A MAN whose life was the subject of Hollywood movie The Machine Gun Preacher will be visiting a Newport church.

Sam Childers will be visiting Newport City Church, in Mill Parade, in the Pill area of Newport, on Sunday, March 18 to share his life story, which was captured in The Machine Gun Preacher (with Gerard Butler as Mr Childers). The film was based on Mr Childers' book Another Man's War.

Mr Childers overcame a life of drugs and violence – which involved, at one point, being an armed guard for drug dealers - to embrace a life of faith in God as he fought to free enslaved children in South Sudan from 1998.

Since then, Mr Childers has built an orphanage in Southern Sudan, which has fed and housed more than 1,000 children. With the orphanage finished, Mr Childers began to lead armed missions to rescue children from the Lord’s Resistance Army - which led to villagers calling him 'The Machine Gun Preacher'.

It has now been announced he will be speaking at Newport City Church at 6pm on Sunday, March 18.

Senior Pastor Robbie Howells said they are hoping up to 500 people will attend the event.

He said: “We believe that Sam’s experience can influence people to create a positive and in some case revolutionary impact on those attending the event.

“He was a guy with no hope or future so a story like his will be inspiring and encouraging to people.

“People can get motivated by listening to him.”

Mr Howells said they decided to invite him to come to the church as he was in the area at the time. After a cancellation, Mr Childers was able to accept the invite.

The senior pastor said the event is open to everyone and that they hope that people who don’t regularly go to church will attend.

The event will be free, but registration will be needed for health and safety reasons.

For further information regarding this event, please visit facebook.com/nccforward or ring 01633 250001