Reformed drug addict preaches to children

“Boy, somebody’s gonna kill you one of these days,” the machine gun preacher’s father said.  These were the words Sam Childers was hearing all through his childhood.  Childers grew up in the hills of Pennsylvania, and when he was in his young teens he began his life of violence.  He began doing drugs, fighting and sleeping around.  As he gradually began leaving his old lifestyle he turned to God and helping the village of Yei, Southern Sudan.

Childers visited Wylie East to spread his word about the dangers of drugs.  He also spoke to First Baptist Church of Wylie.

Even after Childers stopped doing drugs, he turned to a new life of selling drugs.  Even if he wasn’t hurting himself he then realized he was hurting countless others who would use the drugs he would sell.

“Most people go to rehab to quit, I found God and walked away,” Childers said.

Childers traveled to high schools and churches across the nation to teach teenagers about drugs.

“Don’t tell me you know more about drugs, cause you don’t,” Childers said.

Living the life he did, it made him realize the help he needed to do and his true mission with these people.

“Our mission isn’t just helping the people of Africa, it’s about helping here in the United States.  Saving teenagers from drugs as well as shutting down any drug dealer we come across,” Childers said.

Childers’ son died at the age of 24 from a drug over dose.  Childers wished he would have talked to his son about drugs more, and the effects.

“I knew my son went to parties and had a good time, but what I didn’t teach him, was about my past.  All he knew was that he had the coolest dad in the world,” Childers said.

His son’s death was the last straw.  Childers spoke to God and asked for his help.  God’s answer was Sudan, Africa.  Both he and his wife moved there to help the children who are being tortured into becoming soldiers to fight Africa’s war and therefore became the machine gun preacher.

Childers often thought his daughter hated him.  When she was young she thought he loved the children of the village more then he loved her.  When she turned 21 she asked him if she could run his non-profit organization, instead of going to college and making her own career. “My daughter told me, when we didn’t have enough money to put food on the table I sat there and ate from that same table with you.  When we didn’t have enough money to afford new clothes, I was down picking through the clothes other people had donated, right next to you, Childers said.

Sam has seen many revolting things, such as children nailed to trees and children with missing limbs that have been blown off.  His worst experience was when he walked into a village in Africa and saw a child eating dirt, and the child just looked up and smiled at Childers.

“How could dirt make a child so happy, that image still is with me to this day,” Childers said.

He never wanted to see that again.  In his 14 year in Africa, he has the largest orphanage, and has rescued over 1,000 children.

Changing from a young teenager, who shoots heroine in his arm, to someone who risks his life for the children of Darfur shows that anything is possible with God.

“If you truly want to change, then you can change.  God was the one who got me out of it,” Childers said.

Childers feels that if God hadn’t been on his side and helped him through his rough past, he most likely wouldn’t be in the position he is in today.

“If I had the money, I would never go into another church to preach again, because teenagers in high school are the ones with the drugs, and the ones who need the help,” Childers said.

To read more about the Machine Gun Preacher, visit www.machinegunpreacher.org