By Hope 103.2Monday 10 Sep 2018Hope BreakfastFaithReading Time: 2 minutes
Listen: Sam Childers the ‘Machine Gun Preacher’ sits down with Sam and Duncan. Above: Sam Childers with a child rescued by Angels of East Africa.
It’s hard to introduce Sam Childers in just a few words, so remarkable is his story.
Raised in Pennsylvania and transformed by God after years of drug addiction and violence, Sam’s life took a drastic turn in 1998 on a church missions trip in South Sudan. There, he came across the body of a child ripped apart by a landmine—and at that moment he dedicated himself to helping the people of the struggling African nation.
Despite the dangers, and the horrific violence being carried out by the ‘Lord’s Resistance Army’ terror group, Sam established himself in South Sudan and ran a mobile clinic and built an orphanage. He worked through the day and slept with an AK47 machine gun by his side at night.
He then began to lead armed missions to rescue child soldiers from the LRA—hence the nickname, Machine Gun Preacher.
In the 17 years since, over 2000 children have been housed and educated in the last 17 years at his orphanage, the Children’s Village, which is currently home to around 185 orphans.
Sudanese staff oversee the daily operation of the orphanage, many of them orphans or widows themselves, and a team of SPLA (Sudanese People’s Liberation Army) veterans are on security patrol 24 hours a day.
Sam Childers is currently touring Australia sharing his message of hope and promoting the work of his non-profit organisation Angels of East Africa.
He caught up with Sam and Duncan on Hope Breakfast to chat about his ongoing work in Sudan and Uganda, serving almost 14,000 meals a day and still rescuing child soldiers.
Sam’s story was made famous in the film Another Man’s War, starring Gerard Butler.
Hear Him Speak
Catch Sam Childers live at one of his speaking engagements in Australia.