When he came in he greeted the crowd and said "I see we have a few visitors" he was interested in hearing where everyone was from. He was friendly and seemed to enjoy the crowd. He addressed some of the issues in the news and informed us of some things that weren't in the news. He then led a bible class out of Numbers 12. He is the only President to ever teach a bible class while President, and the only one to do it on a regular basis after office. He comes across as very caring and sincere and uses humor with his lesson. I was impressed that he still attends a small church in his hometown, and that he will give his time to be photographed with all that want. I may differ with him politically, but I really respect his genuineness and humility. One of the ground rules was that we couldn't applaud him, or stand when he came in, Miss Jan said his applause would be if we took the lesson he taught to heart. Many people left after his Sunday school class, another of the rules was that if you left you wouldn't be allowed to come back at picture time. The Pastor gave a lesson that wasn't terrible, about what I would expect for a 40 person congregation. I was impressed with what such a small congregation had to go through to accommodate so many guests on a regular basis. They were very efficient in getting the pictures taken afterwards. The Carters we very gracious even when a few people didn't follow the rules. If you ever are near Plains Georgia I highly recommend you go to Church and see him for yourself. He seemed in good health and he had great command of his memory, but he is 86 so if you do put it on your "bucket list" I wouldn't put it very far down. He may be the only President you can get your picture with without donating a hundred thousand dollars.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Jimmy Carter
We went to church with Jimmy Carter this morning. I wasn't all that excited to go, but D'Linda was, so we went. I was really impressed. Before Rusty's head explodes, I haven't turned into a liberal democrat, but he impressed me on many levels. Another family that is staying here at Koinonia was going and offered to give us a ride so we took them up on it. Plains Georgia is about 10 miles from here, it is a very small town, the sign going into town boasts "Home town of the 39th President". The church he attends is called Maranatha Baptist Church. It is a brick building that is nice looking, but not very big. The Sundays that he is there they have Secret Service agents there, they examine all bags and purses and you get a wand waved over you. This time of year the crowds aren't big. In the summer they tell you to be there by 8:00 for the 10:00 Sunday school class that he teaches. We got there about 9:00 and got seated near the back of the auditorium. The auditorium seats about 300 and by the time class started it was full enough that they had to set up a few folding chairs. The regular members have some reserved seats near the center of one side of the auditorium. Then Miss Jan gets up and tells you the rules. She was Amy Carter's fourth grade teacher, she so impressed the Carter's that she was on their staff for quite a while. She laid down the law about what was and was not permissible, she did it with humor, but reminded us that she had some armed Secret Service agents at he disposal. She was a member of the church herself, she said they had 130 members on the role, but average attendance was about 40. When the Carters are present they always have more visitors than members. You can call ahead and they will tell you if he is going to be there. The bulletin for last week read members 26 visitors 138. We had a group of students from New York there today, and it is president's day weekend so the place was just about to capacity. They did allow pictures at times, and everyone that stayed for the whole service got the opportunity to get a picture with the Carters.
When he came in he greeted the crowd and said "I see we have a few visitors" he was interested in hearing where everyone was from. He was friendly and seemed to enjoy the crowd. He addressed some of the issues in the news and informed us of some things that weren't in the news. He then led a bible class out of Numbers 12. He is the only President to ever teach a bible class while President, and the only one to do it on a regular basis after office. He comes across as very caring and sincere and uses humor with his lesson. I was impressed that he still attends a small church in his hometown, and that he will give his time to be photographed with all that want. I may differ with him politically, but I really respect his genuineness and humility. One of the ground rules was that we couldn't applaud him, or stand when he came in, Miss Jan said his applause would be if we took the lesson he taught to heart. Many people left after his Sunday school class, another of the rules was that if you left you wouldn't be allowed to come back at picture time. The Pastor gave a lesson that wasn't terrible, about what I would expect for a 40 person congregation. I was impressed with what such a small congregation had to go through to accommodate so many guests on a regular basis. They were very efficient in getting the pictures taken afterwards. The Carters we very gracious even when a few people didn't follow the rules. If you ever are near Plains Georgia I highly recommend you go to Church and see him for yourself. He seemed in good health and he had great command of his memory, but he is 86 so if you do put it on your "bucket list" I wouldn't put it very far down. He may be the only President you can get your picture with without donating a hundred thousand dollars.
When he came in he greeted the crowd and said "I see we have a few visitors" he was interested in hearing where everyone was from. He was friendly and seemed to enjoy the crowd. He addressed some of the issues in the news and informed us of some things that weren't in the news. He then led a bible class out of Numbers 12. He is the only President to ever teach a bible class while President, and the only one to do it on a regular basis after office. He comes across as very caring and sincere and uses humor with his lesson. I was impressed that he still attends a small church in his hometown, and that he will give his time to be photographed with all that want. I may differ with him politically, but I really respect his genuineness and humility. One of the ground rules was that we couldn't applaud him, or stand when he came in, Miss Jan said his applause would be if we took the lesson he taught to heart. Many people left after his Sunday school class, another of the rules was that if you left you wouldn't be allowed to come back at picture time. The Pastor gave a lesson that wasn't terrible, about what I would expect for a 40 person congregation. I was impressed with what such a small congregation had to go through to accommodate so many guests on a regular basis. They were very efficient in getting the pictures taken afterwards. The Carters we very gracious even when a few people didn't follow the rules. If you ever are near Plains Georgia I highly recommend you go to Church and see him for yourself. He seemed in good health and he had great command of his memory, but he is 86 so if you do put it on your "bucket list" I wouldn't put it very far down. He may be the only President you can get your picture with without donating a hundred thousand dollars.
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I am so very glad that were able to worship with what sounds like a lovely church body today. Getting to meet President Carter must have been such a treat!
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