— Editor’s Note: This story is from October 2024, Firstcoasstnews.com. President Carter died on Dec. 29, 2024.
It was a Monday in 2018, and Pastor Tony Lowden was driving to work at the governor’s office in Atlanta. He had just preached a sermon about love at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia the day before.
Maranatha Baptist is a “bucket list” destination for a lot of people. Back then, if you were lucky, you could get inside and listen to former President Jimmy Carter teach Sunday school.
On his commute, Pastor Lowden received a call from an unfamiliar number on his cell phone. He left it on voicemail.
“I pushed the voicemail, and when I listened to the voicemail, it was President Carter asking me to consider being a pastor at Maranatha Baptist Church — as well as his pastor,” Pastor Lowden said.
Yes, the 39th president of the United States wanted Pastor Lowden to be his and Rosalynn’s personal pastor.
“We talked for about 45 minutes, and he talked about how he wanted to see, how the church should grow, and what he wants to achieve in his latter days,” Lowden said.
For the next six years, Lowden preached at Maranatha and ministered to Mr. and Mrs. Carter. On Carter’s 100th birthday, Lowden says that the Carters have impacted his life in meaningful ways.
“They’ve meant so much to me in life and that has really changed my life. My trajectory on what I want to do in life, to be a servant leader,” Lowden said.
Now Lowden works in criminal justice reform, but he continues to make the trip to Plains to minister for the former President: “I think I would say the majority of the time, he’s been pastoring me as I try to pastor him.”
Lowden says that even at 100 years old, Mr. Carter is still making a difference.
“I’m happy because he’s still setting records and setting goals, and he’s still shocking so many people.… He’s changed the way we look at hospice,” Lowden said. “In some cases, hospice means that we’re close. In his case, it means not yet.”
Lowden is working to pass on some of the lessons the Carters taught him.
“Every time I go to see him, he asks me four questions: Where have you been? What have you done? Who have you helped? And how can I help you help them?” Lowden says.
Lowden hopes to bring that same spirit of servant leadership into his new church, Jabez Ministries, in Byron.
“I believe the Carter spirit is here because I’m going to do everything I can to love on people the way President Carter would love on them,” Lowden said. “We’re going to do the exact same thing.”