Jimmy Carter to speak at meeting of Baptists

Winston-Salem - As the president and a Baptist, Jimmy Carter did not favor abortion, but he had to enforce the Supreme Court’s decision allowing it, he says.

“I don’t think there’s any way to separate religion and politics,“ Carter said during a telephone interview this week, “although I believe in a strong separation between church and state.“

New BaptistCovenant.

The New Baptist Covenant will be held at Wait Chapel and the Benson University Center at Wake Forest University.

The meeting will begin at 12:30 p.m. today with a service at Wait Chapel. Poet and activist Maya Angelou will be the speaker.

The ending service will be at 9 p.m. in the chapel.

On Saturday, the opening session will be at 9 a.m. in the Benson University Center.

Former President Jimmy Carter will speak at the gathering’s final service from 2:30 to 4 p.m. in Wait Chapel.

For a complete schedule

of activities, go to http://www.new

baptistcovenantse.org.

His Baptist faith has shaped his life, Carter said, and even during his time in the White House, he was concerned about the divisions among Baptists.

Carter, who has been a major force in healing those divisions, will deliver Saturday’s closing speech at the Southeast regional gathering of the New Baptist Covenant at Wake Forest University, which is taking place today and Saturday.

Poet and activist Maya Angelou will give the opening remarks.

The gathering is open to the public, and admission is free.

The regional gathering grew out of last year’s Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant, which was held in Atlanta. More than 15,000 Baptists representing more than 30 Baptist organizations attended. The gathering was billed as a chance to heal racial divisions in the Baptist church that date back to the 19th century when Southern Baptists broke with Northern Baptists over slavery and formed the Southern Baptist Convention.

After the Civil War, black Baptists formed their own conventions, such as the National Baptist Convention USA.

The gathering was also seen by many Baptists as a chance to discuss what unites them, rather than what divides them.

Bill Leonard, the dean of the Wake Forest School of Divinity, and a co-chairman of the regional gathering, said that organizers decided to focus this year on a number of issues, including education, homelessness, the environment, health care, immigration, strategies for ministry and Baptist identity. Sessions dealing with the current economic crisis are also scheduled.

Leonard’s co-chairmen are the Rev. Serenus Churn of Mount Zion Baptist Church and the Rev. Reuban Gilliam of North Winston Baptist Church.

All of the sessions will be run by people from the region who are working on the particular issue being discussed, Leonard said.

The gathering will also focus on a new generation of Baptist ministers. In addition to Angelou, Matthew Johnson, a student at the Wake Forest School of Divinity, will speak at the opening service, Leonard said. The 17 other students who competed for the right to preach will have various roles in the service.

The choice of topics and regional leaders is an attempt to create new networks of Baptists working in the region toward common goals, Leonard said.

Carter said that working together with fellow Baptists was one of the best things to come out of last year’s meeting in. He has heard of a number of black and white congregations working together on local projects and his own church in Plains, Ga., Maranatha Baptist Church, has undertaken a large outreach to black and Hispanic families.

The Rev. John Mendez, the pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, said he attended last year’s gathering in Atlanta and he plans to be at this one.

Mendez said that in Winston-Salem, some churches, such as First Baptist on Fifth Street, are taking the covenant’s mission to heal divisions in the Baptist church seriously.

The church has run a temporary homeless shelter in its basement the past two years, Mendez said, and its pastor, the Rev. David Hughes has set a good example for others to follow.

“I think he has broken some new ground and that says a lot for him,“ Mendez said.

But much work needs to be done, he said.

Many white congregations are stuck in old ways of doing things, he said. Congregations can be reluctant to change, which makes it difficult for ministers to move forward.

“Any kind of progress you make in those circles takes a lot of courage,“ Mendez said. “So any change you make is commendable.“

Real change takes time, Leonard said. To those both inside and outside the Baptist movement, the effort can seem disorganized at times. That’s all right.

“This is going to be really messy because we Baptists are messy,“ he said.

“It’s a people’s movement. That’s really nice to see.“

Mary Giunca writes for the Winston-Salem Journal.