Sunday School at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia
by Marion D. Aldridge
Here’s the bottom line: If you’ve never attended Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, to hear President Jimmy Carter teach Sunday school, you need to put that on your short term bucket list.
This is a unique experience. One-of-a-kind. Unparalleled. This humble Christian, former president of the most powerful nation on earth and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, stands in front of a sanctuary full of pilgrims (about 300 people) to Plains almost every Sunday. He delivers, without notes, his understanding of a selected Bible text.
Maranatha Baptist Church invited me to preach for them today (April 30) and next Sunday (May 7). Recently home from my four months as an interim pastor in Connecticut, I gladly accepted.
Long an admirer of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, I’ve looked forward to being in Plains at the same time as the Carters so I could participate in Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church. My daughter Julie and I attended the Baptist World Alliance in Birmingham, England, in 2005, where President Carter taught the Sunday school lesson to a couple thousand of us gathered in a civic arena of some sort. That was a good, but different, experience.
The church members of Maranatha, a small congregation, are the unsung heroes of this ministry. They arrive at the church as early as 5:30 on Sunday mornings to begin their hospitality ministry to out-of-town, out-of-state and out-of-country guests. On this particular morning, worshipers gathered from half a dozen or more countries and 20 or 30 states. The locals are gracious in sharing their church with visitors from afar, as well as with Secret Service agents. Before Sunday school, the church’s guests are given an often-humorous lecture about protocol, what to expect, and what not to expect. No clapping. You don’t clap for your Sunday school teacher, after all, do you? Today, Jill Stuckey gave the speech. She charmed everyone, but she was also clear about appropriate behavior. This is a Baptist church, after all. You can’t be too careful.
After church, members and guests are likely to adjourn to The Cafeteria, a local eatery owned by Jody Monts. I ate supper there Saturday night (pork chops and turnips), and she asked me if I was in town to go to Sunday school. I told her I was preaching. I ate lunch there again today (baked chicken, dressing, collards, and sweet potato pie). There were other choices, but snails are not on the menu if you’re hoping for French food. This is Southern cooking. I’ll weigh four hundred pounds by this time next week.
I’ve not been in Plains for 24 hours yet. But I’m enthusiastic about being here. Nearby is Koinonia Farms and I’m going there tomorrow with a church member. I’ll report on the remainder of the week, I’m sure, but I wanted to get this message across:
Plan a trip to Jimmy Carter’s Sunday school class at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia. You’ll thank yourself later!
Marion Aldridge is a preacher, teacher, former CBF-South Carolina executive, writer, pastor and mentor to many. This essay was posted on April 30, 2017 on his blog, Where the Pavement Ends: Exploring Worlds I Know Little About… which is available at marionaldridge.wordpress.com/author/marionaldridge. It is reprinted here with permission.
