Jimmy Carter’s former church hires another woman pastor after first one quit

Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, where the late President Jimmy Carter taught Sunday school for years, has hired its second woman pastor after the first one quit after less than two years on the job.

The church announced on June 14 that leaders had hired the Rev. Erin Hall, a pastor’s wife, and mother of four, to serve as the congregation’s interim leader.

“We are excited and glad to welcome Dr. Rev. Erin Hall as our interim pastor at Maranatha Baptist Church,” the statement said. “Erin is pictured here with her four children. (Her husband Jake was en route to Dallas!).”

Church officials did not immediately respond to questions from The Christian Post on Monday regarding what led to Hall’s hiring and the split with the Rev. Ashley Guthas, a divorcee who was hired as their first woman pastor in April 2024.

In addition to being a minister and educator, Hall’s website says she has worked with several ministries, including The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and earned a doctorate from Columbia Theological Seminary.

“This pastor’s wife does not sit in the same pew from one Sunday to the next but has been known to bring all manner of folks into the pew beside her. She is a strong believer that a little dancing in the kitchen can make the world a better place, so Beyonce and Stevie Wonder, among others, are regulars in her home,” her website states.

“When she needs to untangle from projects, 'The Great British Baking Show' and 'Designing Women' episodes are just the thing. She has very little interest in sports, gossip, Pinterest-perfection, or mean people, but loves to talk about big picture, social justice, everyday-wonders, and God-winks-in-the-world kind of things.”

In April 2024, almost five years after hiring the Rev. Tony Lowden as its first black lead pastor, Maranatha Baptist Church announced the hiring of Guthas as the first woman pastor in the congregation’s 49-year history.

Guthas, who had previously served as associate minister to families with children and youth at Northside Drive Baptist Church in Atlanta, said she had struggled with the idea of calling herself a pastor but eventually answered the call after she was pursued by Maranatha officials.

In an interview with the Americus Times-Recorder in January, she said she decided to part ways with the church on Oct. 3, 2025.

She told the publication that after Carter died in December 2024 at the age of 100, there appeared to be a shift, “Not only within the town and the church, but also within our entire nation.”

Guthas said members criticized her openness toward refugees and questioned whether she was even called to be a pastor.

“It was never hidden in any way, my care and my advocacy for refugees, especially as someone who has had two Afghan refugees living in my home with my daughters,” she told the Americus Times-Recorder. “That was one of the first startling moments that was difficult for me to know how to handle.”

Guthas also admitted that she drove away some members of the church when she removed both the U.S. and Christian flags from the sanctuary.

“There were individuals who did not speak to me and then did not return back to the church after that,” she said.

Guthas added that she had hoped to overcome the challenges she had with the church community but things got more challenging over time with members.

“There was one who asked me if I really was called to be a pastor, and if I possibly cared more about brown and black bodies than I did about white bodies,” she told the outlet.

Guthas, who has two daughters, said she was working on a memoir but still believes she is called to lead people.

“I still feel very strongly and believe within the core of my being that I am called to shepherd people,” she said. “But I don’t know that that shepherding of others will be within the walls of a religious institution ever again.”