Samuel Hodges IV

Sam Hodges is the President of Church Initiative, an international ministry that equips churches to share God’s comfort with people in the midst of a life crisis.
Sam grew up in the Temple Hills, MD, area. He’s married to Rachel and has four children: Katrina, Sam, Nadia, and Amber. He earned a degree in communications from Howard University in 1994 and an MDiv from Southeastern Seminary in 1999. While in seminary, Sam worked at a local NBC affiliate as a video editor.
After his graduation, he began working as a producer at Church Initiative. In 2002, Sam left Church Initiative to serve as discipleship pastor at Infinity Church in Laurel, MD.
Sam rejoined Church Initiative in 2005 as executive producer. His first assignment was to shepherd the creation of GriefShare 2.0, and he has had oversight of all curriculum development projects since then. This includes GriefShare second and third editions (2006, 2014), DivorceCare third edition (2012), Single & Parenting (2011), GriefShare Loss of a Spouse (2017), and others. Sam is also the coauthor of Grieving with Hope: Finding Comfort as You Journey Through Loss, published by Baker Books.
In 2019, Sam was elevated to Vice President of publishing. In January 2022, he was named President of the ministry. Sam is passionate about helping Church Initiative fulfill its mission of equipping local churches to help those in the midst of a life crisis. He believes one of the best ways to do this is to guide people who’ve received comfort from programs like DivorceCare and GriefShare to share the comfort they’ve received—especially by volunteering to serve on existing GriefShare and DivorceCare teams or by starting new programs.
Sam enjoys watching Washington DC-area sports teams as well as movies. He also enjoys spending time with his wife and best friend, Rachel.