(typewriter dinging) (soft relaxing music) - [Andrew] Hi, I'm Andrew Greer, and this is my book "More Than a President: Sundays with Jimmy Carter."

- [Jeremy] Jimmy Carter obviously was known for so many things, but there was this whole other part of his life that you kind of had to go to Plains, Georgia to see.

What was that?

- President Carter taught Sunday school from the time he was a young adult all the way until the last few years of his life when his mobility shifted and changed.

And so that became an anchor in his life and he invited people into that.

Once he became a public figure, yes, as governor of Georgia, but more when he became president of the United States, he began teaching Sunday school for his Sunday school class at First Baptist Church of Washington DC, which can you imagine, a president of the United States just doing something that normal.

His entire post-presidency up until the pandemic, he taught Sunday school for whoever wanted to come to a little A-frame church in that little town of Plains, Georgia.

- Why do you think he did it?

Why did it almost felt like he had a need to do this?

- I do think it was a need to do it.

In fact, I wrote a story about when his grandson, Jeremy, passed away unexpectedly, and that was on a Saturday night.

And of course, Jimmy and Rosalyn raced up to Peachtree City near Atlanta where he had passed away to be with their family.

But he had promised his niece, Kim, who substitute taught for him, he asked her if she would go ahead and start the class, but that he would be there.

He knew there would be hundreds of people coming, not just from around the country, but literally from around the world filling those pews.

And he didn't wanna disappoint them.

Well, that is true.

He felt a responsibility to the people attending and he did show up.

But I think that teaching Sunday school that morning was a way of grounding himself in the middle of his grief, centering his own mind and heart and spirit.

And I think throughout his life, regardless of what was happening, circumstances, height of power, Sunday school, I think, provided a sanctuary for him to process his own life with others.

- What a life.

Andrew, thank you so much for writing this book and for being here today.

- Thank you, Jeremy.

- And thank you for watching "A Word on Words."

I'm Jeremy Finley.

Remember, keep reading.

So, we do do one thing first.

- Yeah, we need- - Pray.

- [Jeremy] Pray, we should do that.

We should.