Hey, everyone, welcome to the first full episode of the Passion and Purpose podcast, hosted by myself, Louis Giglio.

I am so excited to be launching this podcast and so thrilled to be able to bring some of these conversations to you.

And I'm really, really pumped about this conversation today.

I recently had the honor of sitting down with a father and even a grandfather of the faith, Dr. Charles Stanley.

Someone who's deeply impacted my spiritual development,

along with that of countless other people across the globe.

And in this episode, we talk about his time at First Baptist Church, Atlanta.

That's where our paths cross.

We talk about what it means to be called to ministry,

how to endure,

and how to continue to walk in godliness as a church leader, a pastor, and a proclaimer of the gospel.

It's such an honor for me to have him on the very first passion and purpose podcast.

So here's my conversation with Dr. Charles Stanley.

I have the incredible privilege, and I do count it a privilege Dr. Stanley to be with you today.

So thanks for coming and being on the podcast. And I was thinking as we are starting this conversation that you are currently on TV right now, somewhere in the world.

You are currently on the radio somewhere in the world, a lot of places in the world right now.

Your voice is heard globally, daily, and it has been for as long as I can

remember since the beginning of In Touch, and yet here we are having a conversation together,

and God's using you while we're sitting here to proclaim his word to people. So I just want to say

thank you. I'll say that again at the end, but I have so much respect for you. I've known you since I was a middle schooler. And we've been on vacation together where you were pulling the trailer behind the family car down to Florida to St. Augustine and setting up in the RV park. And I've watched you go in down to your dark room in the basement

and starting to develop your own film before there was anything called digital cameras.

And I've seen you at home and I've seen you in the pulpit.

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