Recently, I went to Dewsbury in Yorkshire to hear the
real-life Machine Gun Preacher, Sam Childers, speak. The evening included the
first UK showing of a new documentary about Childers, called “Machine Gun
Preacher: Missionary or Mercenary?” followed by a question and answer session.
If you’re not familiar with the story of how an illiterate drug-dealing womanising
gun-toting street brawler ended up
protecting children in one of the most war-torn parts of Africa, then read
Childers’ book, “Another Man’s War”; watch the film “Machine Gun Preacher,” or
read a short synopsis
of the film.
There’s a lot I want to tell you, so I’m going
to break it into four sections: the venue; Childers’ current work; the
documentary; and the Q&A.
God’s Garage in Dewsbury has to be one of the most unusual
churches I've ever been to. First of all, five stewards were on duty to direct
people in, and they all looked like a cross between Hell’s Angels and ZZ Top.
Secondly, I've been to churches on industrial estates before, but never to one
where they have made so little effort to convert the interior of the building
from its previous use (admittedly the church is fairly new). The largest area
of the warehouse they use is a car park which, I suppose, explains the church’s
name, and the only part that has any Christian connotations is a room that holds
about 50 people, with a bar and “God’s Squad” in red Gothic lettering
stencilled on the wall. I sat down in a cream leather sofa and waited for the
film to start, while the guys behind me discussed firearms (“I’d love to shoot
a .50 calibre, but they say that if you’re too young, the recoil from a .50 can
break your shoulder”); then one of the bikers from the front door stood up,
introduced himself as the pastor, and invited us to hang around the “fully
stocked” bar afterwards and have a beer or cider. Tea, coffee, and cappuccino
weren't even mentioned (though I did notice hot drinks were available). And
they took up the offering at the end in a crash helmet. Their motto seems to be
“forget about the church, get your focus on Jesus.”
Sam Childers, who was named the Machine Gun Preacher by some
of the Africans he works with, opened his first orphanage in a war-torn area of
South Sudan in 2001. He currently runs six orphanages, four schools, and a
thousand-acre farm that is used for work experience and for growing food. The
various institutions serve 4000 meals per day. One of the hardest things he
finds is that, because the kids in his orphanages get education, three meals a
day, and are protected the predatory Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) by a wire
fence and armed guards, many parents try to pass off their kids as orphans –
effectively give their kids away – in order to get them a better life. One thing that makes his work different from
other East African orphanages is that others make the kids leave at 15; but
apparently God told him that if he did that, he might as well not take them in
at all, so he makes sure kids learn a trade before they leave, and may keep
them up to the age of 26.
The documentary is well-made, with certain scenes that tell
a story in just a few seconds, and background music that builds the emotions
well. It focusses on Sam Childers the man: who is he, what is he like, why does
he do what he does? His wife Lynn appears frequently, as do various childhood
and more recent family (including his beloved Harley Davidson – Sam is a 1%er) and
acquaintances – and, of course, Sam himself. It’s more of a TV documentary than
a film; it doesn't set out to tell a dramatic story in three acts, but instead it
uses vignettes to examine the question in the title: is he a mercenary or a
missionary?
There is one section of the documentary that sums up Sam’s dedication
to what he does. If you have read a lot of books about people who set up
ministries or missions, there always seems to be a point where they are not
merely short of money but they REALLY run into financial difficulties, which affect
the ministry/mission, themselves and their whole family. Often, the book tells you that the
Lord provided finances at the last minute, and the whole experience turned from
a time of trial into an opportunity for faith and rejoicing. Well, Sam had the
same problem a few years back, and (without giving away spoilers) it was a seriously
difficult time for his wife, daughter and stepson, and there’s no suggestion
that any of them came out of it rejoicing. Many people advised him to quit in Africa
and come back home to provide for his family; but as he said in the question
time later, “These people were the same people who advised me to go to Africa when
God spoke to me about it 17 years ago. And God absolutely definitely did speak
to me about it. And has God changed his mind, just because he hasn't said
anything more about it for 17 years?” Sam returned to Africa in the midst of
the crisis; but once he was there he took far more risks than he usually would.
He hadn't lost faith in God; it was just that things were so bleak that he thought
there was a strong possibility that God might provide for his family through
claiming his own life insurance. (There is a miracle of healing in the documentary,
but it gets comparatively little attention).
Is he a mercenary or a missionary? The answer is: he himself will
accept either title. But the best description of him is “freedom fighter”. He
is there to bring freedom to the children – of any tribe -- and not for any
other reason.
Question time at the end included the following (with some
paraphrasing):
·
What’s your justification for taking guns when
Jesus talked about turning the other cheek?
Sam’s reply to this mentioned in passing that the Bible has
an Old Testament as well as a New Testament, but his main reason comes from
Luke 22:36. The first time Jesus sent out his disciples, he told them to take
no baggage, but in this verse, he sends them out again, and says “if you don’t
have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.” Sam reasons that if Jesus said
that, there would come a point where they were going to need those swords. Sam
added that the Jesus he serves is non-violent and does not condone violence;
Sam also does not condone violence, but nor does he condone the kind of
tortures that are meted out to unprotected children in the area where he works.
·
Do outlaw bikers “get it”?
“Yes,” said Sam. “The top ten outlaw bikers”[I think he said
“in this country”] “are very prejudiced.” [I presume he meant against other
racial groups.] "But they see this documentary, and they want to volunteer to
work out there, and they might take huge offerings.”
·
Does 100% of everything we give go to the kids?
Sam gave a detailed answer to this one. He claimed that no ministry gives 100% of
funds received to help those who are the targets of the mission; he claimed the
average is actually 17% and can be as low as 8%. In his case, a 2011 audit
(which he describes as very tough – for example, he always takes $10,000 in
cash when he goes to Africa, and the audit wouldn't allow him to count that as
money used for the mission) reported that his organisation was giving 38% of
its income to the kids. Sam added that any designated donations go 100% to
where they are designated, and that he gets his own salary from a number of companies
that he owns.
·
Does Sam have any qualifications?
Actually, this wasn’t asked, but it got answered along the
way. Sam’s only qualifications are in gun handling (although he’s pretty
skilled at construction). He’s done enough courses to be a legal armed
bodyguard in the USA, and he has a security company in the US through which he
has done bodyguarding for a number of Hollywood stars.
·
What about future plans?
The question was actually “What do you plan to do in … oh,
let’s stick to the next 10 years for now” (!) Sam replied that the Lord might return inside
the next 10 years, but he’d answer for the next 2 years. He’d like to double
the capacity of his African facilities (so 8000 meals/day, double the number of
orphanage places, etc.). He also might go into US politics; people are
encouraging him to run, but he won’t go for any post that would significantly limit
the time he could spend in Africa. In the near term, he wants to raise money
for a workshop and tractor on the farm; they currently have one tractor for
1,000 acres.
·
Do you ever have to say ‘No’ to African kids?
“All the time,” said Sam. “There’s one scene in the film
that is based on a story in my book. I went to a village and there were a lot
of orphans there. I couldn't take them all; I didn't have the money to look
after them all, and I didn't have enough fuel for the truck to go back for the
rest. The film shows me returning to the spot to find all the ones I had left
behind were dead; that was Hollywood storytelling, but I did hear that a couple
of days after I left, the village was attacked and many of the kids I had left
behind were killed.”
·
Do you have any regrets?
“Not about the life I have now,” said Sam, “I have plenty of
regrets from my old life.”
