Rick Stanley shares story of his life, Elvis’ life while preaching in state

Is Elvis in heaven?”
   
It’s the question that Rick Stanley is asked most often. For the Baptist evangelist, it’s a question not only into the eternal fate of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll but also about his stepbrother and the power of salvation.
   
“When I answer that question, I ask, ‘What makes you think he is; what makes you think he isn’t?’” Stanley said. Some people point to the way Elvis Presley loved and took care of his mother and say surely he is in heaven, while others point to his drug use and sexual promiscuity and say he’s not.
   
“I answer by saying Elvis was saved at the age of 10 years old at Harrisburg Baptist Church in Tupelo, Miss., at Vacation Bible School,” Stanley said. “Did he have times when he was away from the Lord? Oh yeah. … Twenty or 30 years ago, the prevailing thought was that once you were saved, you don’t have issues. You just love Jesus and you’ll be OK. That sounds good but I know some really wonderful people that love the Lord who struggle with things.”
   
Stanley preaches at churches large and small throughout the nation. He recently preached a revival at First Baptist Church, Kimberly, drawing 200 each night to a church that averages 80 on Sunday morning. He talks to grandparents whose memories of their youth are intertwined with memories of Elvis and to their grandchildren who don’t know much about the cultural icon but share his struggle with the temptations of drugs and sex. 
   
The struggles in Stanley’s life often mirrored those of his famous stepbrother. When Stanley was 6 years old, his mother married then-widowed Vernon Presley, Elvis’ father. 
   
Stanley, his two brothers and mother lived with Vernon in the house next door to Elvis at Graceland. In a 1989 People magazine article, Stanley described how Elvis treated the boys like his little brothers, throwing the football for hours in the backyard, hammering nails into boards for the fun of it and buying bicycles, swing sets and ponies to delight them. 
   
Elvis took Stanley on the road as his personal aide after he dropped out of school at age 16 — a time when Stanley began experimenting with drugs. He had a front-row seat to the drama that accompanied the later years of Elvis’ life and was with him just hours before he died.
   
After battling depression, Stanley accepted Christ, attended Criswell College in Dallas and then graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1986. He has written three books, appeared on television and spoken at more than 4,000 churches, 800 middle and high schools and hundreds of jails and drug rehabilitation clinics. 
   
Stanley has been married for 28 years to Robyn, whose Christian witness led him to a life as an evangelist. They have two daughters, 23-year-old Brittany and 17-year-old Bethany, who are active in helping with youth ministry. 
   
The story of his years with Elvis and his speaking schedule are online at www.rickstanleyministries.com. “I try to tell people that Elvis was a chapter of my life; he’s not the book,” Stanley said. “What’s more important to me are my wife and children and my ministry.”
   
But it is his shared history with Elvis that often initially draws people to hear the Bible preached. 
   
“It’s something the Lord has given me,” Stanley said. “I’m a Baptist preacher. I don’t consider myself a big deal or what I have been through a big deal, but there are a lot of people who do. You live with Elvis almost 20 years … to them, they consider it a celebrity. He’s been gone 28 years, but he’s still a big deal. I know way down in my heart the fact that he’s still a big deal opens a lot of doors for me.”
   
Stanley, who lives in Niceville, Fla., travels the country preaching at statewide evangelical meetings and working at areawide crusades and youth camps in the summers with Evangelist Rick Gage. 
   
“My policy is anybody that calls,” Stanley said. “All I’m looking for is desire, if they want to see people come to know the Lord.” 
   
When he was a new Christian on a scholarship from First Baptist Church, Dallas, pastor W.A. Criswell at Criswell College, Stanley said he looked at the group of young men surrounding him — young men who had loved the Lord all their lives. 
   
“Yet here I am with this testimony, and I get to go everywhere and preach all over the world. Why me?” 
   
Stanley said Criswell helped him understand his purpose. “He said, ‘You have the story because God can trust you with it. You have to be the steward of the story,’” Stanley recalled. 
   
“Now I know why I have the platform I do,” he said. “It’s not about me or my brother but it’s about the Lord. And I enjoy every moment of it.”