Machine Gun Preacher stops in Springs during World Tour
The American author and motivational speaker says Africa is rich and others have found ways to take advantage of its resources.
The Machine Gun Preacher stopped at the Fabu-Lux Venue as the main speaker of a breakfast meeting on Thursday.
As part of his world tour 2019, Sam Childers was hosted by Christian bikers from in around Springs.
Childers recalls how he got the nickname that he has since embraced.
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“I was photographed carrying a machine gun, and I had some children with me.
“It was in the middle of a war in South Sudan.
“Back in the United States, they started writing articles that I was not a man of God.
“They said that I had not come to Africa to preach and they called me the Machine Gun Preacher,” he explains.
He says although he was crushed when he first heard all the things they were saying about him, he later realised that it could work to his advantage.
He even tattooed the name on his forearms.
“I came into a village that was being raided.
“I did what I had to, under the circumstances,” he says.
Childers is a reformed gang member and drug dealer who found himself saving children from war in South Sudan in the mid 1990s.
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He says after he gave his life to the Lord, he soon realised he had a big assignment in Africa.
“I can say that at that point in my life I had everything I wanted, materially.
“Then God came in and messed it up,” he laughs.
Childers believes he was led by God to rescue children in war-torn African countries.
His organisation runs a few children’s homes.
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“We believe in equipping people to better their lives.
“Everywhere we go we try to teach people skills and traits that will sustain them.
“The skills differ based on where the people are located.
“Feeding people does not change a nation.
“We also strongly believe in education, so we have sent a few young people to university.”
The reformed gang member and drug dealer says he believes that Africa has enough wealth to sustain itself.
“The problem is the people who come from outside the continent take advantage of the rescources.”
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Childers says he has setup a few businesses in East Africa that support the charities.
Machine Gun Preacher the movie, released in 2011, was supposed to be his story, but Childers says he is not impressed.
“When you work with Hollywood, they will make you believe you have some control.
“But in reality, after I signed off the movie I did not have much to do with it, and their portrayal of me.”
In the movie, Gerard Butler played the main character.
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