Prominent Pastor Andy Stanley took to social media to talk about the final weeks with his father, Charles F. Stanley.
In posts on Facebook and Twitter, the younger Stanley, founder of North Point Ministries, said the final weeks with his father “have been precious beyond words. At the end of every visit, he asked me to pray for him. Which of course I did. On my knees beside the big leather chair he was confined to for the past several months.”
Charles Stanley, founder of the worldwide In Touch Ministries, died Tuesday at age 90.
Charles Stanley is also a two-time former president of the influential Southern Baptist Convention and led First Baptist Atlanta for more than 50 years. According to Liberty University and In Touch, Stanley was one of four people who along with the Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr. founded the Moral Majority, a conservative evangelical Christian lobbying and political action group formed in the 1970s. An In Touch spokesman said Stanley eventually left the organization.
These final few weeks with my dad have been precious beyond words. At the end of every visit, he asked me to pray for him. Which of course I did. On my knees beside the big leather chair he was confined to for the past several months.
— Andy Stanley (@AndyStanley) April 19, 2023
But as I was leaving his house this past… pic.twitter.com/2gQWeHgtFW
Andy Stanley, who was unavailable for an interview, wrote that as he was leaving his father’s house last Saturday night, the elder Stanley asked it he would pray for him, “As if he knew.”
“Then, as was his habit, he said‚ ’I couldn’t be prouder of you Andy.’”
The source of a word determines its weight. Those were wonderfully weighty words. And his final words to me.”
“I’ll miss him every day until I see him again,” the posts read.
The Stanleys have not always had a smooth relationship.
The two had a very public split years ago and Andy Stanley quit his father’s church during the divorce of his mother and his father.
The elder Stanley’s divorce was considered a sin to many religious conservatives and in his own congregation.
Eventually, the father and son reconciled and both appeared together at First Baptist Atlanta during a celebration of the dad’s 80th birthday.
A private memorial service will be held for the family.
A public visitation will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at First Baptist Atlanta, 4400 N. Peachtree Rd. It will be livestreamed by In Touch Ministries.
A “Legacy Celebration Service” will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday at the church. Doors open at 5 p.m.
The event will be livestreamed by First Baptist Atlanta.
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