<p>Daniel G. Ariail, pastor of former President Jimmy Carter at Plains' Maranatha Baptist Church, has announced he is retiring after 22 years at the church.</p><p>Ariail, who came to the church in 1982, said he would leave after a successor is chosen but plans to remain in Plains.</p><p>"I'm still quite healthy, but I feel that the church needs a dynamic person to get in here and do things with young people," Ariail, 66, said Thursday. "I find it more difficult to relate to them."</p><p>A committee has been selected to find a new leader of the 135-member congregation, which is joined by frequent visitors to hear Carter teach Sunday school.</p><p>"It has been an exceedingly interesting time," Ariail said of his tenure. "Our church is unique in all the world in some ways."</p><p>During the 12 months ending in October 2003, it had 12,739 visitors, he said.</p><p>"It has been a big part of our church's ministry to get to minister to so many people _ literally from all over the world," he said.</p><p>Arial, who grew up in Maysville, north of Athens, received degrees from Mercer University and Southern Seminary in Louisville, Ky. He was an associate pastor at First Baptist Church in Macon and pastor of First Baptist in Perry before coming to Plains.</p><p>In 1996, he performed the wedding ceremony of Carter's youngest child, Amy. The same year, he co-authored "The Carpenter's Apprentice: The Spiritual Biography of Jimmy Carter."</p>
