After an introduction from a good friend, the Mennonite architect Leroy Troyer, the former president, casually dressed, walked onto the stage to a standing ovation, took off his blue sport coat and tossed it over a chair.

One of the prerogatives of a former president, Carter said, is to turn down invitations to speak, and he turns down many. But he could not turn down Troyer’s persistent emails or ignore the affinity he feels with Mennonites. He even told the Sunday school class he teaches regularly at his Baptist congregation in Plains, Ga., “If I ever stop being a Baptist, I want to be a Mennonite.”

Carter went on to applaud the demonstration of unity exhibited in the merger of the two largest Mennonite bodies in the United States. He said that the work of the Carter Center in developing countries brings him into contact with Mennonites around the world, and he is proud of what he sees.

He affirmed Mennonites’ opposition to “the unnecessary and unjust war in Iraq.” He agreed with the resolutions coming to delegates at Atlanta this week denouncing the mistreatment of immigrants – in his words, “because of being of Arab descent or having dark skin” – and embracing the call for universal health care.

Yet the greatest problem in the world today, Carter said, “is the growing chasm between rich and poor.” As a nation, and as a people of faith, he said, we must promote peace and justice, all the more “we who worship the Prince of Peace.”

Carter read from 1 Corinthians 1 and 2 and asked, “What does it mean to be successful?” Success, he said, is “to exemplify the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.”

He told stories to illustrate such success. On an evangelistic mission he met a pastor from Brooklyn, N.Y., who convinced many Spanish-speaking people in a poor Massachusetts neighborhood to accept Christ.

When he asked Pastor Cruz how he did it, Cruz said, “You have to love God and love the person in front of you.”

“This is the essence of success,” Carter said, “yet it is so difficult.”

Carter told of giving a speech with Norman Vincent Peale at a ceremony honoring a small Georgia congregation. At the event, a woman with Down syndrome struggled to light a candle but eventually succeeded. “I’ll wager no one remembers my [or Dr. Peale’s] words,” Carter said, but no one can forget the beatific look on that woman’s face. That is true success.

“We live in a world of great challenge,” Carter said, adding that we also live in a society that measures success in ways unimportant in the eyes of God.

We glibly call ourselves Christians, he said. The word “Christian” means “little Christ,” he said. “Can we say those words without embarrassing ourselves?”

In 2 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul named as important “the things that do not change.” These “unseen” things include peace, justice, humility, service, forgiveness, compassion and sacrificial love. These, he said in a quiet voice as he closed, are the things that measure success.

And he slung his coat over his shoulder and walked off the stage to another standing ovation.