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WINSTON-SALEM — During a light moment after historic negotiations three decades ago, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping asked then-President Jimmy Carter what else he could do for him.

Diplomatic relations had just been restored between the two countries, and Carter, who recalled the story in a sermon Saturday at the New Baptist Covenant meeting at Wake Forest University , told Xiaoping how, as a child, he had sent 5 cents a month to help build hospitals and schools in China.

Bibles, however, were still prohibited in the communist country — and the Sunday school teacher in Carter wanted to know if Xiaoping would allow Bible printing.

“He said, 'I’ll have to sleep on it,’” Carter told the hundreds of people gathered at Wait Chapel. “The next morning, he said, 'I decided to agree.’”

Carter contrasted the 10,000 Chinese who reportedly accept Christ daily with the dwindling numbers of baptisms in this country. The difference can be partly attributed to the difficulty Christians have getting past denominational differences to tackle the problems of feeding the hungry and housing the homeless.

“The direct opposite ... of the one we profess to worship,” Carter said.

Carter is being credited with trying to bring Baptists together in community service. He is one of the founding organizers of the first gathering of the New Baptist Covenant in Atlanta last year. It drew nearly 17,000 people representing various Baptist groups from across the country. It was what would become the largest interracial gathering of Baptists held in recent history.

“I think he’s done more than any other previous president in working to bring people together,” said Ken Finnerud, who had come to hear Carter speak.

The group has promised to work together in spite of divisions over social issues that have separated Christians. Groups are now meeting in regional conferences around the country to build on the momentum.

During the two-day Southeastern regional conference that started here Friday, nearly 1,000 people each day attended workshops on a variety of issues, ranging from immigration and the environment to health care and homelessness.

“If we all serve the same God we ought to have the same mission,” said the Rev. James Fulwood , the pastor of St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church, who had come to the conference to find ways to be a part of the unity that Carter urged.

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