Grace Fellowship International was incorporated May 29, 1969 for the purpose of implementing a new approach to spiritual counseling based on God’s call on the life of Charles Solomon in November, 1967. From the beginning it was a worldwide vision, which God has brought to pass in the ensuing third of a century.
The doors of GFI opened full time as a faith ministry February 1, 1970, and the Holy Spirit began to transform lives in the counseling setting. Two years later, in August 1972, the first staff member was added and the first remote office was opened in Missouri in 1975. The first international work was established in Argentina in 1981 and now there are representatives on six continents and many countries.
Dr. Solomon’s first and best selling book, Handbook to Happiness, has sold over 300,000 copies in English, Spanish, Korean, Romanian, and Russian. Chapter 2 has been condensed into tract form and is included on this site in more than 40 languages under the title, The Wheel and Line. Dr. Solomon has subsequently written ten more books and along with many articles and poems.
There have been many spin-off ministries since GFI began in 1970–both stand alone ministries and faithful pastors who are teaching the message of our identification with Christ in His death and resurrection. A number of ministries have also begun in various parts of the world.
In November, 2019 there was a 50th anniversary banquet in Knoxville, Tennessee.
A Celebration of Life service was conducted for Dr. Charles R. Solomon (1930-2020) on January 17, 2021 in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. A video recording of the service, plus tribute videos and testimonial letters, are on this page.
Here is the full video recording of the celebration of life service for Dr. Charles Solomon:
Here are videos and correspondence that give thanks for the life and ministry of Dr. Charles Solomon
Tribute Letters
From Steve Phinney – IOM America, Kansas
I have known many great leaders of faith through the years, but, as for me, none compare to the life of my spiritual father.
With our deepest sorrow, we inform you of our beloved mentor’s death & for many of us, father – Dr. Charles R. Solomon.
… While Heaven gained one of God’s faithful, we who love him grieve despair of great loss. I told him many times. Your name and ministry will go down in Church history. He would laugh. Then cry. Then I would cry… The message the Lord gave him was simple, to the point, and transformational – we must complete the Reformation our early church-fathers began years ago. This single message influenced many ministries worldwide. Galatians 2:20 became his dictum for life.
Read the fuller letter here: WEEPING MAY LAST FOR A NIGHT – Tribute 2021
From John Woodward – Grace Fellowship International, Tennessee
In about 1985 I found Handbook to Happiness in a bookstore Montreal, Quebec where I was serving as an associate pastor. God used it greatly in my life and changed the trajectory of my pastoral counseling. When I told my father about the value of Chuck’s books, he replied that Chuck and Sue were personal friends who had been in their home in Atlanta! Small world. Fast forward to 1996 when I was a pastor in southern Ontario. Chuck and Sue were driving through the area, stopped at our home, and had a impactful visit with us. That led to Linda and I attending the GFI workshop in Tennessee. I sensed a call on my life to specialize in exchanged life counseling and welcomed Chuck as my counseling mentor…
Read the full letter here.
From Pastor Jeff Black – First Baptist Church, Proctorville, Ohio:
Dear Grace Fellowship international,
At one time, those of us who were raised in Appalachia thought that our relationship with God was defined by how well we served in the church. We showed up every time the church doors were open. We served, we tithed, we handed out tracks, we rode buses, and we often went forward to re-dedicate our lives at the altar. We appreciated our future home in heaven, but our daily existence was only a life of misery. Grace, mercy, peace, and love eluded us, but we kept trying. Then one day, through Dr. Solomon’s ministry, we found out that God’s view of us and nothing to do with our own efforts and many attempts at perfection…
Read the full letter here. FBC Proctorville-CRS
From Glenn and Bobbie Dean – Amazing Grace Counseling, Tennessee
Since learning of your father’s home going, Bobbie and I have found ourselves reminiscing so many special times spent with your father, at conferences, counseling appointments, personal conversations and in the pages of his books; each occurrence was packed with treasured memories that can only be described as Christian fellowship and spiritual wisdom. We will always remember your father for his Spiritual Boldness of a Lion and his compassion and tenderness of a lamb….
Read the full letter here.
From Charles Ambaka – GFI, Kenya
…I had the honour of being his translator the first time that he came to Kenya to conduct training and seminars. Little did I know that he would embrace me and literally graft me into his nuclear family. My sense of belonging and the chemistry with the Solomons will forever be engraved in me…
Read the full letter here.
From Edmund Spieker – Fermata ministry, Brazil
My thanks for Chuck! I first learned through a pastor friend in TransWorld Radio about Charles Solomon. The Handbook to Happiness had deeply impacted his life and ministry. Therefore, it was with great interest, that I accepted Charles Solomon’s invitation to spend a few days with him at the “barngalow,” in the back of his home in Sevierville, TN, in the late summer of 1999…
Read the full letter here.
From Lee LeFebre
I attended the first conference that GFI had out at Glen Erie, in Colorado Springs. In 1972, alone in Grand Rapids, as the head of psychological services at a residential facility for teens, I was so impressed that the psychotherapy world was teaching ‘another’ gospel (me included) in the place I worked, as well as in churches, that it drove me to the end of myself. I bowed my head, got on my knees and abandoned my entire life to the Lord! Two nights later He filled me with His presence. Not until someone gave me Handbook to Happiness did I know what had happened to me! I called Chuck and he invited me to come to Denver…
From Stan Childers – former GFI board member, South Africa
I was so sorry to learn of Chuck’s passing on 22nd November. My love and deepest sympathy goes to you and all who mourn for him. I pray you will know the comfort of the Lord in this very sad time. Although he has gone from us in bodily form he will always be with us through his influence and effect on us. I have fond memories of may times spent with Chuck here in South Africa and in the USA. He was a good brother and I give thanks for him and the influence he had on me and I praise our Heavenly Father for his powerful ministry over many years….God bless you.
From David Haddad – Australia
I have become aware of Dr Solomon’s passing. I now live in Sydney, Australia. I did the internship with GFI at Denver, Colorado in your winter of 1985. I learned much from DR. Solomon whilst there and we had lots of laughs together. Dr Solomon had a major impact on my life. What a brave and pioneering ministry he had. I will be forever grateful. I remember meeting some of his family members like his son, Ron. Please pass on my condolence to his family, staff and friends.
From Ron Browning – New Heart Expressions, Colorado
It’s a sad celebration to read of Chuck’s passing into Eternity. He was a brilliant mind and a wonderful soul, while on Planet Earth. I enjoyed knowing him, reading him and being taught by him. Most of all, I enjoyed his acceptance, when the rest of my world only knew how to reject. Cathy, you are in mine and Hope’s prayers, as is the rest of the family, and all of GFI. And you John, because I know Chuck inspired you, and it was your dream to work alongside him. And yes, I’m grateful that Chuck introduced us almost two decades ago. Chuck wisely knew that we would fit. Not many others have been as gracious to me over the years, as you and Chuck. Thanks!…
From Tom Bruno – Soul Care coach, Illinois
Allow me to tell you, how much of a blessing it has been to have known both your father as well you too …, and to have learned so much (and to have grown so much in Our Lord Jesus) … from knowing your father and to have had the tremendous blessing of receiving 1st hand “mentoring” from him over these past several decades. In fact, by our God’s incredible grace, I recall having received mentoring and discipling from him as far back as 1988 (thru GFI books, resources and fellow believers in Christ who had received training and discipling themselves from Chuck & GFI).
Read the full letter here.
From Ron Horst – certified exchanged life counselor, Alberta, Canada
I am so sorry to hear of Chuck’s leaving this world, as he was such a treasure to so many people. However, I rejoice from my limited perspective as to how fulfilled and thrilled he is now. I count it as the Lord’s gift to me that in my coming to know GFI since Christmas 2019. I got to meet Chuck in person last year; I sat with him one lunch and he kidded me about having a ‘death in the family’ (Gal. 2:20). Praise God, Chuck had such a profitable death of his old man ,and that the Holy Spirit had him understand it, so we could be discipled into it. So wonderful that Chuck is seeing his reward for walking that road…
From P. J. Clark (10/2020)
Dr. Solomon, I think of you often and I am forever grateful for the exchanged life given to me through your book, Handbook to Happiness and the wheel and line diagrams, which brought the much-needed revelation that my spirit, soul, and body … needed to experience a life of freedom in Christ! I have enclosed a small book written as a result of knowing Christ crucified that I may live! (Galatians 2:20) I wrote a special thanks to you in the back before my bio. Through journaling, my art expresses my life and Freedom In Christ these past 33 years.
