WHO IS SAM CHILDERS AND THE MACHINE GUN PREACHER
W​HO IS THE REAL SAM CHILDERS?
The Internet will tell you: Sam Childers is a former Outlaw biker, bad boy all-round thug who sold drugs and destroyed the lives of many... but today Childers dedicates his life and resources to the rescuing of children in the war zone countries like South Sudan.
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Sam's life totally turned around when he started going to church some 30 years ago - he even went to Bible college and became a Pastor. Sam started going on mission trips and supporting missionaries - little did he know at that time that he was also about to become one himself and save thousands of children from rebel militias' like Joseph Kony and his band of warlords
known as the Lords Resistance Army or LRA
​But for Childers it ​partly meant picking up a ​firearm and saving/rescuing children from a war zone and starting an orphanage in South Sudan. That was over 25 years ago. Today his organisation Angels of East Africa (AOEA) looks after around 350 children 24/7. All of which are housed, being schooled, or trained with a skill to work. Some will continue on to universities to become lawyers, doctors, teachers and engineers.
Childers’ life is portrayed in the movie, Machine Gun Preacher​ (MGP)​, starring Gerard Butler. See Movie trailer HERE
Sam greets children at his orphanage in Nimule, South Sudan
IF GOD WASN'T IN WHAT I DO... I DON"T BELIEVE I'D BE ALIVE TODAY
One thing a Christian pastor said after seeing the ​MGP ​movie was, ‘I can’t stand here as a pastor and say I agree with everything the ​Pastor Sam Childers has done. But I will say to those who don’t agree, what would you think is the answer [to injustice]? Because, if you don’t agree with what he’s doing, then you should have a way to fix the problem yourself.’ If a person doesn’t agree with my ways, that’s fine – that’s what freedom is all about, that we believe in what we want to believe in. But if you’re not going to believe in something, and if you’re not going to support something, you should have another way that would fix the problem…​ ​I do put ​East Africa ​up there on top of the list​…​ ​it is God’s work. And if we’re in alignment with God, it’s not about putting your wife first or your children first, it’s about putting God first; then your wife and children.
I never abandoned my family. My wife was okay with me going​ in the early days...​ but my daughter did feel like I put the African kids before her. And for many years of my life, my daughter and I had challenges.
Sam hands out books donated to him from Japan to school children in Uganda
'Machine Gun Preacher' is Honoured
with the Mother Teresa Award
IN 2013 Sam Childers became the 1st & only American to receive the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice. The Mumbai-based Harmony Foundation, the "only institution bearing the endorsement of the Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother Teresa," bestowed the humanitarian award on Sam Childers for rescuing abducted children from the Lord's Resistance Army. According to a press release,
Childers invokes an Old Testament-style God. Childers also mentioned that Mother Teresa was his role model. "Her life story has moved me immensely," he told India.com partner DNA. "I will consider my life a success if I can do even a fraction of the good work she has done for humanity."
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Childers joins the likes of Baroness Caroline Cox | the Dalai-Lama | Malala Yousafzai | Médecins Sans Frontières | Women for Afghan Women | UNHCR (and many others) in receiving this honorary award.
WATCH SAM CHILDERS STORY HERE
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Get ready to hear the real story of Sam Childers in this 12 minute video production.
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Sam goes through his journey from the bad boy drug days and being a shot-gunner - no good biker & all round thug
to one day (over 30 years ago) turning his life around and rescuing thousands of children in East Africa.