THE real ‘Machine Gun Preacher’ is set to visit a Musselburgh church on Sunday.

Sam Childers, whose life was the subject of Hollywood blockbuster Machine Gun Preacher starring Scottish actor Gerard Butler, speaks at Hope! Church at 11am.

The former outlaw biker shares his incredible story, which took him from a life of drugs and violence to rescuing more than 1,500 children from rebel armies in East Africa.

The movie which chronicled his life was based on his book Another Man’s War. This propelled Childers to an overnight brand that has seen him speak to audiences of tens of thousands all around the world.

It all started with a life of drugs and violence which involved at one point being an armed guard for drug dealers.

After almost being killed in a wild brawl, Childers decided to turn his life around and embrace a life of faith.

While helping build schools in Uganda, he became aware of the problems with terrorists and fought to free enslaved children in South Sudan and Uganda.

Since then, Childers has built one of the largest orphanages in South Sudan, which has fed and housed more than a thousand youngsters. With the orphanage finished, he began to lead armed missions to rescue children from the Lord’s Resistance Army, which led to villagers calling him the ‘Machine Gun Preacher’.

His team makes about 12,000 meals every day for feeding programs in East Africa and houses 380 orphaned children, most of whom are victims of some kind of atrocity. He has also drilled dozens of wells, built many schools and been involved in major projects in South Sudan, Uganda and Ethiopia.

His farm project doesn’t just give many orphans job skills but is also helping to rehabilitate former terrorists. The orphans are all given appropriate training and education in job skills before leaving the care of his organisation.

Senior minister Glenn Rogers is keen to fill up the Bridge Street church with people for the event.

He said: “Sam Childers was a guy with no hope and no future, so a story like his will be inspiring and encouraging to people – that’s what we need in our community.”

He added: “People can get motivated to overcome what holds them back by listening to him.”

Mr Rogers said that Sam had become a personal friend.

The event is free, although there will be a collection for Childers’ work in South Sudan and Uganda.

For more information, visit facebook.com/HopeChurchEdinburgh or call Mr Rogers on 07962 663365.