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WINSTON-SALEM — Former President Jimmy Carter will give the keynote speech Saturday at a conference focused on harnessing the strength of Christians in service to those considered “the least of them.”

Carter was one of the founding organizers of the New Baptist Covenant meeting in Atlanta last year that brought together about 17,000 people from across the country for what would become the largest interracial gathering of Baptists ever held.

The New Baptist Covenant group continues its work in geographic meetings across the country, including the Southeastern region meeting at Wake Forest University today and Saturday, around the theme “This is God’s Year to Act: Responding to a Society in Crisis.”

The seminars and discussions are free and open to the public by reservation. Nearly 700 people are registered.

“A major emphasis from the beginning has been to find ways of Baptist groups doing ministry together,” said Bill Leonard, the divinity school dean and one of three co-chairmen of the event. “We acknowledge we have a variety of different views on certain issues but we have a calling to work together to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and care for the sick and the imprisoned.

“We Baptists have been divided in the public square for so long that what I think Mr. Carter is encouraging us to do is find ways to be together in the public square,” said Leonard, a Baptist historian. “We just have to be intentional about this — about finding ways of working together.”

The event begins with a prayer and praise gathering at 12:30 p.m., today. Author and Baptist Maya Angelou will speak during the opening worship service beginning at 1 p.m., along with Matthew Johnson, a Wake Forest divinity student and winner of the Next Generation Voices competition, a national competition to identify excellence among young preachers.

Carter, who has taught Sunday School at a Baptist church for some 60 years — even during his stay in the White House — will speak at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

Most events will be at Benson University Center on campus and led by local leaders who are working in the trenches to deal with a variety of issues. Among them: immigration, education, health care, homelessness, the environment and strategies for ministries.

Workshops include, “Beyond the Vision Statement: Strategies for Faithful Ministry,” with a panel including the Rev. Michael Usey of College Park Baptist Church in Greensboro; “Addressing Healthcare Issues in Our Parish/Communities”; and “Inviting in the Stranger: Ministry to the Homeless.”

Contact Nancy McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin@news-record.com