By Pallavi Bhattacharya
SAM CHILDERS is no stranger to Christians exposed to Christian films from the West. Machine Gun Preacher is a Hollywood biopic that was made on him in 2011. Childers’ book, ‘Another Man’s War’, where he wrote about his life and experience in Sudan and Uganda, was published by Thomas Nelson in 2009. For those who know very little about Sam Childers, he is a reformed drug addict who now dedicates his life and resources to rescuing child soldiers in Sudan. Childers and his wife Lynn founded the Angels of East Africa and operate Children’s Village orphanage in Nimule, Sudan, which houses and educates numerous orphans. He has rescued hundreds of African children from the war zone in Sudan. He was recently in India to receive the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice organized by the Harmony Foundation. He was felicitated for being an angel of peace at the war zone.
I met him at a hotel lobby in Mumbai where he was staying for the interview where he cordially treated me to breakfast. There were tattoos on his arms – the words ‘Machine Gun Preacher’ were etched on his upper arm. He has a muscular physique and sports salt and pepper hair. What impressed me most about his personality is his confident and straightforward nature. Despite the immense mark he has made in the world, he is humble like his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Excerpts from an exclusive interview for THE CHRISTIAN MESSENGER:
Do you remember what happened at the Assembly of God Church revival meeting where you got saved?
It was a Sunday night. I was raised in a Pentecostal church, so I already knew what God was but I just didn’t want to accept Him at that time. As a child I was born again, but I walked away from it all. I knew at that time that something different had happened to me but I was just too afraid to get up from my seat. The pastor came walking right back to me and that night I gave my life to Christ. But I knew that I wanted more so I went back the next night and sat right in the front row of the church. That was in June, 1992.
Your mother was also given the prophecy that her son would become a preacher…
My mom was prophesized over before she even conceived me. She was told that she would have a child who would be a preacher and would travel the world. Then it happened again when I was in her belly. Then it happened again when I was a small child standing next to her and again when I was about five or six years old. She had the same prophecy for many years. I always joke that when I was about 17 or 18 years old, my mother thought that they were all liars. The truth is that she never gave up praying saying, “God, you told me that my son would become a preacher.”
A pastor prophesied that you would go to Africa and serve…
Yeah, the pastor’s first name was Mike. He was a very hard pastor – what I exactly needed at that point of time. When he gave the prophecy I started getting angry and waited outside the church to beat him up. I felt that I was not born to Africa and nobody could insist that I was born to it. I started cursing him in front of the church. All he did was just smile and said, “We will see.” This prophecy came in June, 1992. In the fall of 1998, I found myself in Sudan in Africa.
How did you meet your wife Lynn? What is her role in your ministry?
She runs the entire church by herself now. I would have been the Senior Pastor, but I am not around anymore. So I cannot call myself a Senior Pastor anymore. So, she runs the entire church there. I met her at a drug deal. She was a stripper. She came to the Lord about two years before I did. I knew that God was real but I just kept running from Him. She would go on asking me all the time, “Sam, why don’t you go to church?” I would say, “Okay, okay I will go.” I think that I more or less wanted to shut her up. Then, I went to church with her and everything changed from there.
As a boy you dabbled in drugs. Your father told you that if you decided to do drugs, you would have to leave home….
He told me that at age 15 just before my 16th birthday. A lot of people have a problem with parents saying that. I think the best thing a parent can do with their kids is not compromise on drugs or alcohol. A lot of time we compromise and we are the cause of their death. My parents wouldn’t compromise. They gave me a choice. My dad said, “Look, you got a good home and a car. You have everything going for you. You make the choice- you want that lifestyle or the drugs? But if you choose drugs, you got to leave the house.” I think it was the best choice that my dad ever gave me. But I chose to take the life on the street and drugs. However, I always knew that I could go home anytime I wished to but I couldn’t take the drugs with me.
You were doing drugs from age eleven. Isn’t that too young to start drugs?
The culture in the US is different from that in India. I have been speaking in schools for a few years. If you ask children in the eight to 10-year-old age group in the US, “How many of you have experimented with or have been offered drugs,” almost every hand goes up. At 11, I looked older – maybe 13 or 14. I wanted to look cool, for people to notice me and to fit in. Sometimes in America if you do drugs and drink alcohol at a young age, you think you will fit in with the popular people. I started doing drugs and smoking marijuana at age eleven and twelve. At age 13, I was having more drugs. At age 14, I was doing almost every drug that there was. But at age 15, I didn’t care how cool I looked anymore. I had a drug addiction. I was putting a needle in my arm. Everything changed – I wanted to look cool, but all of a sudden I had a drug addiction. I just had to fulfill that addiction every day.
Please tell me about your daughter…
My daughter Paige will be turning 25. She is a born-again Christian. She has never done drugs and has always loved the Lord. Unfortunately, she is in the middle of a divorce right now. She runs a lot of the US side of the non-profit in Africa. She will soon be spending a lot more time in Africa. She has two little kids. The only reason as to why she isn’t in Africa is because she has some passport issues with the children. But she will over this time be spending more time in Africa. Growing up she hated Africa and me as she thought that Africa had stolen her dad. But she later saw the purpose. Then when she graduated, she said, “Dad we need to talk. I want to join the non-profit.” That really shocked me. Then she reminded me of a few things. She said, “Dad do you remember that when we didn’t have any money and we would go to the warehouse, you would go through the used clothing to get your clothes?” I replied, “Yes.” She enquired, “If you remember I was next to you getting mine. Do you remember that when we didn’t have much money for food on the table?” There was a time in my life if my kids were having beans and rice, I ate the same. In the US, I made my family eat very cheap. She said, “If you really remember, I was at the same table with you eating. If anyone can run this non-profit and sacrifice, then I can.” I said, “Okay, you are hired.” She has been working for the nonprofit since then.
You lost your son to heroin…
He was my stepson. Both of us became close for many years. Right before his death, we had become very close. He thought that I was probably the coolest step dad around. I won’t say that I regret it but I probably should have talked to him a little bit more about drugs and their effects. But I didn’t let his death go in vain. That is why I go to many high schools and universities now and speak on drugs and alcohol. My son was never a heroin addict. He was a weekend partier. This is why I tell a lot of young kids that you do not have to be an addict to die. My son held a job. If you would see him on the street, he would look clean cut and was very athletic. He didn’t seem likely to die of a drug overdose. He would go out and maybe have some beers during the week. He would never go for drug binges. He was a case of a very unfortunate drug overdose. Many young people say, “I just do a little bit of heroin.” What they don’t know is that they can also die the first time they try it.
In Wikipedia it is written, “Some of Childer’s claims have been criticized as being untrue, unverified, or exaggerated by several different sources. Two separate generals from the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) have denied Childer’s claims that he ever worked side-by-side with the SPLA. It has also been reported that the children Childers takes care of live in poor conditions without sufficient food, hygiene, and medical care.” What do you have to say to that?
(He seemed to be slightly annoyed by this question. He showed his SPLM membership card. The expiration section out there stated, ‘Open’…. ) That is what I travel on in Sudan. That is an SPLM/ SPLA membership card. I wouldn’t like to defend myself on any of these accusations but what I will ask is that in the pictures of me you see in the Internet, who is in the background? They are SPLA soldiers. I didn’t Photoshop them inside the picture. So whether they are true or not, you will always have accusations.
Regarding the second part of the question, what story are you talking about while citing what has been written in Wikipedia? If you read the Christianity Today story carefully you will see that they have written, “We sent a CT reporter in but they couldn’t find any evidence of any of this.” It was all accusations.
Let me ask you a question, “What did they say about Jesus?” Two thousand years later they said that he had a wife and a daughter. (Take) anybody from the beginning of time who has done good, what has been said about them? What did they say about Mother Teresa? Teresa was even disowned by her own church. That is because she was willing to stand up and do something right. So, anybody doing something right, they are going to deny.
What are your views on the church in America?
I believe that my views on the church in America are the same around the world. I believe we have lost our true call. There are so many times that we believe that the church is for the religious people and Christians. It is not. The church is to be for the nonbelievers and sinners. We need to have a church which isn’t condemning, open and loving.
What are your views on the movie Machine Gun Preacher?
I had some pretty harsh views at first. But, who are we to decide what that film is or if God is in that film, when total atheists got out of the theatre crying and weeping and seeking to find God? I feel that a lot of religious people have the wrong outlook on the movie. The movie has been able to bring hundreds and thousands of people into the Lord. That is what we need to be concerned about.
What is your prayer life like?
I am not some radical Christian who gets on his knees every day and prays for an hour in the morning. I am the kind of Christian who prays constantly in everything that I do. To have a relationship with God, you should be able to talk to Him and listen to Him.
What are the upcoming projects?
If you look at our work now, we don’t have one orphanage. We have five working orphanages. We have built four schools in the past three years. We are building the sixth orphanage now. The orphanages we have are more into teaching and trade than into just taking care of little children. What the world needs to realize is that in most orphanages your kids will leave at 15 or 16. Most of the time those children will go into prostitution. So, I believe that we need to educate our kids well and teach them the trade. We have recently bought a farm where we are planning to teach them farming, ranching and irrigation. We teach auto mechanics and wood working. We feed around 4,000 meals a day. In the last several years we have drilled about 10 wells. I feel that all of the work we have done is just a beginning. We have plans to do a lot more.
How does it feel on winning the Mother Teresa Award for Social Justice?
I don’t even feel worthy enough (to receive the award). The one thing that I loved about this lady (Mother Teresa) is that she never stopped. She was hacked on very badly because of the work she did. But she never stopped.
Would you like to do any work in India?
I would not say ‘no’. I can tell you this much, we are here, so I would say that God brought me here for a little bit more of a reason than just to accept the Mother Teresa Award. I have seen a lot of need. I will not limit what God will do in my life. So, I will not limit the work that I would do for Him. (C) Copyright with The Christian Messenger 2014.
