Charles Stanley, a popular televangelist who formerly led the Southern Baptist Convention, died Tuesday at his home in Atlanta at the age of 90. In Touch, Ministries burned. Born in Pastoral Sot Chapstick, Virginia, Stanley was a 50-time elder pastor of First Baptist Church in Atlanta. The church grew rapidly after he became its leader in 1971, moving from central Atlanta to a suburban location in 1997 to accommodate a growing flock in a vast civic area.
“We will always be grateful for his lasting legacy of faithful leadership and spiritual guidance,” the church said in a social media post. But his greatest fame came in 1978 as the host of “In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley,” a Christian tutoring program that began growing on the fledgling Christian Broadcasting Network. This led to the creation of a separate non-profit, In Touch Ministries. , which carried Stanley’s broadcasts across the country and around the world via radio and TV.
It has also created solar-powered audio players that contain the Bible, some of Stanley’s sermons, and other accessories available in more than 100 languages. Stanley also wrote over 40 books. When Stanley steps down from First Baptist as a senior pastor in 2020, he says he has no plans to stop preaching, but rather to increase his powers at In Touch Ministries. There is. God,” Stanley said in a videotaped communication to the church as he assumed the title of pastor emeritus.
Stanley served two terms as chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1985 and 1986, at a time when theologians were fighting to remove more moderate leaders from leadership positions in the church and its seminaries, which the church said it needed. Adhere to biblical authority.” My election stood up to the opposition and finally exposed many of the incipient problems that had long existed in the convention but had been ignored or denied,” Stanley wrote in a 2016 autobiography.
“The Southern Baptist Convention, including seminary chairpersons and state convention journals, was against me.” In his first term, Stanley helped stop congregations from ordaining women. His alternative run in 1985 was supported by a last-second telegram from prominent evangelical Billy Graham, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. said in the review. Stanley is also an avid nature and outdoor shooter who has reproduced many images through In Touch publications.
Stanley separated from his longtime wife Anna in the 1990s, before splitting in 2000. Although First Baptist forbids estranged men from their mothers, Stanley has previously said he would step down if his wife left him, the church has confirmed he will remain a pastor. Some other evangelical Christians condemned this decision. Among the heretics was his son Andy Stanley, who wanted to leave his father and let the church decide.
Instead, Andy Stanley left the congregation to form Northpoint Ministries, a network of eight evangelical churches in Atlanta and its cities. He and his family are survived by Becky Charles Stanley. Despite the split, Andy Stanley told WAGA-TV that his father was part model for pastors. Andy Stanley said, “It’s not just about how to preach or how to build a church.” But how to get to the finish line with integrity and be able to look back and be proud of everything that has come, and unfortunately that’s rare.”
