Charles Stone was born and raised in Cullman, AL, where he graduated from Holly Pond High School in 1968. In August 1969, he married Carol Baker. The Lord has since blessed them with three children and four grandchildren.
In May 1970, Charles felt the Lord calling him to preach. He enrolled in Samford University, where he later graduated in 1975. Following college graduation, he attended seminary in Ft. Worth, TX at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and graduated in 1977.
After completing seminary, he became the pastor at West Point Baptist Church in Jacksonville, AL (March 1978 – October 1980). He went on to pastor at Fifth Avenue Baptist Church in Decatur, AL (November 1980 – March 1985) and East Highland Baptist Church in Hartselle, AL (April 1985 – January 1994).
While pastoring at East Highland, he had the opportunity to go on several evangelistic mission trips. He spent over three weeks in Zambia, Africa in September 1991 and returned to Zambia for another two weeks in May 1993. In March 1994, he went to the Ukraine with Bob Tebow for three weeks. These mission trips greatly impacted Charles and led him to leave the pastorate to focus on evangelism in the international mission field. In April 1994, he requested permission from the BTEA Board of Directors to be a BTEA evangelist, who works and travels with Bob Tebow. He was confirmed by the board and has accompanied Bob on every trip since.
The people in the Philippines affectionately refer to him as “Lolo Bato,” which means “Grandfather Stone” in their language.
