More than a President: Sundays with Jimmy Carter, edited by Andrew Greer released via Mercer University Press, gathers 15 excerpts from President Jimmy Carter's Sunday school lessons at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, and The First Baptist Church of Washington, D.C. Featuring a foreword by Barbara Brown Taylor and an afterword by Carter's grandson Jason Carter, the volume marks the first posthumous publication of Carter's words, offering timeless biblical insights that shaped his life and leadership. Unearthed from archived lessons and inspired by Greer's PBS documentary Plainspoken, the book highlights Carter's humble faith and moral clarity, with reflections from figures such as Mike Pence and Carter's niece Kim Carter Fuller. Greer will discuss the book at literary festivals in Decatur and Nashville this fall.
We are honored to be able to chat with Andrew Greer for this exclusive interview.
Q: When you uncovered the archive of President Carter's Sunday school lessons, what struck you most about his teaching style, and how did that inspire you to bring this book to life?
President Carter's teaching style reflects how he lived his life-with a thoughtful mind and open heart. He asked those gathered for the class (often hundreds of folks from around the world) to join him in stretching their minds and stretching their hearts in order to encompass an ever-expanding life lived in relationship with God. As I listened through dozens-out of hundreds-of lessons in the research for this book, I was impressed by President Carter's desire to include everyone in the room, to make certain folks feel seen and comfortable to dive into the text of the Scriptures to learn more about God and challenge themselves.
It should be noted that I first heard President Carter teaching Sunday school in 2007 after persuading some college friends to join me for a road trip to Plains, Georgia, to witness a former President (My favorite President and one of my heroes.) teach from the Bible! It was a magical experience and a lesson I decided to include in More Than a President as a sort of full-circle moment for me in compiling this book.
Q: How did your personal encounters with Carter, including filming one of his final interviews, shape your understanding of his faith and influence as both a leader and a teacher?
His faith seemed to be wide open. And from my perspective, humility is the cornerstone of an enlarging spirituality-a willingness to challenge one's own beliefs, biases, prejudices. And that humility, born from his attempt to follow Jesus, became a trademark of his entire life, whether building houses with Habitat for Humanity, working to eradicate disease and mediate peace with the Carter Center, or teaching Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains.
Q: How did you balance honoring Carter's historical legacy as a statesman with presenting him simply as a humble Sunday school teacher?
The lessons included in More Than a President are organized by the decades that President Carter taught Sunday school both at First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C., while he was serving as president of the United States, and at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, during his long post-presidency. As a prelude to each section, I wrote an introduction that detailed the work Jimmy and Rosalynn were championing throughout the world that might reflect some of the ideals he was mining from Scripture while studying for the lessons he taught on Sundays.
I don't think his roles as a public servant and an active churchgoer are separate legacies. His faith informed every aspect of who he was, and I do think that's worth remembering.
Q: In a polarized time, how do you hope Carter's biblical insights might help bridge divides and encourage compassion across political and social lines?
Ephesians 4:32 was read during his funeral at Maranatha, the last public service before he was laid to rest near his and Rosalynn's home in Plains. "Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted..." I think all his gleanings from the Bible circled back to how we treat one another. Be kind. Be compassionate. If you distilled his lessons down to one message, I believe it would be to love God and love one another.
Q: What lessons from Carter have most transformed your personal walk of faith, and how do you carry those forward in your own ministry and creative work?
The lessons he taught from Jonah, some of which I included in More Than a President, resonate with where we are as an American people living in a developed world. I include myself in this. I struggle with a feeling of entitlement-entitlement to my finances, my land, my borders, my "safety." And that entitlement is often rooted in a fear of people who don't look, act or believe like me-people I might not understand for one reason or another.
Jonah's prejudices were directly challenged when God called him to share a message of mercy to the people of Nineveh. Jonah had a strong bias against the Ninevites and their unrighteous lifestyles and did not want to offer this "unworthy" people a second chance at the hands of God- as if that were his decision to make. And so, he resisted God's call and misfortune befell him. But God's right to distribute his mercy equally to every person was eventually demonstrated and the Ninevites took advantage of the offer to about-face and live in the good health of repentance and right relationship with God.
We are Jonah. It is in our human nature to want to withhold from others what we deem as rightfully ours, but in the paradigm of God, He sets the table for everyone and extends an invitation for all to join in. I want to be discerning of God's call in my life to serve others and want to have a heart that is tender and open so that I see others and myself as worthy of God's love. I hope all my creative energy serves others well.
Q: What do you hope a new generation-who may know Carter more as a historical figure than a Sunday school teacher-will discover about him through this book?
I hope by reading More Than a President all generations will discover Jimmy Carter as a true servant leader. Humility is not exclusive to those with little access, no privilege, or who are poor. All of us-no matter our background-are afforded the opportunity to get to know our neighbor, recognize their needs, and help meet those needs with whatever skills we have been gifted with by God. I hope Jimmy Carter is an inspiration to love others without condition in the pattern of the person he attempted to follow, and who I attempt to follow, Jesus.
For further information, visit, Sundays With Jimmy Carter or Turning Point Media Relations. Follow Andrew Greer on Instagram and Facebook.
