An anonymous buyer has returned personal items once belonging to Charles Stanley to the late pastor's family after purchasing them on eBay from Stanley's grandson.
Stanley, the longtime pastor of First Baptist Atlanta and the founder of InTouch Ministries, passed away at his home last month at the age of 90.
After bidding closed on the items last week, Stanley's engraved pocket watch had sold for $2,375 with 63 bids, while a portrait of the famed pastor sold for $3,650 with 40 bids. At the time, 29-year-old Matt Brodersen, the son of Stanley's daughter, Becky, was heavily criticized for attempting to put his grandfather's personal items up for sale.
According to The Christian Post, Brodersen shared that an anonymous buyer purchased the pocket watch and returned it to Stanley's family. The buyer also spoke to Broderson over the phone and shared why his family should keep the late pastor's things.
"Apparently when he was younger and his grandfather died ... his brother and his cousin ... went and grabbed his grandpa's things, and they went and auctioned it off right away, and he did not like it," Brodersen said in a YouTube video posted on Saturday.
"And so, I talked to him on the phone for like 30 minutes today, and we had a great conversation and it was a little jaw-dropping … [he said], 'I wish my family had not auctioned off my grandpa's stuff. I would have liked to keep some of those things. I'm so glad I got to buy them and send them back to your family for you.'"
"So that is when it really all sank in about how creepy or weird that was of me to do that," he said.
Broderson had re-listed the framed portrait of Stanley and coins from Stanley's collection after having negotiation disagreements with the initial buyer. After the phone call with the anonymous buyer, however, Broderson ultimately removed the items from eBay.
"When he told me his story, I just died inside," he said. "And I realized how selfish I was being, so I canceled the other eBay auction for the picture frame and the coin collection and I have mailed those back to my uncle. So technically, nothing has gotten sold on eBay. Everything is going back to its right property owners."
After Stanley passed away, Broderson said his mother encouraged him to take some of his grandfather's things, "but she was mainly talking about the pictures on the wall and stuff."
"I went to his desk with the intention of looking for things that I could specifically immediately sell on eBay because I was desperate for money," he shared.
As Christian Headlines previously reported, Broderson later apologized for "being disrespectful" despite initally keeping the items up on eBay.
Photo courtesy: ©Department of Defense/Sgt. Nancy Lugo/Public Domain
Video courtesy: ©FriendsWithMatt
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
