Maranatha Baptist Church remembers Former President Jimmy Carter

PLAINS, Ga. – A big part of Jimmy Carter’s life after the White House was teaching Sunday school just up the road from here at Maranatha Baptist Church. We got a chance to sit down with one church member who talks about the impact he had teaching Sunday school.

Jan Williams is the pianist for Maranatha Baptist, and had a good view of those Sunday school sessions the 39th President taught.

In fact, it was part of what brought people from out of town to the church.

“He would always say, ‘now y’all go tell somebody else that they can come and hear me teach.’ And, then, he wrote his books about his faith. And, then, we started having hundreds and hundreds of people to come every Sunday to hear him teach,” said Jan Williams, Pianist, Maranatha Baptist Church.

But… for the community of Plains, having Jimmy Carter come back to teach Sunday school after serving as President showed how important faith was to a man who was the leader of the free world.

“And, that’s what Jimmy Carter did. He showed his faith through his teaching, what he did, who he helped, what organizations he was involved with. And, we had so many people that came to our church to hear him teach. And, we were sure that’s why they came,” said Williams.

It wasn’t just the photo opportunities that made the former President’s Sunday school sessions worth coming out for…

“He was an excellent scholar with the Bible, an excellent teacher. He taught about things that he had been doing in his life to the people that were there. And, of course, we videoed all of his lessons and people could acquire a copy of that. And, of course, that special picture that got made with the Carters’, a memory that will last forever,” said Williams.

And… while the former president and first lady are no longer with us, much like the rest of Plains, the people of Maranatha want to keep the Carters’ legacy alive.

“It’s left a void in us. But, within that void, we know now we want to work even harder to keep the legacy going for both President and Mrs. Carter,” said Williams.

And… while not an official number, Jan told us that Plains could see up to 40 thousand people come to the town for the funeral on January 9th.

Brian Roche reporting.

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