By Michael Futch
http://fayobserver.com/articles/2013/11/07/1294516After shaking hands, Fort Bragg Chaplain Charles Marmor told the Rev. Charles Stanley that they share something in common besides Jesus Christ.
These men of the cloth share a name: The 46-year-old Fort Bragg captain's full name is Charles Stanley Marmor.
Before ending the brief encounter during a meet and greet, Marmor asked Stanley to sign a copy of the Bible that his mother gave him for Christmas when he was saved in 1983. Stanley obliged, and his signature joined that of former Vice President Dan Quayle and the scrawled names of other pastors Marmor grew up listening to.
"This is a man God has used over half a century," he said, the admiration obvious on his face for the high-profile silver-haired Atlanta pastor. "I've watched him on TV throughout the years. Watching him on television and now just to meet him is a high honor."
Stanley, the founder and president of In Touch Ministries, met with a sampling of Fort Bragg's 240 or so chaplains and chaplain assistants before delivering a 22-minute sermon on the eternal presence of God to about 200 people inside the All American Chapel on Wednesday evening.
Following the sermon, Stanley invited the military clergy in attendance to come forward and pray with him.
"You know," he said, "I think God looks upon this group with great favor."
Wayne Odom, who is an executive ambassador for In Touch Ministries, said Stanley wanted to speak at Fort Bragg because of his love for the nation's military and their families. There is another connection, too.
According to Odom, Stanley was touched by the story of Sgt. 1st Class Cedric King.
In June, King, a former paratrooper with Fort Bragg's 82nd Airborne Division, was invited to give his testimony at Stanley's church. King lost both legs and partial function of a forearm after being severely wounded by an improvised explosive device a year ago during his second deployment to Afghanistan.
Stanley, 81, is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church, a megachurch of about 18,000 members in northern Atlanta. He has guided the church since 1972.
A former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Stanley ranks among the nation's best-known Southern Baptist preachers because of his syndicated "In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley" television program.
Each Sunday, Sgt. 1st Class Steven Tischer and his wife, Holly, wake up and have coffee while they watch a recording of Stanley's program.
"He's our church," they said in agreement.
The couple have been following Stanley and his In Touch Ministries for about 15 years.
"This is amazing because we've always wanted to be part of his congregation," Steven Tischer, 39, said from inside the chapel's sanctuary. "And to meet him and hear him in person is God's gift. He speaks the word of God from God. He's just a vessel of Christ."
