|PIC1|Former US President and devout Baptist Jimmy Carter has presented a number of awards to Baptist leaders.

Ruby Burke, former Special Assistant to Baptist World Alliance (BWA) General Secretary Denton Lotz, who retired in 2006, received a special award from the North American Baptist Fellowship (NABF) for her 15 years service as Recording Secretary to the NABF.

Canadian Harry Gardner, who served as NABF President for four years until 2006, was also awarded for his work in reviving the regional fellowship, one of six continental federations of the BWA.

Former US President Jimmy Carter made the awards at the Carter Centre in Atlanta during the annual meetings of the NABF executive, the BWA has announced.

The meetings included the announcement of plans for a 'New Baptist Covenant' and a major convocation in January 2008.

Former US presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton have been core advocates for the 'New Baptist Covenant' predicting that it would help heal the racial divide that has separated Baptists in America since before the Civil War.

Speaking in Atlanta, representing 40 Baptist denominations and organisations in the US and Canada on 9 January, Carter and Clinton announced the groups had committed to put aside historical social and theological rifts.

The effort will begin with a 'Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant,' a gathering set for late January 2008, which Carter called "one of the most historic events, at least in the history of Baptists in this country - maybe Christianity."