Former President Jimmy Carter says his church's first black pastor is 'excellent preacher and...

Maranatha Baptist Church, a predominantly white church in Plains, Georgia, where former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn are longtime members, recently hired The Rev. Tony Lowden as the first black American to lead their 42-year-old congregation.
The appointment was first highlighted Sunday by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“God sent him at the right time to our church,” said longtime church member Mashuq Askerzada, a native of Afghanistan. “This pastor is trying to conquer those racial barriers. He is already proving to do a lot of good things. We have been praying for a leader like him.”
The appointment is significant because Maranatha Baptist was started in 1977 by members of Plains Baptist Church who broke away from the congregation after that church voted against allowing blacks to become members.
Carter, whose presidency began in January 1977, continued to attend Sunday school at Plains Baptist after the vote and worshiped at the new church. Once he was out of office, however, he became a member at Maranatha.