PLAINS, Ga. (WALB) - Former president Jimmy Carter’s pastor Tony Lowden will be back behind the podium at Maranatha Baptist Church on Thursday giving a final eulogy for his longtime friend.

“It’s probably going to be one of the toughest things in my life to do and trying to keep it all together,” he said.

Lowden was right by Jimmy Carter’s side when he took his last breath and stayed by his side during his final journey through the country.

“Everywhere his body has (gone) I have been by his side and that’s a promise he asked me to make to him when he was alive,” he said. “The last thing we shared, we sat around listening to gospel music. He went home listening to gospel music. It’s very tough. Mrs. Rosalynn was tough as well but this is even tougher.”

Not only was Lowden Jimmy Carter’s pastor but he considered him family.

“Every now and then I still play the voicemail that he left on my phone asking me to be his pastor because I need to hear his voice,” he said.

Now, hours before the 39th president of the United States is laid to rest; Lowden says Jimmy Carter is still teaching the world how to live a life of service.

“Tomorrow when his service starts in D.C. And finishes in Plains, Georgia he would have effectively pulled the whole world together for another lesson on faith and hope on the fruit of the spirit that was inside the man of God, Jimmy Carter,” he said.

Anyone planning to visit Plains on Thursday for Jimmy Carter’s final funeral services should arrive before 11 a.m. because officials will be shutting down the city at that time.

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