==Background==
Stanley was born in Dry Fork (current population 4,200) in Pittsylvania County near Danville in south central [[Virginia]].<ref>Dr Charles Stanley 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 marriedremarried. 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>