As the biography of Gustavo Parajón circles the world, Baptist World Alliance President Tomás Mackey (center) was reading the book while attending a global gathering of church leaders. (Photo by BWA Executive Director Elijah Brown)

Prayers for the Carter Family

THIS WEEK, everyone involved in the global effort to publish Healing the World: Gustavo Parajón, Public Health and Peacemaking Pioneer is sharing news about the timeliness of Parajón’s story. As his inspiring biography spreads around the world, the entire team of collaborators on this publishing project (from the UK to the US and Latin America) is praying for former President Jimmy Carter and his family, since Carter played such a crucial role in Parajón’s life and the former president recently endorsed Parajón’s memoir. Please, share this story with friends this week.

Co-author Daniel Buttry explains that connection between Carter and Parajón:

During the Civil War in Nicaragua (also known as the Contra War), Jimmy Carter went to Nicaragua to establish a Habitat for Humanity project there. CEPAD, the ecumenical relief agency founded by Gustavo Parajón and other Protestant church leaders, became Habitat’s Nicaraguan partner. Gustavo was the main person President Carter worked with. Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter sometimes were guests in their home for dinner or breakfast. Gustavo visited the Carters in Plains, preaching at the Baptist Church there.

Jimmy Carter saw the peace and reconciliation work Gustavo was doing in Nicaragua, which is detailed in Healing the World. Because of the deep community connections, the courage, and the creativity Carter saw in Parajon, Carter nominated Gustavo Parajon for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Then, as this book about Parajón was nearing publication, Carter sent the following endorsement:

“While other members of Nicaragua’s National Reconciliation Commission, afraid of being captured, remained safely in the capital city, Gustavo Parajón went into his country’s conflict zones, explaining, ‘I was afraid of not doing what God asked of me.’ I’m grateful for this detailed chronicle that preserves and spreads his remarkable legacy.”

On February 18, 2023, the Carter Center announced that following a “series of short hospital stays,” Carter decided to “spend his remaining time at home with his family” in Plains to “receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention.”