==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 worked at the Dan Mills textile mill for small wages and later remarried. 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 fourteenHe later expressed regret over neglecting his studies in public school.
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>