(RNS) — Three years ago, when the pastor at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, invited me to deliver the sermon at an upcoming revival service, he confirmed quickly that former President Jimmy Carter, who attends Maranatha, would be in the room. The pastor told me, though, not to let Carter’s presence affect my sermon, because, he said, he’s “just like everyone else.”
I appreciated what my friend was saying, and he was right, but I also knew that Carter is not just like everyone else. For one thing, he is one of only 45 men who have held the title of U.S. president, a role some say is the hardest job in the world. Carter would later win the Nobel Prize for Peace and do other things that make him not just like everyone else, but I want to concentrate on his time as one of those 45.
Read the full article here: https://wordandway.org/2021/01/29/jimmy-carter-taught-me-how-to-pray-for-a-president/
Former President Jimmy Carter teaches during Sunday School class at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, on Dec. 13, 2015. (Branden Camp/Associated Press)