Sam Childers is a former drug-dealing biker tough guy who found God and became a crusader for hundreds of Sudanese children who've been forced to become soldiers.
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, addicted gang biker Sam Childers is released from prison and learns that his wife Lynn is no longer a stripper but has converted to Christianity. One night, Sam and his best friend Donnie give a ride to a hitchhiker who threatens Donnie with a pocketknife; however Sam reacts and turns the tables on the stranger. Sam is affected by the incident and is convinced by Lynn and his mother Daisy to join their church, and he is baptized. Sam finds a straight job in construction. When he meets a preacher from Africa, he decides to visit the continent. Sam travels to Northern Uganda and South Sudan many times and builds an orphanage for the victims of the cruel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Further, he fights whenever necessary and becomes a legend known as The Machine Gun Preacher.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Sam Childs is a real-life ex-biker gang member. He decides to turn his life around by heading to East Africa to help repair homes that have been destroyed by civil war. He is affected by the plight of the people, especially the children. Against advice, he begins building an orphanage in militia territory. He also goes on an armed mission to rescue the children who have been kidnapped by the militia - who are being taken and forced to become child soldiers.—kad
The film centers on Sam Childers (Gerard Butler), and starts off with a scene in South Sudan, where the LRA are attacking a village. This opening scene is placed into context later in the film.
Childers was an alcoholic drug-using biker from Pennsylvania. On his release from prison, he finds that his wife Lynn (Michelle Monaghan) has given up her job as a stripper, because she has since become a Christian. Eventually, after almost killing a vagrant the night before, he is persuaded by his wife to go to church with her where he is eventually converted.Sam worked hard as a construction worker & makes a name for himself in the trade. A tornado hits his county and chews up 600 homes. Sam uses the opportunity to put his own crew together and gets into his own business. Sam is successful and soon Sam & Lynn and daughter move into their new home, a significant upgrade from the trailer park they used to live in.
A Ugandan priest visits Sam's parish and talks about the construction work being carried out for the locals there. Sam decides to volunteer. The initial plan is to be there for a few weeks.Later, on a missionary trip to Uganda to build homes for refugees, he asks one of the SPLA soldiers watching over them to take him on a trip to the north, to Sudan. SPLA explains that the Sudanese North is controlled by Muslims who has been systematically slaughtering the Christian South for over 30 years. The soldier warns him that it is a war zone, but upon Sam's insistence they go. They arrive at a medical tent in Sudan, as his friend moves off to talk came in to some people, Sam is roped in by a redheaded female doctor to help lift a lip-less Sudanese woman onto the examination table.
That night as they lay on their beds at the relief station, they hear noises outside, when they look out Sam and the soldier see large numbers of Sudanese children swarming in to sleep outside the building.The soldier explains that their parents send them to sleep over there because it is safer than staying in their own village. Sam wakes up the children and gets them to sleep in their room for the night. The next day they follow the children back to their village only to find that the LRA burnt it down and killed their parents. Then one of the children runs after his dog and dies upon stepping on a hidden landmine.
Sam returns to the US but is haunted by his memories. He decides to return to Sudan & then decides to build an orphanage for the children of South Sudan. After the orphanage is built, the LRA attack it under cover of night and burn it to the ground. Sam then phones home, telling his wife what happened and that he is giving up. She reminds him that the orphans have been through worse, but they have not given up, and that he should not give up and tells him to rebuild the orphanage. By this time Sam is known in Sudan as the white preacher.
One night after the orphanage has been rebuilt, he and his friends from the SPLA are attacked on the road by the LRA, they manage to chase off the small force of the LRA that attacked them. They then search the area and discover a large group of Sudanese children hiding in a ditch not far from the road, since they cannot take all the children in one trip, Sam chooses to take the ones who need medical attention along with a few others on their first trip back to the orphanage. However, upon returning to the spot as quickly as he could, he finds that the LRA burnt those he had left behind.
Sam makes several trips back to the US to ask for funds to support his growing orphanage, but always has to revert to his own meager and dwindling savings to help the kids. He already has 2 mortgages on the home. Sam sells his own business, his last source of income, to support his cause in Sudan.
Back in Sudan he leads armed raids to rescue children from the LRA. Sam gets increasingly frustrated, with even his supporters in SPLA. When they try to counsel Sam, he pushes them away. Eventually, one of the orphaned kids speaks to him & calms Sam down & Sam re-engages himself in fighting the LRA and rescuing kids.
In the end credits are included black and white pictures of the real Sam Childers, his wife and his daughter plus his orphanage in Sudan. The pictures are followed by a short black and white home video clip of Sam talking about his work, all the while with the credits rolling on left hand of the screen.
