Measuring Our Success: Sunday Mornings in Plains: Bible Study with Jimmy Carter [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Jimmy Carter (Author, Reader)

Book Description

Series: Sunday Mornings in Plains: Bible Study With Jimmy Carter | Publication Date: May 15, 2007

The second in a series of inspiring, original programs from one of the most important voices of our time

Jimmy Carter's beloved bestsellers Living Faith, Sources of Strength and Our Endangered Values have established him as one of our nation's most trusted authorities on issues of faith and society. Today, the weekly Bible class he teaches at his home church in Plains, Georgia is attended by visitors from around the world, representing a wide range of faiths and denominations.

Sunday Mornings in Plains gives you the opportunity to share in this remarkable experience wherever you are. Each volume of this extraordinary audio series draws on an extensive archive of recordings to present a month-long sequence of President Carter's Bible classes. Listening to these live recordings, you'll hear the unscripted interaction and unexpected insights that make his classes so popular, as well as the anecdotes from President Carter's life and observations about world events that he infuses into his lessons.

Jimmy Carter has been teaching Sunday school ever since he was a young midshipman in Annapolis; in later years he conducted religious services on submarines on which he served, and even led the occasional class in Washington while he was president. For the last 25 years, President Carter has taught the adult Bible study at his church in Plains, where several hundred visitors join him each Sunday to understand the wisdom of the Bible and apply it to their lives.

Measuring Our Success presents the five classes President Carter taught in March 2003 on the Book of Mark. Exploring the miracles and aspirations of Jesus's early ministry, President Carter highlights elements of Jesus's message that speak to us today, including his challenge to religious leaders who "abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition" (Mark 7:8), and his revolutionary and inspiring vision of a loving God who doesn't measure our success by mortal or material standards.

Recorded at the time of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, these classes open with President Carter's comments on the eve and outset of the Iraq war, imbuing them with significant and lasting historical interest, and offering a dramatic and moving demonstration of the struggle to reconcile spiritual ideals with the challenges and conflicts of contemporary life.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The second release of former president Carter's Sunday Mornings in Plains audio series presents five lessons in which Carter explores the early ministry of Jesus as portrayed by the Gospel of Mark. These sessions were recorded at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., during the spring of 2003, as the U.S. began the invasion of Iraq. Carter sheds light on the radical essence of Christ as one who overturned centuries of religious and political assumptions of what constituted success in the eyes of God. The highlighted scripture passages emphasize a mission for embracing the most marginalized members of society and challenging entrenched authorities. Carter's personal anecdotes, especially when he recounts the monumental spiritual journey that followed a devastating defeat in his first bid for the Georgia governorship, provide highly valuable perspective. Taken as a whole, these recordings lack the smooth glide of Leading a Worthy Life, the first Sunday Mornings in Plains title. Yet the many kernels of learned biblical scholarship, sage wisdom and inspiring insight still provide worthwhile listening. (May)
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About the Author

Jimmy Carter was born in Plains, Georgia, and served as thirty-ninth President of the United States. He and his wife, Rosalynn, founded The Carter Center, a nonprofit organization that prevents and resolves conflicts, enhances freedom and democracy, and improves health around the world. He is the author of numerous books, including Palestine Peace Not Apartheid, An Hour Before Daylight and Our Endangered Values. He received a "Best Spoken Word" Grammy Award for his recording of Our Endangered Values. All of President Carter's proceeds from this series will go to the Maranatha Baptist Church of Plains, Georgia.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio; Unabridged edition (May 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743567269
• ISBN-13: 978-0743567268
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 5.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #562,372 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 CD Set - 5 Lessons on Gospel of Mark, March 13, 2010

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This review is from: Measuring Our Success: Sunday Mornings in Plains: Bible Study with Jimmy Carter (Audio CD)

It's pretty interesting to hear the former president give these lessons. Each lesson begins with Jimmy Carter talking about the state of the world at the time of the lesson, including events in his life, and the actual Bible lessons. Carter has been giving Bible studies since he was a midshipman at the Naval Academy.

These lessons are in front of a live audience in various churches. Interaction with the audience has mostly been edited out. Carter was completely at ease and engaging. At times he was very funny and made the crowd laugh. Naturally he makes efforts to relate the lessons from the Gospel of Mark to everyday life.

At the time of the lessons, the U.S. had begun the War in Iraq. Carter expresses his concern as he had considered this an unjust war, but he also expressed in solidarity with the country and his patriotism. At his age, he can say things in a more direct way than at earlier times in his political life.

Jimmy Carter also explains the work of the Carter center. The Carter center is quite active in many countries, advocating human rights and serving in many capacities for good causes. He provides some interesting stories of his travels and interactions with world leaders.

Carter's lessons on the Gospel of Mark were taken from a standardized lesson book, one adopted by his Southern Baptist church. I should point out that Carter sees commonalities between various denominations and he appeals to people across many spectrums. The Gospel of Mark turned out to be far more interesting than I imagined. I was unaware of some of the most significant aspects of this book.

Carter explained the early ministry of Jesus according to this book. Jesus recruited his disciples from the shores of Galilee and kept crossing this sea with his disciples. This is the lowest freshwater lake in the world and the second lowest lake in the world after the Dead Sea. The warm waters of the Sea of Galilee allow various flora and fauna to support plenty of fish life, thereby making extensive fishing possible.

The significance of Jesus crossing this Sea continuously in the early stages of his ministry is covered in the lessons. I didn't know about this and found it interesting. I think discovering the significance of these crossings is enough reason to get this audiobook.