{{Infobox officeholder
|name=Charles Frazier Stanley
|image=Charles Stanley of GA.jpg
|office=President of the <br> [[Southern Baptist Convention]]
|term_start=June 1984
|term_end=June 1986
From 1984 to 1986, he was the president of the [[Southern Baptist Convention]]. His ''Life Principles Bible'' has sold more than one million copies.<ref>Shelia Poole, "Atlanta Pastor Charles Stanley 's Life Principles Bible' hits 1 million mark, ajc.com, December 19, 2017.</ref> In 1988, he was inducted into the National Religious Broadcasters Hall of Fame.<ref>Charles Stanley Biography, Wife, Age, Children, In Touch, Books, Worth (biographyscoop.com), accessed August 2, 2021.</ref>
==Background==
Stanley was born in Dry Fork (current population 4,200) in Pittsylvania County near Danville in south central [[Virginia]].<ref>Dr Charles Stanley (June-14-2021) Sermons : God's Rewards to the Church (sermons-online.org), accessed August 2, 2021.</ref> His father, also named Charles, died in 1933 nine months after Stanley's birth, and he was reared by a [[Christian]] mother, Rebecca, who later married. In his early years, he ran newspaper routes to support himself. At the age of twelve, he became a [[Salvation|born-again]] [[Christian]] a term coined by [[Jesus Christ]] in the Bible but shunned by some [[liberal]] Protestant denominations. He surrendered to the ministry at the age of fourteen.
Stanley obtained his bachelor's degree from the private liberal arts school, the University of Richmond in [[Richmond]], the capital of Virginia. He then obtained a Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in [[Fort Worth]], [[Texas]]. The private theologically [[conservative]] Luther Rice College and Seminary awarded Stanley both Master of Theology and Doctor of Ministry. The private institution was founded in 1962 in [[Jacksonville, Florida|Jacksonville]], [[Florida]], and was relocated in 1991 to Lithonia in DeKalb County in suburban Atlanta.<ref>Charles Stanley Bio, Age, Family, Education, Career, Management, Worth (hustleinboots.com), accessed August 2, 2021.</ref>
<ref>Patricia Holbroook, Dr. Charles F. Stanley leads life of unwavering faith (ajc.com), accessed August 2, 2021.</ref>
His sermons and other programming are available on the ''In Touch'' website. The ministry also publishes ''In Touch'' magazine. Stanley often focuses on finances, parenting, and emotion matters as well as theological Christianity. He stresses the inerrancy Scripture. Over the course of his ministry, Stanley has developed "30 Life Principles" that have guided his Christian life.<ref>30 Life Principles (intouch.org), accessed August 2, 2021.</ref>He credits his grandfather, George Washington Stanley, a [[Pentecostal]] Holiness pastor, with his command, “Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him.” In his book ''Courageous Faith: My Story from a Life of Obedience,''<ref>Courageous Faith: My Story From a Life of Obedience (HB) (intouchaustralia.org, accessed August 2, 2021.</ref> Stanley writes, “Granddad told me, ‘Charles, if God tells you to run your head through a brick wall, you head for the wall, and when you get there, God will make a hole for it..''<ref>charles_stanley_abstract_final.pdf (hughsnews.com), accessed August 2, 2021.</ref>
In addition to his work in Christian ministry, Stanley is an avid photographer, much of his work being mountain scenes. Many of his current photographs come from such distance locations as [[Alaska]] and [[Zanzibar]] and can be accessed on the In Touch website.<ref>Charles Stanley Photography (intouch.org), accessed August 2, 2021.</ref>