BIOGRAPHY
Machine Gun Preacher is the inspirational story (based on the real life) of Sam Childers, a former drug-dealing criminal who undergoes an astonishing transformation and finds an unexpected calling as the savior of thousands of kidnapped and orphaned children. The true story of one man's battle to save children in the Sudan.
The body of a child torn apart by a landmine lay in the sunburnt grass of Southern Sudan -- This was the moment former US 1%ER & Outlaw biker Sam Childers decided to devote the rest of his life to saving the children of East Africa.
"The body may have been there for about 12 or 16 hours," Sam Childers said
"As I stood there over the child I said 'God I'd do anything I can to help these people'."
Sam Childers will be on his 2024/5 World Tour - speaking to youth detention centres, drug rehab centres, prisons, schools, businesses, churches and organisations where he believes his story will inspire hope and motivate anyone that wants to make successful changes in there lives.
Sam gave up a life of drugs, crime & violence in the US Outlaw Motorcycle Gang circle - after he noticed his life began to change when he joined his then-girlfriend on her visit to church.
His dedication to Africa was sparked in 1996 when he stumbled across the child's body during a church mission to rebuild huts destroyed by war in Southern Sudan -- not long afterwards, Childers began building his first orphanage in Southern Sudan after selling his construction business back in the US.
Most of the orphans have lost their parents due to the atrocities of war , accidents or diseases such as AIDs and malaria -- others are former child soldiers or sex slaves rescued by Childers & his team from local militia and rebel groups.
"Joseph Kony was wanting to destroy me as much as I wanted to get a hold of him," Childers said of the murderer who is now believed to be hiding somewhere deep in the Congo.
With an AK47 in one hand and a bible in the other, Childers has become affectionately known as the Machine Gun Preacher.
His life story was published in his 2009 biography, Another Man's War. It was turned into a Hollywood feature film in 2011, called The Machine Gun Preacher and starring Glaswegian & Hollywood heartthrob Gerard Butler.
Through his charity - Angels of East Africa - Childers has built seven orphanages, seven schools, around 50 wells for clean drinking water, and a farm where he teaches those displaced by war, how to make a living.
"We don't want them to be beggars, but to equip and teach them a skill and trade that can change nations," said Sam Childers.
"We can't save all the children but... you do what you have to do". said Sam Childers
Millions of people are on the brink of starvation in Southern Sudan as East Africa is gripped by a famine mainly due to conflicts between tribal groups, according to the United Nations Security Council. (Source: UN Journal : 2022)