Not many can say they’ve attended a nearly private church service with a former president. In 2021, Atlanta man Michael Tropp was traveling with a friend to Plains, Georgia, where former president Jimmy Carter was born and the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park is located. Tropp, a US history buff, had passed through Plains before.
He’s snacked on the town’s peanut butter ice cream, a favorite of Carter’s. He’s bought a can of Billy Beer, a beverage promoted by Carter’s brother. He’s purchased many of Carter’s books.
On this trip, he wanted to make a stop at the church the Carters attended, which has long been a popular destination for those hoping to spot the former president. A woman at the hotel they were staying at in Americus, Georgia, had hinted at them to attend the Sunday service at Maranatha Baptist Church, where Carter taught Sunday school for decades, drawing people from all over the world to hear his lessons. It turns out, the woman had been very close to the Carter family and worked on Carter’s campaign.
She had just dropped food at their house. “I just get lucky half the time,” Tropp said of his presidential encounters over the years. What they didn’t expect was to be the only two in the service, besides secret service, with the president and his wife, Rosalynn Carter.
It was one of the first services the couple attended at their longtime Plains church since the pandemic had drastically curbed in-person gatherings. “It was literally .
