others, has dyslexia. Dyslexia is defined as being a common learning disorder that involves difficulty in reading and speech. For Jim, its only for reading and he has long learned to deal with it but finding out he absolutely was not a "dumb reader" was a praise God item. .Music has been Jim's passion in life. He belonged to a rock and roll band "Crackerjack" in his younger days. One of his bandmates was his brother, Bobby. The band was busy, touring all through Ontario and throughout western Canada. The decision to deband came from being away from home so much, family life and band life did not mix well..The call to music was still strong when Jim met his friend, Gord Evans. Gord was a highly skilled musician- and Jim and Gord soon became close friends. They played at Cedardale Church. Gord led the worship team and was the worship leader. Both men had young families and didn't want to be on the road all the time away again. They also wanted to play to glorify God only. The twosome eventually formed a Christian band called "Evidence".. Jim's son, Jonathon was the drummer and Gord's daughter Dana was on vocals, keyboard and bass. Also, in this band along with a shared friend, Alex Kerr, also from Cedardale Church. The band eventually disbanded but for years after, Jim and Gord played together at Cedardale and community events.Jim was at retirement age when he was sure he heard God telling what to do. Following His voice, Jim retired from his job and simplified his life selling his big house to give him more free time. He was going to create music full-time starting with his library of original but unproduced music.A lunch with Scott Jackson, the founder of Christian radio station, Life 100.3 funded Jim an opportunity to launch his own original song, professionally produced by GI Holm out of Wallsdown Studios. The song was played on Life 100.3 and Jim Sampson Music was officially started. With his friend Gord's help, Jim created Jim Sampson Music on Youtube. Here is that first song that has now passed over 5,000 views:
.PNG/:/cr=t:9.68%25,l:9.68%25,w:80.65%25,h:80.65%25/rs=w:400,cg:true,m)