Sam Childers: the real-life ‘Machine Gun Preacher’

Sam Childers  was once  drug dealer, who dabbled in violent crime. But in the summer of 1992, he attended a church revival and decided to abandon his life of crime, and travel to war-torn Sudan to find a way to aid children there. With his wife, Childers founded an orphanage in South Sudan, where they have now housed and educated over 1,000 youths. A new film, “Machine Gun Preacher,”  starring Gerard Butler depicts Childer’s story. We spoke with Childers about his troubled youth, and how he founded his successful non-governmental organization.