(orchestral music) (heartfelt music) - [Narrator] Sumter County in southwest Georgia is an agricultural paradise.

(car humming) Agribusiness drives the economy in this part of Georgia.

The most well-known town in Sumter County is the little village of Plains, the home of the 39th president of the United States.

Not many things have changed in Plains.

It is a reminder, and a good one, of simpler times.

(heartfelt music) (gentle music) - I remember when we couldn't find a microphone.

(audience applauding) (TV chattering) (heartfelt music) - [Narrator] Today, President Jimmy Carter is teaching Sunday school at the Maranatha Baptist Church, just as he has for over 35 years.

They come from all over the world, and they come early, just to get a seat.

- 2:45.

- You were here at 2:45?

- I was.

- George.

- [George] First car.

And there's two cars already here.

The next car came in at three.

(rain pattering) - I'm Daniel Edwards.

I come from California.

I teach at California State University near Modesto, and I'm a portrait sculptor.

And I've come here to sculpt President Carter, to do a life-size portrait for inclusion in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.

And this is a study that I've been working on while he teaches.

- Hi, my name is Marci Campbell, and I am from Watkinsville, Georgia.

I came here to see and meet Jimmy Carter, who I have admired for a very long time.

- Hi, I'm Beryl Dixon.

I'm from Rutledge, Georgia.

I'm just so pleased to be here.

Jimmy Carter is just one of the finest individuals you could ever hope to hear.

And I know he's gonna offer us a great word today in the Sunday school lesson.

That's what I'm excited about.

And to actually meet him and be here.

- My name's Henley and I'm from Cochran and I'm nine years old.

And I have a sister.

That's my dad.

- My name is Lily and I'm from Danville, Georgia.

- What I think is really cool is that, one time on a gifted field trip, we went to go see where he used to live at when he was younger, where he grew up at, and we went in his office and stuff.

- Actually, I'm from Cambodia.

It is my first time in America, and I heard about him from my husband, so I would love to see him.

- I read his book.

I think it's "The Fuller Life."

He's just a very- - An amazing person.

- He's an amazing person.

- And he's given his whole life to serve others, and we just wanna hear him speak.

- We're here to see Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter.

Wish her a happy birthday.

And to, I mean, we're very interested in seeing Jimmy Carter because of his humanitarian work here in the United States and across the world.

- I would say that our Maranatha Baptist Church wants to have as many visitors as we can.

We want to strengthen our church as much as possible.

And we have a unique ministry of visitation.

- Tyler.

- How you doing, man?

And when I first began to teach, we only had 5 or 10 visitors come.

And as the word got around, more came.

But at the beginning, I just decided that I would have a photograph with every visitor, which took about two minutes.

And then now it takes about 30 minutes to have visitation with everybody.

But that's a large part of the attraction because we'd take a photograph with the visitors on camera, now it's almost always a cell phone or something like that, so they can take with them a picture with them and their families and a president and a first lady of the country.

So I don't have any doubt that that's a big attraction for people to come.

(piano music) - [Narrator] The Carter family roots in Sumter County run deep.

His great, great grandfather was a member of the Friendship Baptist Church, the oldest church in the county, standing here since 1857.

♪ There's a land beyond the river ♪ ♪ That we call the sweet forever ♪ ♪ And we only reach that shore by faith's decree ♪ - The minutes for Friendship Baptist started in 1839, and continued till 1870.

♪ There to dwell with the immortals ♪ - The minutes for the church are dotted with names, both obscure and famous.

One particular name comes to mind.

In 1857, Wiley Carter joins the congregation.

Wiley Carter's great great grandson would go on to be our 39th president.

♪ Oh, can't you hear the angels singing ♪ - The Friendship Baptist Church was the oldest one in this particular area.

It was founded in 1839.

My great, great grandfather, Wiley Carter, moved to that area in 1852, and he and his wife joined Friendship Baptist Church.

And they also had one of their favorite slaves, servants, join the same church.

And I would say that the Lebanon Baptist Church was formed about five years later.

And that was out in the cemetery about 1 1/2 miles from Plains.

And it consisted of both African Americans and white membership.

So that's the way the churches were originally founded.

And until the Civil War, African Americans and white people went to church in the same buildings.

They were possibly separated by assignment of seats or something like that, but, so far as I know, they all went together and worshiped God in the same way and the same place.

(windmill creaking) I think my childhood really affected me most in the urge to have African Americans and white citizens be equal.

I grew up during segregation days.

I lived in a community where our family was surrounded just by African Americans.

My mother was a full-time registered nurse and she was gone a lot, so I was basically raised and trained by African American women who took care of our house for my father.

And all my playmates were African American.

And I worked in the fields with African Americans.

So I think I derived my commitment to human rights more to that early childhood experience of discrimination against African Americans that we exhibited after the Civil War and before human rights days were implemented in our country, as much as anything else.

I would say that a lot of the people who come to Maranatha Baptist Church, we have a good number of visitors who are African Americans who come to our church, for which we're very grateful, and they are always welcome.

(heartfelt music) - My name is Shirley Strawter.

I'm the pastor of St. John and St. Mark AME Church in Plains, Georgia.

And it's just amazing that I've had the opportunity to meet President Carter.

He loves the Lord and he speaks on it often.

And we both have something in common to tell our brothers and sisters about the love of God and loving each other.

(heartfelt music continues) - [Narrator] Today, President and First Lady Rosalynn Carter live a short distance from the family farm, where young Jimmy grew up.

The family farm has been lovingly preserved and is now maintained by the National Park Service.

The old farmhouse speaks to America in another place and another time.

(heartfelt music continues) The farm was the focus of President Carter's childhood, a rural upbringing that made him, in large measure, the man he is and what he stands for.

- I would say our average visitation now when I'm teaching Sunday school is about 500 people, visitors.

And so our 30 regular church members who attend have to take care of being host of that many people.

And so we have, generally, I would say, 15 to 25 foreign countries represented, and way over half of the states in the United States represented as visitors.

(visitors chattering) But we have any visitors here?

(congregation laughs) Okay.

And where are you from?

I want to start here, on the front.

And where are you from?

- [Visitor] Maryland.

- Maryland.

- California.

- California.

- South Dakota.

- South Dakota.

- California.

- California, I'll say.

- Texas.

- Texas.

- North Carolina.

- North Carolina.

- Washington, D.C. - Washington, D.C. - [Visitor] Florida.

- I used to live in some of these places.

(congregation laughs) Yeah.

And over here, Nepal.

And where else?

Where?

- Minnesota.

- Minnesota.

- Alabama.

- Alabama.

- Switzerland.

- Switzerland.

- Philippines - Turkey?

- Philippines.

- Philippines.

- Kenya.

- Kenya, okay.

- China.

- China.

- Florida.

- Florida, okay.

Anyone over here?

We got some folks here that have written a wonderful book about churches in rural Georgia, all right?

- [Production Member] Yes, sir.

- And you're gonna make a film on the same subject?

- [Production Member] You're gonna be in it.

(congregation laughs) - This is a pleasant duty of mine.

Sometimes I don't say no, and- (congregation laughs) - [Production Member] We are certainly grateful for that.

- And sometimes I regret not saying no, but this time I'm glad I said yes.

(gentle music) ♪ Oh, shine on me ♪ ♪ Oh, shine on me ♪ ♪ I wonder if the lighthouse will shine ♪ - [Narrator] Rosalynn Carter's roots in Sumter County run just as deep as President Carter's.

Her great, great grandfather was one of the founders of St. Luke's Lutheran Church, located not too far from Plains.

The church has been moved from its original location a short distance away, and has been lovingly restored.

♪ I wonder if the lighthouse will shine on me ♪ ♪ I heard the voice of Jesus say ♪ ♪ Come and rest and Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Now I go to the master above ♪ ♪ Now rest eternally ♪ ♪ Shine, shine on me, Lord ♪ ♪ Shine, shine on me ♪ ♪ I wonder if the lighthouse will shine, shine on me ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Shine, shine on me, Lord ♪ ♪ Shine, shine on me ♪ ♪ I wonder if the lighthouse will shine, shine on me ♪ - One of the three communities, church communities, that came in and formed Plains was formed by Rose's family.

And they moved into this area in 1833 when all the first white people moved in here to replace the Indians, who moved to the West.

But a group of Lutherans moved down here from South Carolina in about 1865, and they formed a Lutheran church in 1870 or so.

And Rose's family joined the Lutheran church there.

- I believe one of the interesting things about this church is that one of our former first ladies, Rosalynn Carter's great, great grandfather was an original founder and actually provided physical labor to build this church, which, I think, makes it super special.

- I think the main motivation for me to teach Sunday school, at least, was that my father taught Sunday school when I was a child.

God gives us...

Listen to this very carefully.

God gives us, every one of you and me, life.

How many of you decided when to get born?

(congregation laughs) How many of you decided who your parents would be?

How many of you decided what kind of talents or abilities you would have?

You see, God gives us life and complete freedom.

And that's very important.

You have complete freedom.

And in your own private deliberations, or process of making decisions, nobody can make those decisions except you.

Not even your husband or wife.

Not even your parents when you get old enough to think for yourself.

So you have life and freedom.

And God gives every one of us enough talent and enough opportunity to live a completely successful life in the eyes of God.

And all the time I was growing up in the church, he taught me Bible lessons, and the other kids as well.

And I joined the Plains Baptist Church when I was 11 years old, primarily because of the influence of my father, Earl Carter.

And I've continued with that, I think, to some degree.

So I would guess that my basic faith in Jesus Christ, I'm a Christian, has been derived from my own studies and my own awareness of a attraction of Christianity in my own judgment, but the introduction, I think, to my Christian faith was certainly because of my father.

Every one of us has constant access, 24 hours a day, with our Creator who knows everything, right?

And can do anything.

So at any time in your life when you're doubtful about setting a purpose in your life, or overcoming a difficulty, or having a happier life or more peaceful life, you can turn to God, who loves us and has our best interests at heart, and who knows everything and can do anything.

Isn't that a wonderful gift?

Well, I remained a member of the Plains Baptist Church, which was formerly Lebanon Baptist church, until I finished my service in the White House.

When we came home, we found that Maranatha Baptist Church had split off from the Plains Baptist Church because of arguments about two things, I would say.

One was whether the women could be deacons and pastors of the church, and also whether or not to admit African Americans into our church services.

During those days, there was a transmission taking place about the integration of Black people into white churches.

But I would say, for a long time, almost a hundred years after the Civil War was over, the African American and white congregations worshiped on their own.

Maranatha wanted to integrate our church racially.

And so Maranatha was formed for that reason and also to permit women equal rights with men.

So that has been our church ever since, ever since we joined it, after the White House years.

And so every one of us has to realize that if we don't have a happy, purposeful, peaceful life, it's our fault because we are the ones that have made all the decisions that have shaped who we are.

I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand if you're not satisfied with the way you are.

(congregation laughs) But each one of us has to decide that.

But you're free, you see?

You don't have to decide it at all if you don't want to be.

You can keep on being stingy, right?

You can keep on being absent a purpose in life.

You can keep on living an unhappy life or frustrated life, a life filled with tension, and so forth, instead of peace.

It's up to you.

It's up to every one of us to make a basic decision, this is the kind of person that I want to be.

Well, of course, I've described in my remarks already how the church has changed with the congregation, with the difference before and after the Civil War, and then during the time of segregation, and when whites and Blacks have formed their own churches, and we're trying to come back together now.

Those things have changed.

But I think one of the most precious possessions we have in America is a number of old churches, original churches that need to be preserved.

The oldest church in this whole area, and the oldest one to which I've ever referred, is Friendship Baptist church.

And it's still in the same location, in the same place, and the building that's there was the one that was replaced by a building that my great, great grandfather bought in 1857, for $52, as a matter of fact.

But that one that was built then is still surviving.

And so to keep those old churches intact, and to see how our ancestors worshiped, I think, is one of the extraordinary beneficial ways that we can really understand how our ancestors lived, and how they interrelated with one another, and how they formed congregations of the churches back in those days.

It was really the only way to cross the boundaries around a particular farm in which they lived.

And that memento or surviving treasure they would have in the old church buildings, I hope would be well known by people who live far from them now, as well as people like me and my wife who live very close to where the older churches were.

And so, I would say, that that's one of the most precious ways we have to understand our ancestors and the history is by the character of the churches and the size of them.

As a matter of fact, the St. Mark's Lutheran Church, when my wife first began to go to it, it had a wall built down the center of it and two front doors.

One front door was used by the men who went to the church and they sat on one side of the church with a wall between them, and the women who entered in the other door with the children.

So that has obviously changed.

And I don't know how they were kept separate early in the slavery times, but I would have heard that the Lebanon Baptist Church, when Black and whites went to church together, had a balcony, and it was in the balcony that the African Americans came to worship, with white people living on the ground floor.

So there were some separations within the church, but they heard the same sermon, they worshiped the same God, they use the same Bibles.

And that early history, I think, is one that's one of our precious possessions.

And I hope that we can preserve as many of the original churches in Georgia as we possibly can.

- [Narrator] The old churches that are still standing tell us and our children where we came from, how we got here, who we are.

We share the call for their preservation.

- And after church is over, Rose and I will be, I used to say, "be delighted," but we'll be willing to have photographs with everybody.

(congregation laughing) ♪ That saved a wretch like me ♪ ♪ I once was lost ♪ ♪ But now I'm found ♪ ♪ Was blind, but now I see ♪ (people chattering) ♪ Was blind, but now I see ♪