Since leaving the White House in 1981, Jimmy Carter has taught a Bible study class on a regular basis at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, GA. At first, only a few visitors came on a Sunday. 25 years after the end of his presidency, the Bible class is a wonderful opportunity to see and hear a former president up close and as personal as possible – and more than a few people attend each week. In fact, they often come by the busload.
Maranatha is a tiny church which hosts 10,000 visitors to their Sunday services each year. Regardless of your opinion about Carter’s presidency or his views on world matters and the Bible, I strongly encourage you to visit this warm and wonderful place with your children. You won’t have an opportunity to have lively discussions with the 39th president, or to get too close – the secret service is very much in charge. You will learn about the Bible, about Carter’s highly inclusive view of Christianity, and stimulate thought and discussion with your own family. Best of all, it is available on a regular basis.
What better chance do your kids have of meeting a real live president of the United States? Ford is ailing, Clinton makes frequent appearances but not always at events where you could bring the whole family, and the Bushes are – well, access to them is kind of tight right now. But you can join several hundred people to listen to President Carter, pray with the Carters and their congregation, and possibly meet them for a brief snapshot afterwards. Now, that beats the Hall of Presidents at Disney any day!
President Carter’s class begins at 10 am, and the service follows at 11. When the church opened its doors at 8:30 am on the cold and damp Sunday morning we visited, several hundred people were in line. We arrived at 7:50, and were already behind a bus tour.
There is a considerable “warm up” experience on the part of the secret service and the congregation. While waiting in line, we were greeted by a member of the congregation, Jan Williams. Mrs. Williams taught Amy Carter, and she gives an orientation in no uncertain terms of what the procedure is for entering the church, and what you can expect. She tells quite a few amusing anecdotes, reminds the crowd of the focus on worship. This really makes the experience go smoothly.
The Secret Service kept their customary low profile, but you knew that they were watching. They checked busses and vehicles with a dog, and my son Joe found this to be “so cool”. None of their operation detracted in any way from our enjoyment of the experience. Entering the church is somewhat like airport security – they flip the metal detector over you and are friendly while they talk with you. At all times we felt secure, knowing they were on the job. “Safest place to be in the USA this morning” was the observation of one of the men in line ahead of us. Joe was wearing his trademark wool fedora hat, and one of the agents cracked a joke about him looking like Bear Bryant, the football coach. (Some kids wear their pants around their knees; my teenager wears a wool fedora. Go figure.) Upon entering the church, we were warmly welcomed by an usher and shown to our seats.
President Carter is a very enjoyable speaker. He chats with the group about where they are from, and gives special recognition to active members of the armed forces and to visiting clergy and missionaries. He shows great enthusiasm for the study of the Bible, and makes it very easy to understand, and apply in your personal spiritual life. Whether or not you are Christian, you will gain something positive from the experience. Many of the visitors have told church members that they have never been in a church before.
You have an opportunity to take his picture at the beginning, but after the lesson begins no pictures are allowed. No pictures may be taken during the worship service. This is so that there can be focus on the class, and on the worship. The church professionally videotapes each class as an historical record, and copies of the video may be ordered. The fee is minimal, and all profits from sale of the videos benefit missions in Central America. The church takes very clear steps to assure that worship is the primary focus of the event, and as a Christian from a different tradition, I found the service to be uplifting, joyful, and spiritually satisfying. It is a church I would visit again, even without President Carter. One Sunday President Carter did not teach, and a visitor complained that he had traveled hundreds of miles to see him. One member commented “Well, no, that JC isn’t here this week, but the other JC is here every Sunday!”
After church, we had our picture taken with President and Mrs. Carter. Joe hid his hat for the picture, and was tickled that President Carter told him he liked the hat! The Secret Service insists that visitors leave immediately after pictures, so this is not the relaxed coffee hour that many Christian churches enjoy. Still, you can meet many of the members of Maranatha and other churches in Plains if you have lunch afterwards at Mom’s Kitchen. This is a cafeteria style restaurant on the main street which has good southern cooking at a reasonable price. Joe is still saying it was the best meal of the trip.
President Carter’s teaching schedule is posted on the church website http://www.maranathachurchplains.org. The church takes no reservations for the Bible class, but it is strongly recommended that you call a few days in advance to verify that he will teach as scheduled.