Dr. Charles Stanley obeyed God and left the consequences to Him, and the Lord took him on a remarkable journey all over the world to share Christ’s message of hope and love with millions. This inspiring tribute to Dr. Charles Stanley’s life and ministry traces his humble beginnings in Dry Fork, Virginia, and how God led him through the highs and lows on a path of impactful service for His kingdom. Join In Touch Ministries in this journey through Dr. Stanley’s life and discover what God can do through a heart that is fully devoted to Him. To view the memorial site dedicated to celebrating Dr. Stanley’s life and ministry, please visit https://www.charlesstanley.com
foreign
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s
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a young man dedicated his life to God
and chose to follow him
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wherever he was called
whatever the cost
he would obey
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in response God led him on a remarkable
Journey
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a journey that included both Joy and
Pain
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a journey that would take him all over
the world to share God’s message of hope
and love with Millions
foreign
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Fork
a quaint farming community in Virginia
but for Charles Stanley
life here was far from serene
Charles was born in 1932.
in the midst of the Great Depression
a time when poverty and hardship was a
way of life
when Charles was just nine months old
his father died
devastated his mother was left facing
dire consequences
Rebecca didn’t have family to turn to
she didn’t have a job or savings
yet through God’s grace
she endured
she never said you can’t she never said
it won’t work she just reminded me we’re
just going to trust the Lord we’re going
to trust God that he’s always been
faithful and he’s going to help us
through no matter what and so I think it
riveted into my mind you don’t doubt God
you just trust him no matter how tough
things get or how bad it gets or what
you need he’s always there
Rebecca and Charles moved to nearby
Danville where Rebecca got a job at the
local textile mill
during World War II Dan River Mills
fulfilled orders for the military
for Rebecca work was now steady
even when life wasn’t
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the first 17 years of our life we moved
16 times but I never saw my mom
discouraged
Rebecca was an unassuming hard-working
woman with little education
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the only book she owned was a Bible
with it she showed Charles how to love
and Obey God’s word
she showed him how to live
the greatest gift she gave me I guess if
I could put it to one single thing she
taught me how to pray
I would listen to her praying and watch
God answer her prayer she taught me how
to pray and she taught me how to listen
to God
and and to trust him
I would just see how God would just come
through every time
and then should always give God the
credit for it
early in life my mom would come in every
night and kneel down with the bed and
sometimes I’d already be in the bed and
she said well let’s get out and let’s
get down your knees and praise you and
let me lie in the bed and pray she was
there she is never too busy to come and
then she worked on the first shift
sometimes and then sometimes she’d work
on the second shift when she came home
we prayed no matter what time it was
I can still hear her voice
talking to God about me kneeling by my
bedside and and she’d say now Lord I
want you to bless Charles
and that you help him in school I mean
she prayed about everything and when I
was in college I’d come home we still
did the same thing in fact
my mother and I spent a lot of time down
with the bedside talking about what was
going on in our lives and difficult in
the hardship and the household we lived
in
she did everything for me she could do
and uh
I remember how often she would say to me
she would say
I just wish I could have done more for
you
and she would say I just I feel bad I
haven’t done much for a year
I’d always said to her mom
money couldn’t buy what you’ve done for
me
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when Charles was nine Rebecca remarried
but her new husband was far from the
loving father figure she had hoped for
aggressive and sometimes violent
Charles’s stepfather brought hostility
into their peaceful home
struggling with difficulties Beyond his
years
Charles sought refuge in his growing
relationship with God
and so very early on I think he just
developed a very simple
childlike and not when I say simple I
don’t mean immature but a simple
childlike faith in the fact that God was
his heavenly father and he had to depend
on his heavenly father and his heavenly
father was dependable and that was it it
was that simple it was that clear and I
think that is the filter through which
he views the entire scripture in the
entire Bible that God is a trustworthy
heavenly father and everything connects
to that
in 1944 at the Pentecostal Holiness
Church of Danville Charles had an
experience that changed his life forever
this lady came her name as Mrs Wilson
and she came and preached a Revival I
was 12 years of age
I knew God was trying to say something
to me and and so on this particular
Sunday morning as she was preaching they
gave the invitation
I didn’t have far to step I stepped out
and knelt down and next thing I knew
people around me praying I did ask the
Lord to forgive me of my sins and to
come into my life and I wanted to be a
child of God and I want to be a
Christian and so there’s no doubt in my
mind of what happened and and then
somehow everybody left the Altar and
there was just me and so the pastor
called me up there and said Charles I
want you to tell these people what Jesus
has done for you
and so I remember looking at this big
church crying and saying I don’t know
everything he’s done but I know this
morning he saved me and I just was
crying and so forth and it wasn’t very
long after that I thought about
preaching the gospel by the time I was
14.
than I knew without a shot of a doubt
that’s what I needed to do
while still in high school Charles was
asked to preach a sermon in Moffett
Memorial Baptist his home Church
I preached on the title Where Art Thou
in Genesis chapter 3 when God came to
Adam and asked him where are you Adam
and the King James Where Art Thou and I
mean I’ve studied all week and prayed if
I’d prayed and prayed and prayed the
Lord to speak to Mike because it was in
my own home church that’s where you have
the greatest judges in your own church
and I remember I walked up to the pulpit
and it just began to flow and I mean I
was I was just sort of standing there
and surprised myself
in order to pursue his calling to become
a pastor Charles would need to go to
Seminary however he had a seemingly
impossible hurdle to overcome
one of the things that she and I prayed
about often and quite some time was how
I was going to be able to go to college
because she and I had talked about going
to college and and to go into Seminary
to be a pastor
I made about 18 a week somewhere there
about delivering newspapers
and then I had a little side job on
Saturdays I would work at a service
station washing cars but all the money I
had wasn’t even have paid anything about
going to college