Sam Dallessandro
Recently I saw some of the disciples from Moody days that many of you know.
One is Sam Dallassandro, Class of 1967. He was my roommate in 835 building. I stayed up all night laughing; he studied and prayed. Sam went on to Biola University and then graduated from Talbot Seminary in California. Off he flew to the pastorate in California for a number of years and then to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State where they threw him out, like many churches are wont to do, for no good reason. Anyway, Sam began to hammer. Not on the truth but on wood. That is, as a carpenter for a few years while waiting for the Lord to give him another chance to be miserable again. And then it happened. Lo, and behold, he pounded himself back into the pastorate where he has now been the big mahoff of East Hazelcrest Bible Church in East Hazelcrest, Il, a southern suburb of Chicago, for about 15 years. Sam was on his way to getting a D.Min. from Talbot, but he just ran out of gas on that one. But who needs it? He was snatched up by Moody, and today, in addition to beating on the Bible and and remodeling the pulpit every Sunday south of Chicago, Sam is working on the neophytes at Moody in some Bible study classes and making THEM miserable. Actually, Sam loves the pastorate, and the students love him. Sam is a man of principle if I have ever met one. Dead serous, comical, and a loyal friend. How those fools at Moody ever joined the likes of him and me in the same room is beyond the pale of imagination. But I am glad they did. I have a mugshot of Sam below that I got one night after pizza last winter. That is why he looks a little bit like Dracula.