Jimmy Carter and Servant Leadership

Here in East Tennessee, we might disagree with our neighbors on many things, but we do agree on one thing: Dolly Parton. We all agree that Dolly is a “saint of the South.” While I’m not aware of any official canonization process, her saintly status is nearly uncontested in these parts. We admire her for her music, to be sure, but just as much for her other qualities: kindness, inclusivity, humor, joy, and generosity. Despite her public profile, she has managed to stay grounded and grateful. She praises the people and places that made her, whether it’s the doctor who delivered her, the parents who gave her that “coat of many colors,” or the uncle who gifted her with her first guitar. Dolly has also used her wealth to revitalize her home county, investing tens of millions of dollars in economic development, charitable projects, and rebuilding after natural disasters.

If there is another unifying, revered figure from recent history who is also considered a “Southern saint,” it would probably be Jimmy Carter. Like Dolly, James Earl Carter never forgot his Southern roots or the people and places that shaped him. Despite their renown and international influence, the Carters remained first and foremost “Jimmy and Rosalynn from Plains, Georgia.”

Hidden and Public Holiness

I should pause here to assert my belief that most saints are anonymous. They practice their faith without fanfare; their holiness is hidden. Their ambition is to lead a quiet life, mind their own business, and work with their hands (1 Thess. 4:11). So most saints spend their days doing good work, loving their family and neighbors, praying for the world, and entrusting their legacy to God. A few saints may have been memorialized and canonized, but most of them we’ll never know even by name.

I agree with George Eliot in Middlemarch that “the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.” I also agree with poet Matthew R. Brown that “It is the glory of the Church that it cannot name all the saints.”

Nevertheless, occasionally, a model figure emerges. Sometimes saints go public. They get involved in the messy business of leadership, whether of a church, a business, an organization, or a government. This is the true test of character, because it often turns saints into celebrities. They gain the world but lose their souls. A rare few are able to steward influence and manage power for the common good, even for the kingdom of God. I suspect that Jimmy Carter was one such.

When I call Jimmy Carter a “saint,” I don’t mean to overexaggerate. Like all good leaders, he was a great light who also had a shadow side. Like all of us, he was simul justus et peccator: simultaneously saint and sinner. No one becomes President of the United States without at least a touch of grandiose narcissism, or without dealing in deception from time to time.

Though it’s natural for the grieving to do some hagiography after a loved one dies, we must always remember that saints are icons not idols. We don’t look to them, so much as through them. They are reflections of the many-splendored light of Christ, windows into the divine landscape. Their examples encourage us to find our own expression of faithfulness and live it fully in our place and time. Thomas Merton reflected: “For me, to be a saint is to be myself.” Indeed, we recognize such a diverse host of saints in order to remember the many ways to be a saint and to discover our own way.

Powerful Temptations

By now, the media coverage and public discourse has shifted from eulogizing Jimmy Carter to obsessing over an altogether different kind of leadership.

Historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez, in her book Jesus and John Wayne, traces the path of “muscular” and “militant” Christianity within American evangelicalism. Many American Christians have become convinced that supporting a “strong man” is their only hope for defending their faith and restoring their nation.

Journalist Katelyn Beaty, in her book Celebrities for Jesus, traces our cultural fascination with celebrity. Beaty unpacks the ways this fascination has influenced (even infected) the American church. She notes, “The moment celebrity is adopted and adapted for otherwise noble purposes – sharing the good news and inviting others into rich kingdom life – it changes the project. And it changes us.”

Indeed, we have changed. Many American Christians have lost faith in the way of Jesus and placed our faith in militant and muscular celebrities. This has impacted many parts of our common life, from the sermons of the church to the laws of the land. Yet God has not left us without witnesses who point us back to Jesus’ way. Maybe lingering a little longer with the legacy of Jimmy Carter can steer us back into an alternative approach to public life and leadership.

Many have spoken of Carter’s servant leadership style and his commitment to seeking peace. Here are five things he modeled that I believe are essential to leadership, whether you have a high-level leadership role or bring influence in more everyday ways.

1. Remember Your Roots

First, Jimmy Carter teaches us to remember our roots. He became a truly global citizen, through the American presidency and the work of the Carter Center. But he never forgot the friends, family, and neighbors who shaped him. Aside from his time in the military and his presidency, he remained, with Rosalynn, in his hometown of Plains. It was to this small town in rural Georgia that he returned after a failed reelection campaign, and it was there that he lived out the remainder of his full life before he was laid to rest.

How appropriate that, after his passing, the motorcade transporting his body stopped at his childhood home, now a National Historic Park. The old farm bell was rung thirty-nine times to honor Carter as the thirty-ninth US president. Indeed, even when he ascended to the White House, he never forgot the values he gained in that little house. As he testifies in his book An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood, it was being rooted in this region that instilled in him values of hard work, love of nature, resourcefulness, faith, and neighborliness.

As leaders, it is important to remember “where we came from.” We are not self-made; we are “the result of the love of thousands,” as poet Linda Hogan puts it. We do well to remember the places and faces that made us who we are. We should honor our “leadership lineage” of family members, neighbors, mentors, and friends. Like Carter, our rootedness in a particular place enables us to widen our reach and become better citizens of the world.

2. Stay Grounded

Second, Jimmy Carter teaches us to stay grounded. Though a humble man, Carter was not without ambition. He could have let his power and fame influence his character and undermine his relationships. But he was able to stay grounded through many roles and seasons across his 100-year life. We can attribute this to his deep faith, strong spouse, and steady homeplace. But it was also related to his personal practices. Carter was something of a Renaissance man. National politics and international diplomacy were not his only interests. He had many hobbies and habits that grounded him. Spiritual practices such as reading scripture and attending church were important for Carter, but so were hobbies like woodworking, fly fishing, painting, writing, and attending Atlanta Braves baseball games.

Carter especially enjoyed woodworking. Following his electoral defeat in 1980, his staff gifted him a collection of woodworking tools, which he made much use of in his home garage. His woodworking hobby felt like a regular retreat from the worries of the world. He said of his workshop: “You’re immersed in a paragraph or a sentence, or worrying about the future of America – things like that – and all of a sudden you walk out twenty steps, and there you are in a different environment completely.” He would auction off his work – it wasn’t unusual for his cradles, benches, and bookcases to sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars – and give the proceeds to the Carter Center.

Fly fishing was another important grounding practice for Carter. In their book Jimmy Carter: Rivers and Dreams, Carter’s friends and fishing guides Jim Barger and Carlton Hicks tell stories of their many fishing trips together, from Plains to Patagonia. These trips provided solace for his spirit as well as friendly comradery, opportunities for adventure, and inspiration for conservation; they occasionally even served a diplomatic purpose.

Leadership longevity requires that we develop healthy habits and hobbies. We all need times when we are “off” – unavailable to those we serve and disconnected from the usual stressors of our work. Of course, overtly spiritual practices are important to tending our own soul and keeping us connected to our Source and Center. But it’s also important to have grounding practices and hobbies that provide solace for our soul, rest for our mind, and play for our bodies.

Photograph by Science History Images / Alamy Stock Photo.

3. Keep the Faith

After Carter announced his candidacy for the presidency in 1976, the headline in Time magazine read: “Born again peanut farmer runs for president.” As the American people outside of Georgia got to know Carter, they quickly learned that his faith was deeply important to him personally as well as something that formed the values that would guide him in public service.

Jimmy’s sister, evangelist and healer Ruth Carter Stapleton, was instrumental in his becoming a “born again” Christian. In 1966, after losing the primary in Georgia’s gubernatorial race, Carter struggled to recover his sense of strength and purpose. Ruth provided spiritual guidance as a charismatic Evangelical known for her methods of “inner healing.” While “evangelical” has taken on many connotations in the ensuing decades, I think Carter was evangelical in the best sense. He remained steadfastly committed to his faith, reading the Bible each night with Rosalynn and teaching Sunday school regularly for almost forty years.

Scripture provided Carter with “sources of strength” for his life and leadership; he selected this phrase for the title of a book of meditations on the Bible and faith. Scripture sustained him personally and guided him politically. At his inauguration, he took the oath of office on the King James Bible his mother had given him as a young man. It was opened to Micah 6:8: “He has shown thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God.”

It seems that Carter was able to keep his faith not by defending it but by practicing it. He kept his faith the same way we keep our health: through regular nourishment and frequent exercise. Carter was following the words of the apostle James: “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds” (James 2:18). Like that of his fellow Georgians Clarence Jordan (founder of the Koinonia community) and Millard Fuller (founder of Habitat for Humanity), Carter’s theology was a “theology of the hammer,” expressed in practical service to “the least of these.”

It is easy for leaders to lose sight of their core values and convictions when times get tough. When we enter ethically complex situations or feel the pressures of constituencies, it is easy to be guided by the loudest voices. It is important though, to draw strength and guidance from our faith tradition, spiritual practices, and scripture. And we do well to remember that faith is sustained by service as well as study.

4. Take the Risk of Responsibility

Carter was elected to the presidency in a post-Watergate America, where his clean-cut image, Southern gentleman accent, and toothy grin were comforting to a nation experiencing a “crisis of confidence.” He promised never to lie to the American people and people seemed to believe him. He was praised for his integrity, even by those who didn’t agree with his policy positions.

But Carter was no purist; rather, his faith led him out into the messy world of politics. His belief in peace led him to negotiate with dictators. His ambition drove him to be a servant. The call of Christ was too clear and the world too full of injustice to avoid the morally fraught world of public witness. Responsibility was more important than purity. He labored for proximate peace and justice when perfect peace and justice were out of reach.

Every leader has to discern the scope and shape of their work amid ethically complex roles, relationships, and responsibilities. For some, this means directing their leadership primarily to a local church, to a local nonprofit, or to their own family. We should not underestimate the power of hidden holiness and local leadership in the manner of Christ.

But some of us may also be called to get involved in the messy world of activism, public policy, and political campaigns. Some of us will read the “signs of the times” and sense the Spirit leading us to places where servant leadership is needed but conditions are complicated. There is often a fear of “What if I do it wrong?” But perhaps we should fear unfaithfulness more than imperfection. After all, we are each called to follow Christ by taking the risks of responsibility, whether that means stepping into parenthood, serving on a village council, or lobbying Congress.

5. Fail Forward

Carter biographer Douglas Brinkley writes that Jimmy Carter is the only person in history for whom the presidency was a stepping stone. While history may be kinder to Carter than his contemporaries, many viewed his four years in office as a political failure.

After losing his reelection campaign, Carter evacuated the White House with dignity, declaring to the nation in his farewell address: “In a few days, I will lay down my official responsibilities in this office – to take up once more the only title in our democracy superior to that of president, the title of citizen.” I wonder if those words were part public declaration and part private self-talk. Rosalynn and he returned home to Plains exhausted and discouraged. After losing the popular vote by ten percentage points, he would soon find out that the agricultural business he built had been mismanaged, leaving him millions of dollars in debt (on top of the debt accrued by his failed reelection campaign). In spite of a warm welcome home by old friends and neighbors, he couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of defeat.

Thankfully, Jimmy Carter’s political death once again resulted in a spiritual rebirth. It cleared the way for his reinvention. A vision emerged where he could use his gift for peacemaking and leverage his influence as a former president. Within about a year of his political defeat, the vision for the Carter Center was clear and his new work began. He would oversee elections, mediate conflicts, and take on neglected public health crises around the world. He also used his influence to raise the profile of the house-building nonprofit organization Habitat for Humanity, multiplying its global impact while being ever-willing to swing a hammer himself. In 2002, Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Carter passed on the wisdom of “failing forward” in his book Sources of Strength: “Failure is a reality; we all fail at times, and it’s painful when we do. But it’s better to fail while striving for something wonderful, challenging, adventurous, and uncertain than to say, ‘I don’t want to try because I may not succeed completely.’”

Servant and Saint?

Jimmy Carter was a good man and faithful leader. It is easy to imagine his Maker welcoming him home with the affirmation: “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:14–30). But was he a saint?

Maybe we should avoid that word. It is old language, and Dorothy Day had a point when she quipped: “Don’t call me a saint. I don’t want to be dismissed that easily.”

But what if we used the description given by the late priest and spiritual writer Henri J. M. Nouwen?

The world is waiting for new saints, ecstatic men and women who are so deeply rooted in the love of God that they are free to imagine a new international order…. Most people despair that [it] is possible. They cling to old ways and prefer the security of their misery to the insecurity of their joy. But the few who dare to sing a new song of peace are the new Saint Francises of our time, offering a glimpse of a new order that is being born out of the ruin of the old.

In that sense, Jimmy Carter was a saint. He encountered God and his neighbors in a way that freed him to “imagine a new international order.” He lifted a song of peace and service, even in places where those types of songs were not always welcome. Surely the world could use more of this kind of saints, whether they reside in a rural farmhouse or the White House, saints who reminds us that another way is possible – another way of living and another way of leading.